Water for Elephants

Author: Sara Gruen

This plot-driven novel classifies as one of those you can't put down. Fortunately, it's also a quick read, so it shouldn't take up more than a weekend of your time. And, while it is plot-driven, the characters and setting are nothing to sneeze at, either.

The main thread of the novel involves the protagonist's adventures in a traveling circus, but is framed within the protagonist's current entombment in a nursing home. I'm not generally a fan of this type of device, but it works very well here, and the two threads are sewn together by the end of the novel.

My only gripe is that the author takes the tactic of revealing one plot point in the prologue. Since this plot point is a scene from the climax of the novel, the author is deliberately misleading, and it just seemed a little like cheating.