This book is not entertaining in any sense. The plot, characters, and writing are not interesting at all. I'm sorry to be so plain, but see no other way. If you don't believe me, take advantage of the "Search Inside This Book" option and search on the word "forward". Observe the unimaginative, elementary sentence structures in the provided excerpts. The Amazon search returns about 140 occurrences of the word "forward". I'm certain it must be much higher, as it kept jumping off the page at me time and time again. Certainly Gruen must own a thesaurus. Compare this to only 32 uses of the word inThe Time Traveler's Wife, a book that is almost twice the breadth. Finally, I am tired of "Water for Elephants" appearing side-by-side on various lists withThe Time Traveler's Wife, asThe Time Traveler's Wifeis a wonderful book, deserving of all its praises.