I posted 5 questions on the Library page in order to help stem discussion, and I added one more question just for fun. Here they are once again and I will also share my answers so also help start discussions! I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts!!
1: I am interested to know how you are feeling about the book in comparison to the movie? I haven't seen it personally, but I am always interested to hear how it matches up.
I have not seen the movie so I cannot make a comparison, though I want to see the movie, just awaiting it to come on to digital streaming for Netflix.
2: After reading the chapters with Older Jacob, in the nursing home, is it changing your view on the nursing home generation? Do you feel the staff of the nursing home are condescending?
While reading the chapters about the nursing home Jacob, it did make me view the elderly differently. They all have a story some interesting and some not, but they all have a story to tell and just want someone to listen. I know that is hard to do when you work in that type of environment, but I think it should be a part of the job. I know it is a part of my husbands, he always makes them feel like he genuinely cares about what they are saying, and he genuinely does, but not a lot of people are like him in that aspect.Makes me want to go out and volunteer at a nursing home just to give the people someone to talk to.
I did find some of the staff to be condescending, they did not seem to care or even to try to listen and understand. All but the one nurse who was leaving.
3: Young Jacob starts his story by telling us he is a virgin. From the events in the cooch tent to the erections the older Jacob gets when being bathed, sexuality is woven into the whole story. Why do you think Gruen added these details? Do you think it added or took away from the story line? Did it change your view on Jacob?
I feel like the author added in the details of his sexual desires to make the story more real, you were truly inside the mind of a young boy who had desires. And in that day and age you typically had the desires until you were married so it was understandable for him to have these thoughts at his age. I do not think it took away from the story line, I do not feel it was 100% necessary to go into full details, but again it added authenticity of the story because it was truthful. I am grateful she did not go into explicit detail in the cooch tent, I do not mind sexual talk (I read 50 Shades of Grey, all 3 in the series) I just do not think it was prudent for the story line to have explicit details of the goings in the sex area.
4: Why do you think Jacob get so angry at Mr. McGuinity for lying about carrying water for elephants?
I think Jacob got angry with McGuinity because he was stealing the one thing that Jacob had that no one else did. It was what made him special, what changed his life, and what gave him purpose and McGuinity was stealing that. I think he felt like he was making a mockery of something that was dear to Jacob. It was Jacobs story to tell, though he never would have told anyone more then likely, but he did not want someone else taking something that was essentially his to give. I often wondered why Jacob didn't just tell his story, to people. But now I think it was too personal and it was a piece of him that he wanted to treasure. Because no one could understand the love he felt and the life he experienced and he did not want to share that with someone who would not understand. Which is why I think he did share it with the man at the circus in the end. Because he was genuinely interested in his story, and he would understand. He also treated Jacob for who he was and not what the man thought he was. He truly listened to Jacob.
5: In this book you see that within the circus there is a segregation between the workers and the performers, an us and them type mentality, do you think Jacob helps bridge the gap? Do you think this is an exaggerated view of how society was and in some ways still is with the segregation of classes? Why do you think they have a gap between the two groups?
I think Jacob did help bridge the gap between the 2 "classes" at the circus. He was a worldly mad and he did not like the way the performers would treat the workers, and he and fell in love with a performer and earned the respect of her husband and life moved forward. So there was a respect from both sides and he was able to bring forth concerns that may not have been otherwise discussed. I do think this was true to the age in which they were living, there were the haves and the have not's, and Jacob was the middle helping out. I believe there was a gap because of no communication. And again because each class felt they were entitled to something and weren't getting it. And would not compromise on what they wanted and how they wanted to be treated. Its a case that happens all to frequently still. It is an all about me life and they do not think about others.
6: Just for fun, did you all like this book? Did it meet your expectations?
I did enjoy this book. I did not really know what to think when I started it, I knew it had been made into a movie but I wasn't too sure what it was about otherwise. So overall I did enjoy this book and the story it produced, I always enjoy period pieces, something that takes me back in time and makes me wish I lived back then, why does life seem so much more romantic and simple back then?
Do you feel the staff of the nursing home are condescending?
ReplyDeleteSince my husband and I work with senior citizens, I know it is easy to forget that they have lives, stories, successes and failures in their histories. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day frustrations, pettiness, and mini-dramas. I guess in a way, it really concerns me because I also have a disabled son. One day, we are no longer going to be able to care for all his needs and he is going to have to have caregivers. When I allow myself to think about that, I worry that he will not be well cared for, that others will not be able to see beyond the wheelchair that surrounds him and will miss his humor, his hurts, his joys.
Do you think (the sexuality) added or took away from the story line? Did it change your view on Jacob?
ReplyDeleteWhile I typically don't read books with a lot of "docking instructions" (as my friend the Harlequin writer calls them), in this case it was a big part of demonstrating Jacob's innocence and naivete when he joined this earthy crowd. He had been protected from ugly, harsh realities until the moment his parents died. Then he was thrust into a world which was far more complex than he was really prepared for. He stepped up, stumbled, stepped up again, stumbled some more...In his later years, when others saw him as a shriveled up old guy in a nursing home, the injection of sexuality hints at the reality of life that lies hidden within Jacob.
In this book you see that within the circus there is a segregation between the workers and the performers, an us and them type mentality, do you think Jacob helps bridge the gap?
ReplyDeleteThe segregation is there and continues today. I think Jacob attempted to straddle it but I'm not sure he was able to bridge the gap. Neither side wanted it bridged, really, did they? Certainly the performers wanted to be seen as different from the pooper scoopers and the freaks. The pooper scoopers wanted to be treated like the human beings they were but that never happened. Who gets tossed off the train in the middle of the night? Not the performers...that seething resentment was necessary to bring the story to the boiling point. That said, I wish she hadn't killed off the old guy and the dwarf :(
I enjoyed the story. It was well told overall. There were some things I wish she had melded together better. The nursing home chapters were not meshed with the flashbacks, perhaps she could have made the events more obviously parallel between them.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I loved, loved, loved that he ran away with the circus again at 90 yrs old. That was awesome. I loved that the circus guy "got" him, honored him, and appreciated his history.