Agua para elefantes / Water for Elephants

Pasen y vean: romance, lucha, asesinato, tragedia y humor integran esta gran función que conmueve y asombra por igual.
Todos hemos querido cambiar de vida,
todos hemos querido huir alguna vez.
Cuando el joven Jacob lo perdió todo, su familia y su futuro, y el mundo entero parecía estar al borde del abismo en los difíciles años treinta, se aventuró en un circo ambulante para trabajar como veterinario. Transcurrían tiempos de penuria y crueldad, pero también de ensueño y plenitud, pues Jacob encontró en el deslumbrante espectáculo de los hermanos Benzini la amistad, el amor de su vida y a la traviesa elefanta Rosie.
Ahora han transcurrido ya muchos años, pero Jacob no se resigna a la postración que el destino le depara. Con renovada valentía nos revelará un secreto impactante y decidirá emprender nuevas andanzas, cueste lo que cueste.
Más de dos años en la lista de bestsellers de The New York Times.
Agua para elefantes es la novela en la que se basa la película protagonizada por Robert Pattison y Reese Witherspoon.

Reseñas:
«Una novela arrebatadora… Con el ritmo experto de un showman, Gruen se reserva una revelación genial para las páginas finales, transformando una imagen de la cultura americana en una encantadora fábula escapista.»
The New York Times Book Review
«Agua para elefantes es una novela redonda, casi perfecta.»
El País

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski’s ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob was there because his luck had run out-orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive “ship of fools.” It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn’t have an act-in fact, she couldn’t even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.