Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Old Jacob
Looking at himself in the mirror, the old Jacob tries "to see beyond the sagging flesh." But he claims, "It's no good...I can't find myself anymore. When did I stop being me?" How would you answer this question if someone asked you!?
Chapter 5!
Another one of these books where the author switches back and forth...this seems to be very popular lately. What do you feel the purpose of going back and forth between the young and old Jacob might be?
Thoughts on Chapters 3 and 4
Chapter 3 -- Favorite lines: "He digs inside his ear and inspects his findings...he wipes his finger on his pants and ambles to the doorway." Wow--is that a bit graphic or what? :)
Okay, Jacob, come on, you are a Cornell Doctor of Vetrinary Medicine almost-graduated student! It's one thing to go a little crazy for a moment, you know, take a walk, hop on a train, join up with a circus, but come on, come to your senses! Your future is ahead of you!!! Your choices right now will determine the path of the rest of your life!
By the end of Chapter 4, shouldn't Jacob be ready to return to some semblance of his life? He has got to have professors, friends, etc. that will help him pick up the tragic pieces of his life and regroup.
Liking the book, but not quite understanding Jabob...
How about the rest of you? Are you enjoying the book?
Okay, Jacob, come on, you are a Cornell Doctor of Vetrinary Medicine almost-graduated student! It's one thing to go a little crazy for a moment, you know, take a walk, hop on a train, join up with a circus, but come on, come to your senses! Your future is ahead of you!!! Your choices right now will determine the path of the rest of your life!
By the end of Chapter 4, shouldn't Jacob be ready to return to some semblance of his life? He has got to have professors, friends, etc. that will help him pick up the tragic pieces of his life and regroup.
Liking the book, but not quite understanding Jabob...
How about the rest of you? Are you enjoying the book?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Chapter 2 -- A Major Life Changing Event and Decision!
Thoughts on Chapter 2???? Wow! Jacob's young life quickly is in upheaval! What did each of you think of his decision to abruptly leave his final? And...to just walk and walk and walk and hop on a train? What a life-changing moment? Have any of you had such a life-changing moment? Where just one quick, not even a thought out decision, led you down a completely different path???
I often see this in the books I read--where just one moment, one quick decision, changes a life forever. I guess this happens in each of our lives as well...sometimes just seems easier to "see" in a 'word window.'
I often see this in the books I read--where just one moment, one quick decision, changes a life forever. I guess this happens in each of our lives as well...sometimes just seems easier to "see" in a 'word window.'
Monday, June 27, 2011
Just Finished Chapter 1!
Okay--here are my thoughts of Chapter 1. I love this Jacob guy...I want to be just like him when I am 90 or 93, as I'm not sure how old he is at this point, as it seems he doesn't know either...I have no idea what this book is about at this point or where the story will lead...
Did anyone else have to look up the words: tchotchke and vacuous???? When I looked "tchotchke" up on merriamwebster.com, I was asked to comment on why I was looking up the word--I commented, and I think I might now be famous! J/K!
Did anyone else have to look up the words: tchotchke and vacuous???? When I looked "tchotchke" up on merriamwebster.com, I was asked to comment on why I was looking up the word--I commented, and I think I might now be famous! J/K!
Question 1: Old Jacob and Young Jacob
To what extent do the chapters concerning the elderly Jacob enhance the chapters recounting the young Jacob's experiences with the Benzini Brothers circus? Or do they??
CAUTION:
CAUTION: If you wish some parts were filtered in books that are great except for the "cockroaches" skip the end of chapter 3 (mom I told you 4, its 3!) after Jacob confirms he can keep his mouth shut. Skip the middle of chapter 10...after Jacob leaves August and Marlena's room...like the next couple of pages. Middle of seven...after Jacob drinks too much at August and Marlena's...only one page to skip here. There is one other scene later on but I'll give away too much ...so if it looks like its gonna get ronchy...skip a page. Sorry, can't edit the language.... Minus the cockroaches the story is entertaining - love the animals!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
July Book: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Here is a brief synopsis:
Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely.
So let's all get busy reading--we will read and discuss this book throughout the month of July. So...begin reading and posting your discussion questions! Can't wait! :)
Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely.
So let's all get busy reading--we will read and discuss this book throughout the month of July. So...begin reading and posting your discussion questions! Can't wait! :)
Monday, June 20, 2011
Calling all fellow book lovers! Let's get started with "The Virtual Literary Society"!
Let's come up with some ideas!
1. We need a book! Please post your suggestions and then on Friday, June 24, we will take a vote. Of course, the book with the majority of votes wins...
2. Once the book has been chosen, we will begin discussing. Just post your thoughts, ideas and questions, and our discussion will begin.
3. We will select a new book on the 1st of each month.
4. Sound okay???
1. We need a book! Please post your suggestions and then on Friday, June 24, we will take a vote. Of course, the book with the majority of votes wins...
2. Once the book has been chosen, we will begin discussing. Just post your thoughts, ideas and questions, and our discussion will begin.
3. We will select a new book on the 1st of each month.
4. Sound okay???
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