Allison B. (allisonbaker) reviewed on 1/22/2011 + 48 more book reviews

AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL.....This book earned five stars from me, a very rare and hard earned status, very few books have managed. Where do I start? I was captured from the very first page and sucked into a world that I had never encountered before, that SG writes so eloquently that you feel as if you really are amoung the all those sights and sounds that make up a circus. This is not my usual genre of books but, I happened upon a trailer of the upcoming movie and it looked so good I had to read the book (which I had heard great things about but just hadn't thought about reading).
This book made my heart clench with fear, saddness, love and friendship. It is at it's core a love story but, the love is in so many different forms. There is a love of family so profound that it drives a man away from his life, a love of friendship so unlikely that it spans generations and social backgrounds, a love of animals so beautiful it transends species, and love between two people so magnetic its impossible to ignore despite all consequences.
I was moved to tears in many sections of the book particuarly the portions of "old" Jacob. SG writes so convincingly of an old mans spirit. The transition is time is seamless, I wouldn't realize imediately that we were out of the flashback and into the present. I love that the story was told that way.
I finished the book and immediatly began reading it again and will re-read again before the movie...AWESOME! I can't imagine anyone would not on some level enjoy this book, I believe most readers will be forever moved by it...I know I will be.

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