The Water for Elephants movie is all the rage these days. Ever since it was first released, people have been lining up to see it and the reviews have been incredibly positive. If you’re looking for a new read, I would highly recommend it. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and, most importantly, you’ll be totally mesmerized.
One of the reasons why the book is so popular is because of its unique story line. While many novels are set in a fantasy or science fiction surrounding, this one was written entirely in real life. The events and situations are all very much possible. If anything, the author, Boris Malinovsky, tried to paint a more accurate picture of reality than most other fiction authors do.
The novel starts with a conflict that quickly turns into a war. While the war is still raging on, there are already signs that it’s been going on for longer than usual. The people living in Asia, particularly China, are facing a food shortage. As the crops dwindle and food prices increase, people in countries like India and Pakistan see this as an opportunity to profit from the situation. They quickly realize that the best way to solve their problem is to fight for ivory. The more ivory they can get, the cheaper and more readily available food will be. Thus, the main conflict of the story starts off as a trade war and eventually develops into an all-out war that rages for several years. This is one of the major differences between the book and the movie, which, as I mentioned before, is entirely based on reality.
The Novel Versus The Movie
There are a few key differences between the book and the movie. Perhaps the most obvious one is that the movie is considerably shorter than the book. The movie cuts out many of the details from the book, but for the most part, the storyline is intact. There were so many incredible moments in the book that the movie didn’t have the chance to capture.
Another significant difference is that while the book is told from the first-person perspective of a certain female protagonist named Sarah, the movie is primarily told from the third-person perspective of a journalist named Tom. This was done on purpose so that the reader wouldn’t get too attached to Sarah. Since the movie is shorter than the book, it had to rely more heavily on a few select characters, which, in turn, limited its scope. This approach makes the story more accessible to a larger audience but also lessens the impact that each character has on the reader. The same thing could be said for the book, however, the opposite is not true. The novel is much deeper than the movie and, hopefully, this will be evident to the reader.
The War Is Over Once And For All
One of the most significant differences between the novel and the movie is that the war is finally over. In the book, the war drags on for several years before a peace treaty is officially settled on. Even after the war ends, there are still skirmishes and, in some cases, minor battles. The movie, on the other hand, shows us a dramatic struggle that ends in a matter of days. This probably has a lot to do with the author using a more contemporary setting and, therefore, not having to deal with many of the issues that come with an old-school war. It’s also worth noting here that, at first, this strange new world that the protagonist enters is, in fact, a very dangerous place and not a very hospitable one. The people there are wild and untrusting and have no qualms about hurting or killing others for the sake of profit. This is one of the major themes that the novel explores, the difference between what we once were as a species and what we’ve become due to the confluence of modernity and technology. It’s also a major difference that the military personnel who were involved in the war are the ones who are most visible in this strange new world. The rest of the population is made of various remnants of the tribe that was living in the area before the war, which leads to some very interesting interactions between the two groups.
One other significant difference between the book and the movie is that the former focuses heavily on one family: the Hamiltons. The Hamiltons are a wealthy family that lives in London and, in the novel, their story is told in a much more detailed fashion. We get to see much more of their lives and meet several of their relatives, some of whom, as mentioned before, were involved in the trade war that set the whole thing in motion. This is a fairly extensive and meticulously researched family tree that the author puts in the book. One of the most notable aspects of this family is that all of its male members have either been killed or maimed in a war. The women of the family are left to carry on as best they can. Since the movie is significantly shorter than the book, it only has the chance to establish this one important fact about the Hamiltons, which is that they’re all quite terrible at keeping their mouths shut. The novel dives much deeper into this intricate and dysfunctional family and the story surrounding their gruesome conflicts. It’s quite an amazing feat to research and write a book about a real-life war that you didn’t actually participate in. This is the kind of book that makes you reexamine your own family structure and the role that genetics plays in the creation of a human being. Overall, I would give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
Why Does Everyone Love This Book So Much?
If you’ve never read this book or seen the movie, you might be wondering why everyone seems to love it so much. Is it the story or the writing that people respond to so strongly? Maybe a bit of both, but there’s also something about the way Malinovsky portrays the people in this world that resonates with readers. Most people have never, in fact, been to war-torn countries, but we all have friends, family, and acquaintances that we’ve heard or read about in articles or books like these.
Aside from the glimpses into Asian history that the novel provides, it centers on two interrelated themes: genetic engineering and the clash of civilization versus nature. These two themes are, in fact, what drive the entire novel, not just the war portion. The first theme explores the process of altering a person’s genes, both for the better and the worse. The author, Malinovsky, examines this process from several different perspectives, from those who are for and those who are against. This part of the book is a real page-turner and the way that he weaves these opposing viewpoints together is masterful. The second theme takes a more universal look at how technology and society are evolving vs. the way they were centuries ago when Malinovsky compares the way people related to androgynous animals like wolves and the creation of hybrids through cross-breeding. This last idea, in particular, is intriguing and raises several questions about the role of technology in the future of humanity. It’s quite an in-depth exploration of these two topics and the way that they’re interacting with each other. While it’s not a fluffy, happy read, it’s a very interesting one and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good novel.