Jacob Jankowski's Water For Elephants

Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants is a captivating historical romance novel told through ninety three year old Jacob Jankowski reminiscing on his anything but boring life. In the midst of the hectic Benzini Brothers Circus’ train, Jacob and Marlena find themselves in a love story with increasing romantic tension as August takes a turn for the worse, all during the Great Depression Era, but finally have their own satisfying ending. Jacob goes through hell and back and sits in torture while the love of his life stays trapped by a monster. Jacob Jankowski first meets Marlena on the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth’s circus and she takes his breath away. As the two spend time together working with Rosie the elephant and …show more content…
A few of the working men release all of the animals in the menagerie during a show for a diversion while the strangle Uncle Al. August, who has been kept away from Marlena since she’s returned to the train, tries to aggressively reconcile with her during the stampede with Rosie standing nearby. Jacob watches as Rosie picks up a lead pipe in revenge for all the beatings he gave her, and brings it down upon Augusts head with such force that his head splits in half and he drops to the floor. Marlena never saw this nor did Jacob ever tell her. When a circus comes to purchase the animals after the Benzini Brothers went belly-up, Jacob and Marlena fight to keep Rosie, the liberty horses, and Bobo the chimp. Before the show that led to the circus’s demise, Marlena tells Jacob that she is pregnant. From there, Jacob goes back to Cornell and received his veterinary license, and he and Marlena go to Ringling as a bundle of a vet, a performer, an elephant, a chimp, and 12 horses. After their third child, Marlena and Jacob leave Ringling as Marlena was tired of traveling. “We bought a rural property far enough from the zoo that we could keep the horses, but close enough that the drive to work wasn’t that bad. The horses more or less retired, although Marlena and the kids still rode them occasionally. They grew fat and happy-the horses, not the children, or Marlena for that matter. Bobo came with us, of course. He got into more trouble over the years than all the kids together, but we loved him just the same.” In total, Marlena and Jacob had five kids. Together they lived out their hectic, loud, and joyous life

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