Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

My sister bought me Water for Elephants for Xmas. Little did she know, I had been yearning to read that book since the first time I saw it on the shelf at Target. The cover puts you into a trance, the colors, it draws you in. You just have to see what is inside.
I struggled a little bit to get through it. Not because of what was written on the pages but, because of the words that were used. This story took you through the eyes of a 93 yr old man who used to work with the circus, he gets word that the circus is coming to town and he finds himself remembering what those days were like. He ran away with the circus when he was younger, fell in love with a circus performer, etc. (Can't tell you too much more or you won't want to read it) To be honest, I liked the beginning of this book, I LOVED the end of this book, not too fond of the middle. Some places, the book was hard to follow. If I had ever run away with the circus, it might have made more sense to me. There were a lot of words/terms used that I was not familiar with and it was hard to get past them.
The end of the book however, made it all worth it. At the end of the book, I cried, laughed, smiled. The author did her job.....she got me interested with the cover and beginning and kept me hanging just enough to have to know how it ended. I would recommend others to read this book but put it on your list....don't rush it to the top.
3 of 5 stars