Love. How is it possible capture something so amazing in 400 pages or less? Sara Gruen is able to do so while writing about the unique lives of her characters. Through the lives of her characters, Gruen was able to portray different love stories. From all different types of angles, we see abuse and abandonment. Something can be said about an author that leaves no space for false intentions about love. When growing up, it’s so easy to believe that love is easy and the best thing that can happen to you, but as you grow older you begin to understand that love can be the exact opposite. Love seems easy as a middle schooler, but life becomes more difficult as high school approaches and gives way to the real world. Sometimes we learn why a relationship …show more content…
What does this feel like? To love someone one day, yet the next you are reluctant to even be touched by them? This is how Marlena felt while her and August were out to eat one day, while sitting at the table “ He says something and then reaches across and grabs her wrist. She pulls backward, spilling her coffee. “ ( Gruen, Water for Elephants, Page 659) While the love had been fading for quite some time now, this is one of the first signs of her feelings. Feelings she had been reluctant to portray because she was afraid of how August would react. She was afraid of her husband because he had a history of acting out in certain situations. . Feeling forced to stay in her relationship with August, she says nothing because she is afraid of August’s power. The only thing that stopped Marlena from being with Jacob was her legal marriage to August and his necessity of owning her. Now in Ape House it is harder to relate Isabel’s love life to Marlena’s, but in some ways it is very similar. After the apes had been gone for some time, she began to associate herself with other human beings. The situation in this story is switched however, she falls for a married man, while married Marlena falls for Jacob. Before Isabel had landed this job with the apes, she knew it was where she was meant. She knew what she was getting into, but she wanted nothing less. So over the course of her career, she fell deeper and deeper in love with the apes. An explosion left the apes missing, and Isabel was devastated. The longer the apes were missing, the more time she got to spend with this new man. While her love for the apes did not fade, her love for John grew exponentially. If the explosion did not occur, she would have been tied down to the apes. She would have been forced to stay in, and love these apes all day. Two very different love stories, two very similar