Loved, loved, LOVED this book!  It's the best novel I've read in quite some time.  Sara Gruen knows how to tell a story.

A book that is a "period piece" can be enjoyed more fully if the reader makes an effort to get away from his/her 2010 sensibility and into the 'mood' of the time in which the book is set.  Popular culture, morals, tastes, etc. just were not the same as they are now, in the 1930s, the time frame for most of Water for Elephants.  Keeping that in the back of your mind while reading it might make you more forgiving of the (cliched) expressions some of the characters use.  Those expressions weren't so darned old back then, folks!

i do not like the circus due to mistreatment of animals, however, the book is fantastic.  it's a MUST read.

I saw this at Goodwill the other day and couldn't stop myself form recommending it to the woman that picked it up!  I still have my copy - loved this book!  If you haven't read this already you should.

GRUEN DOES SO MUCH RESEARCH FOR HER BOOKS. I AM ON THE WAIT LIST FOR "APE HOUSE."

MARY

Thank you for the book report, Tome.  I have it on my TBR with a LP copy coming.  I will save it for a trip or sometime when I have to read what I have with me.  I was hoping for more after all the rave reviews.