Helpful Score: 1
The author, Sara Gruen, paints a melancholy love affair on the colorful tapestry of the big top circus. There are the grim, gray clouds of prohibition and depression, the black and brown residue of life on a train, the dark, blood red of animals in captivity, and the vibrant hues of the circus workers and performers. Gruen reveals to the audience the real human characteristics behind their spectacular costumes and make-up. Readers will gawk at the talented, violent, and often cruel class system within the entertainment society.
Arcing over this scene is a timeless love story of a young man and a beautiful woman who is trapped in a abusive marriage. The man is an earnest, down-on-his-luck veterinarian and woman is a lithe, spirited equestrian. The author makes no attempt to cover up the dirt and the bruises, the lusty sex, the raging anger, the frailty of old age, and the foolish, drunken stupor. Gruen allows for these weaknesses within her characters, simultaneously entrancing us with the spectacle of the story and drawing the reader closer to the performers. For, after all, the show must go on.
Arcing over this scene is a timeless love story of a young man and a beautiful woman who is trapped in a abusive marriage. The man is an earnest, down-on-his-luck veterinarian and woman is a lithe, spirited equestrian. The author makes no attempt to cover up the dirt and the bruises, the lusty sex, the raging anger, the frailty of old age, and the foolish, drunken stupor. Gruen allows for these weaknesses within her characters, simultaneously entrancing us with the spectacle of the story and drawing the reader closer to the performers. For, after all, the show must go on.
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