Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water For Elephants, the novel by Sara Gruen released in 2006 takes a captivating and unique angle on life during the depression. The title comes from the beginning of the story, when an old man in a nursing home claims that he once carried water for elephants in the circus sparked by one pulling into town. The story progresses as Jacob Jankowski, also in the nursing home, reflects on his life and time spent traveling with the circus during the time of the depression.
After tragically losing both parents, Jacob makes the impulsive decision to leave his life as a vet student at Cornell now being orphaned and broke, and join a circus that he stumbles across. The book tells the story of how this troubled college kid jumps a train and somehow gets entrenched in the inner workings of the Benzini Brothers Circus serving as the veterinarian. Life on a circus for Jacob becomes both the distraction from his tragic life that he needed, and a chaotic mess of love triangles, friendship and heartache.
This engaging novel describes a lifestyle so far from normal with problems that hit so close to home; with characters that tug on your sympathy and reside in your head long after the storyline comes full circle back to the bitter old man in the nursing home. With themes that parallel Catcher in the Rye, and a story that contends with the best in fiction, Water for Elephants is sure to be a classic.