Publish Date: May 1, 2007
Pages: 350
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1565125605
When his parents suddenly and tragically die, Jacob Jankowski quits veterinarian school at Cornell University just before graduation and finds himself aboard a circus train. The Great Depression is in full swing, jobs are scarce and the likelihood of Jacob being offered a position aboard the second-rate Benzini Brothers circus is even slimmer. Luckily the circus is in need of a veterinarian and August, the greedy and miserly ringmaster of the circus, decides not to pass up the opportunity to underpay his “Cornell-trained” vet.
Jacob quickly earns his keep by maintaining the menagerie, but because his position is awkwardly located somewhere in-between the working crew and the performers, he grapples with the sharp divide between labor and the elite. He works with both classes, and thus appreciates the benefits of associating with the higher society while at the same time sympathizes with the less-fortunate workers.
Jacob is enamored with Marlena, who is a performer in the circus and wife to August, from the moment he sets eyes on her, but his up-and-down relationship with August results in repeated attempts by Jacob to suppress his urge to act on his desires.
My Thoughts
As the behind-the-scenes drama in the Benzini Brothers circus is developed, the perspective in the novel switches back and forth between Jacob in the central story and Jacob as an old man of “90. Or 93. One or the other.” The younger Jacob is caring and cordial, while the older Jacob is cranky, and feeling abandoned in his old age.
Author Sara Gruen has researched the depression era circus life down to the smallest of details and I feel that this captivating and vivid story will appeal to almost anyone. Filled with action, adventure and a sweet forbidden romance there is also a fascinating sideshow of secondary characters including a clever Polish Elephant, a grouchy little person as Jacob’s roommate and a cruel and schizophrenic animal trainer whose wife Jacob just happens to fall in love with. All of this has been wrapped together with a compelling and innovative behind the scenes look aboard a travelling circus train. Showing us more often then not the darker side of circus life after the big top closes down. This is a love story, a life story, an animal lover’s story but above all it’s a circus story and who of us hasn't dreamed about running away and joining the circus at some point in our lives?
My Rating: «««««
The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor. I do this for the love of books.
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