Set in the middle of the Great Depression, Jacob is a university student studying to become a veterinarian to work alongside his father at his animal hospital. During his class, the Dean of Students tells him that both of his parents were killed in an automobile accident. Through a talk with his father’s lawyer, the animal hospital and home will be sold to the bank to cover their debt. Jacob becomes closed off from everything and everyone and soon finds himself jumping on a moving train filled with circus performers for the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He talks his way into the circus as a veterinarian and becomes immediately attracted to the owner’s wife, Marlena. And this is where the fun really begins.
One thing the author does well is the creation of August. The reader knows from the start that there is something not right with August and so does everyone else in the circus. It isn’t talked about nor is it confronted. Only about ¾ of the way through the book does anyone get an idea of what he is going through – he has paranoid schizophrenia. Today, that is not something you see or hear of very often but it was even more remote back in the 20’s when the science and technology was nothing like it is today – and the only thing people did to those unfortunate souls was to lobotomize them. I liked reading about August – how he went from one person to the next in a matter of seconds; how he really didn’t mean to do those things but he couldn’t explain them; and how Marlena would stick with him no matter what he did to her.
However, besides August and the general story line, there was not a lot about this book that caught me. I expected it to grab me and not let go but the only reason why I wanted to finish the book was to see if the old Jacob died at the end.
It was very dark – not in the supernatural sense but in the human sense, meaning it was the middle of the great depression. In that time, everyone was out for themselves and out for blood if anyone got in their way of living. Everything was scarce – food, water, work and companionship. Everything was first come, first serve. It is a little comical that I find this dark and disturbing more than books like Twilight, Robopocalypse and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. One reason could be that this actually happened. To read a semi non-fiction novel is sometimes harder because you aren’t taken away from your world. Rather you are thrust right back into a time when things were dire and gruesome – a place we hope we never get to again. People read to be taken away on a grand adventure – this is not one of those. We want to forget about our problems for an hour or two and just sink into our imaginations.
One other thing I did enjoy about the book was it went back and forth between the flashbacks and the present time. I like how the author merged and connected the two so seamlessly that at times, I didn’t know if it was the past or the present I was reading.
Everyone that I know who has read the book swears by it and say it is a great book. I think it is a good book, not great. After thinking about it for a week, I came to that conclusion because I couldn’t remember every bit about the book – only the high energy things such as the beginning scene and the fight and aftermath between Jacob and August.
My rating is 3 out of 5. I am going to forget about this book in a few months and even though I will be glad I read it (mainly because most of my friends have read it) it won’t be a book that I will want to go back and re-read.
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