Sara Gruen
Author of Water for Elephants
About the Author
Sara Gruen was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1969. Before becoming a full-time fiction author, she worked as a technical writer. She has written several novels including At the Water's Edge, Ape House, Riding Lessons, and Flying Changes. Her novel, Water for Elephants, appeared on the New York Times show more Bestseller List for more than 4 years and was adapted into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Rob Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz in 2011. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Sara Gruen
Associated Works
Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do (2013) — Contributor — 206 copies, 10 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1969
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Carleton University
- Occupations
- technical writer
novelist - Relationships
- Gruen, Bob (husband)
Puffett, Kathryn (mother)
Bailey, Terence (father) - Short biography
- Sara Gruen (born 1969 in Vancouver is an author with dual Canadian and U.S. citizenship. Her books deal greatly with animals and she is a supporter of numerous charitable organizations that support animals and wildlife. She is a 2007 recipient of the Alex Awards.
Gruen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She grew up in London, Ontario, and attended Carleton University in Ottawa to get a degree in English Literature. She continued to live in Ottawa for 10 years after graduation.
Gruen moved to the United States from Ottawa in 1999 in order to take a technical writing job. When she was laid off two years later, she decided to try writing fiction. Gruen is an animal lover; both her first novel, Riding Lessons, and her second novel, Flying Changes, involve horses. Gruen's third book, the 1930s circus drama Water for Elephants, was initially turned down by her publisher at the time, Avon Books; as a result, Gruen was forced to find another publisher, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. It went on to become a New York Times bestseller and is now available in 45 languages and as a 2011 film adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz, and Robert Pattinson. Her fourth novel, Ape House, centers around the Bonobo ape and was sold to Spiegel & Grau on the basis of a 12-page summary. Ape House is published by Two Roads Books. Her fifth novel, At the Water's Edge, was published in 2015. - Nationality
- Canada (birth)
USA (naturalized) - Birthplace
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Places of residence
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Grayslake, Illinois, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- Canada
Members
Discussions
Group Read (August): Water for Elephants in 2014 Category Challenge (August 2014)
Reviews
When I bought this book from my favorite independent bookstore, the owner, who knows EVERY regular's preferences (a quality you want in a book guy) tsked and said, "I don't know about that one, Val. You don't really go for sentimental." I didn't take offense, and said I'd try it anyway. He made this face and said, "Mmkay, then, that'll be $16.35."
Why didn't I listen? Now when I go back to the store, there's a chance the owner is going to remember and ask me how I liked this book, and I'm show more going to have to eat a whole lotta crow. It wasn't just sentimental, it was syrupy and glopped with sugar. I was unable to finish it. It made me question myself, and not in a good way. I love elephants. They are awesome. I like the African elephants best, but I wouldn't turn down dinner with an Indian elephant. If I could go back in time, I'd love to have tea with a mammoth, as long as the weather was nice. Do you get what I'm saying? I felt just hateful.
Why can't I enjoy a book about a man and his elephant? Because of the poor writing, the cliched dialogue, and the mean man who is terrible to animals?
Why, yes. That'll do it. That and the fact that I had Snagglepuss in my head reading all of Marlena's dialogue.
I really am a terrible, terrible person. show less
Why didn't I listen? Now when I go back to the store, there's a chance the owner is going to remember and ask me how I liked this book, and I'm show more going to have to eat a whole lotta crow. It wasn't just sentimental, it was syrupy and glopped with sugar. I was unable to finish it. It made me question myself, and not in a good way. I love elephants. They are awesome. I like the African elephants best, but I wouldn't turn down dinner with an Indian elephant. If I could go back in time, I'd love to have tea with a mammoth, as long as the weather was nice. Do you get what I'm saying? I felt just hateful.
Why can't I enjoy a book about a man and his elephant? Because of the poor writing, the cliched dialogue, and the mean man who is terrible to animals?
Why, yes. That'll do it. That and the fact that I had Snagglepuss in my head reading all of Marlena's dialogue.
I really am a terrible, terrible person. show less
This book completely surprised me. I picked it up because I was completing a reading challenge about apes and after a year of doing this challenge, I have found few mystery books dealing with that subject that weren't using monkeys as a sort of humorous point. I was really expecting that when I found out that the bonobos in this book were getting their own reality TV show as part of the plot... I was skeptical.
This book was actually a rather serious look at how we treat animals and how we show more as humans behave, all wrapped up in the mystery of who caused the explosion that send the bonobos to their new “home.” I absolutely loved the progression of the plot and the thought that must have gone in to balance it perfectly so that it was not a pounding for animal rights, but not a comic relief piece either. I'm glad I found it. show less
This book was actually a rather serious look at how we treat animals and how we show more as humans behave, all wrapped up in the mystery of who caused the explosion that send the bonobos to their new “home.” I absolutely loved the progression of the plot and the thought that must have gone in to balance it perfectly so that it was not a pounding for animal rights, but not a comic relief piece either. I'm glad I found it. show less
I haven't read a book set in a circus since the Enid Blyton stuff I used to like at the age of 8. How different, then, is this circus - a depression-era vision of mud, poverty, treachery and violence. Just the hardest of lives, but with a strong thread of humanity running through it, as the narrator battles to improve animal welfare at a time when circuses with animals were not viewed as cruel or unacceptable.
I loved this book from start to finish - it is just so well written. Like the show more breasts in chapter 3, the author has a pleasant bounce to her writing. She can do grit, she can do romance, she can do humour (the search for a new Fat Lady was brilliant), and the glimpses of the protagonist as an old man living in a retirement home were incredibly perceptive. Just a brilliant book. show less
I loved this book from start to finish - it is just so well written. Like the show more breasts in chapter 3, the author has a pleasant bounce to her writing. She can do grit, she can do romance, she can do humour (the search for a new Fat Lady was brilliant), and the glimpses of the protagonist as an old man living in a retirement home were incredibly perceptive. Just a brilliant book. show less
between 2.5 and 3 stars. this is really good for the historical bits and the insight into what it was like working with a train circus in 1931. i had never really thought about how maybe there weren't too many zoos back then, and so the circus had far more animals than i thought they would - chimps, lions, tigers, panthers, polar bears, giraffes, elephants, horses, llamas, yaks, camels, hyenas, orangutans. we only read about the mistreatment of a couple of them, but i can only imagine that show more all of them suffered such abuse, even if just to be taught that they weren't the alpha animal when the trainer was around. that was the hardest part of the book for me, reading of the way august would hurt rosie the elephant. it was written so matter-of-factly, i'm curious as to the research she did into the animal abuse.
the detail in the way the circus operates, and the people who work it (as well as the class distinction between the performers and the workers) was pretty fascinating. jacob has to learn the language, the characters, the inner running of a circus, and so we are exposed and learn along with him. circuses don't exist like this anymore (thank goodness) so this serves as a great peek into the circus life.
generally speaking, when the writing is about the circus and is showing us the historical context, this is well written and interesting. the romance bit (which is a major plot point, unfortunately) dragged it down considerably for me (it was both less interesting and the dialogue between them was significantly less well written) and i felt like there were other ways to move the story in the direction that storyline led us.
but i do think i'll find myself thinking of the circus aspect for a long time, so i'm leaning this to 3 stars instead of 2.5. show less
the detail in the way the circus operates, and the people who work it (as well as the class distinction between the performers and the workers) was pretty fascinating. jacob has to learn the language, the characters, the inner running of a circus, and so we are exposed and learn along with him. circuses don't exist like this anymore (thank goodness) so this serves as a great peek into the circus life.
generally speaking, when the writing is about the circus and is showing us the historical context, this is well written and interesting. the romance bit (which is a major plot point, unfortunately) dragged it down considerably for me (it was both less interesting and the dialogue between them was significantly less well written) and i felt like there were other ways to move the story in the direction that storyline led us.
but i do think i'll find myself thinking of the circus aspect for a long time, so i'm leaning this to 3 stars instead of 2.5. show less
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 10
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 37,425
- Popularity
- #487
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 1,612
- ISBNs
- 247
- Languages
- 21
- Favorited
- 38
