Book Review: Water for Elephants

As I posted previously there was a blackout recently that lasted a whole night. Being bored very quickly I picked up the book Water for Elephants, which my mother had lent to me. It was an easy read. I read half of it during the blackout and then finished it up that week. It was not too memorable. It is told by and old man in a nursing home that flashes back to his days as a young vet in the circus. I liked the character as an old man - I could get into his character and understand his point of view, as a young man - not so much. As main characters go - he really did not do anything as a young man. His life just happened and he basically held on for dear life --- although with all the crap I am going through currently, I guess that is an accomplishment. There were also way too many characters in this book for me. For me I just need like 3 or 4 compelling characters and you can spare me the miscellaneous character sketches like the evil Snidely Whiplash type owner of the circus. Plus I did not understand some of it. He becomes good friends with the midget clown that hated him at first but it was not too clear why the clown changed his mind. Also even with the main love interest, it was not clear as to why they loved each other - what made them special for each other. When it is on dvd I will probably get it from redbox as it is only a buck and it was entertaining - it just was not compelling or memorable.