Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a devoted historical fiction reader, I thought this book would interest me. It did not. Water for Elephants reads like a children's novel, save for excessive and serious profanity, graphic and frequent sex scenes, and violence so vivid I was moved to nausea. If you are able to ignore those sorts of things, you will not find yourself feeling any kind of sympathy for the one-dimensional characters. The characters do not develop over the course of the story, and seem only concerned with dabbling in vice. As a result, I was unable to identify with them. A portion of the story is written from the point of view of the main character in his old age. This writing is exceptional, and managed to keep me interested during the course of the book. Still, these marvelous little glimpses of author Sara Gruen's potential do not permit me to recommend this book to anybody. Avoid it.