Progress: 1 down, 19 to go
Which: Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
I love Carnivàle and unfortunately that’s what I hoped for when I cracked open Water for Elephants. It’s not bad, really, but…in the world of the Dust Bowl circus: Knauf’s writing, Brother Justin, and that title sequence! are a damn hard act to follow.
The story trundles along at a good clip, to Gruen’s credit; there’s not much time to grow too impatient with anyone¹. I’ll be it translates pretty well to film. Plus, Christoph Waltz as the schizophrenic animal trainer? I am in.
¹ Except maybe with Gruen? Jacob isn’t unsympathetic and, as the wife of an unhinged and abusive husband, neither really is Marlena, but they’re not actively sympathetic either. That was frustrating.
