This book is great! It starts with a young man in the 1920's who is on the verge of graduating from an ivy league graduate school and he loses his parents which results in him losing everything but the clothes on his back. He runs away and finds himself on a train which winds up being a circus train. Jacob (the young man) was going to school to be a veterinarian and this circus group winds up deciding he may be able to benefit them being that he is smart with animals.

He goes through so many funny/strange encounters with different people and animals. You can imagine the people on the circus too: from a 600 lb fat women, to midgets, to monkeys, to elephants. Even though I have not seen the movie, the fact that it is rated PG13 and not R tells me right away that you are much better off reading the book first, as I am sure they are going to have to leave out some of the good stuff.

Anyway, Jacob meets some friends who wind up being there for him through hard times and he does the same for them. The elephant in this book is amazing, I could actually picture this exact animal and I even laughed a few times picturing what she was doing. One of the best parts about the book is that the story is actually being told by Jacob at the age of 91...or 93, not quite sure. So it kind of flips back and forth from him being a 23 year old, then he is in the 2000's as the old man in a nursing home which makes you very sad for him as he is losing his mind and control of certain things, which we will all go through one day and you find yourself really feeling for this man. And maybe it will even make you want to call your grandparents and just chat with them for a bit.

Anyway, Jacob quickly realizes that not everyone on this circus team are good people. Some are just flat out rotten people. There is quite a bit of violence and some sexual references. I think the fact that it is based in the 1920's and 1930's is great. It really makes you think about things and how lucky we all are to have what we have. This was during the prohibition, which we all know meant no alcohol. So people would drink things like vanilla extract to get there jollies off! The people dress differently, a nickle goes about as far as $20 does today and people are just plain different. I mean, I know 2019 is a lot different from 1930 but when you actually read about this world with an excellent story attached, you find yourself connecting a bit to those old times.

Eventually Jacob finds himself head over heels for a young beautiful girl named Marlena, the one who rides on top of the elephant in the circus. OK, that's it! That's all I am giving you! I hope for my sake and anyone that has read the book that the movie is very close to it, but even if not it should be decent. And please please please. if you are a reader and you haven't read this, just go get it, its worth it! I read it in 5 days whenever my newborn slept.

Update - The movie was actually really good and quite close to the book. Well done!