Water For Elephants

I started out both highly skeptical and rather hesitant about reading this book. Keep in mind, all I had heard about the book was that it was "short" and involved not only an affair but animal abuse. Not exactly the light, pleasantly diverting summer reading which usually finds its way into my beach bag.
However, to my utter surprise, I love this story. The colors with which the characters are painted with are just as vibrant, fantastic, and grimy as the side show posters of their same by-gone age. The author gives you carnival and circus life in all it's seedy heyday glory, stitching in so many small glimpses of life in that era that - like the glitter & flash of sequins - you feel distracted by them.
That was part of the only detraction from my enjoyment of the book. So many different topics were touched upon (the great depression, prohibition, immigration, etc.) that it was all most too much to keep track of. And yet - for me - it still managed to only enrich the story's setting. It made it more authentic. Wasn't the purpose of the train circus to rush in, dazzle the "rubes" with flashing colors and glimpses of fantastic beasts, and rush away again before trouble was stirred?
The other part of the problem was the length of the book. It's brevity wasn't a mercy but a tease. My reading speed hastened considerably as I became more involved with the  the characters and plots, but when the book ended I was at full steam, ready for more. There was none to be had! Don't get me wrong - I LOVE the ending. The author tied up all lose ends in a way that made me pump my fist in victory.
It makes you think though. If a book pulls you in so well, engages you to that degree, that you are willing to see if there is any more on that era or subject matter with which you can delve into again - just to get your fix - that was one heck of a good read. Only, you don't know it's a good read until it's too late.