If you have not read Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants we suggest you go get your hands on a copy immediately. This enthralling tale tells the story of a young man as he loses everything he has ever known during the Great Depression of the 1930′s in America.
The protagonist of the book, Jacob Jankowski, leaves all that he has and through a bizarre series of events finds himself working for the Benzini Brothers traveling circus. The book tells Jacob’s story as he remembers it at the age of 93. A story of adventure, friendship, betrayal, loss and love, this book will truly capture your heart.
Gruen’s writing is eloquent and precise and she does an incredible job of creating vivid mental images of what a 1930′s circus was like. This is truly one of those novels that you will not want to put down. The book received so much critical acclaim that it was recently made into a film adaptation which is currently in post production and set to be released on April 15, 2011.
The film stars Robert Pattinson (as Jacob Jankowski), Reese Witherspoon (as Marlena Rosenbluth) and Christoph Waltz (as August Rosenbluth). The upcoming film has already received a ton of attention just based on its casting alone. Both Witherspoon and Waltz are Oscar winners, (Witherspoon won for Walk the Line and Waltz won for Inglorious Bastards) and Pattinson is rumored to truly prove himself as a serious actor by giving a more than Oscar worth performance in this film.
Judging by the films cast it appears that the film will slightly differ from the book version so we suggest you read the book first to truly get a taste for how amazing this story is. We can’t wait to see how the film’s director, Francis Lawrence, brings this incredible story to life.