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The Pilo Family Circus

(The Pilo Family Circus #1)

Will Elliott,

Katherine Dunn (Introduction)

3.82 · Rating details · 3,044 ratings · 381 reviews

"You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?"

Delivered by a trio of psychotic clowns, this ultimatum plunges Jamie into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between Hell and Earth from which humankind’s greatest tragedies ha ...more

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Paperback, 300 pages

Published March 24th 2009 by Underland Press (first published August 2006)

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Community Reviews

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Average rating 3.82 ·

Rating details

· 3,044 ratings · 381 reviews

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Dec 17, 2014 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it really liked it

Recommended to Shelby *trains flying monkeys* by: Edward Lorn

Shelves: scary-stuff, read-2015, screws-with-the-mind, liburry-book

A book about psychotic clowns? I couldn't resist that one!

Jamie is pretty much an everyday guy. He lives with one stoner and grocery stealing friends in an apartment. Works a normal job. Then he starts seeing some clowns running around and one of them drops a bag of weird powder. Jamie takes that bag.
BIG MISTAKE!!

The clowns get angry that Jamie has their bag and start paying him visits. Then they leave him a note.

You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, Feller. You're joi ...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Trudi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantastical-speculative, rusa-reads, horror, favorites, just-plain-weird, laugh-out-loud, epic-creep, what-the-bleep, cover-lust, 2011

What a wicked, intoxicating combination of weird, creepy, horrific and funny; the last thing I expected when I picked up this book was to laugh my ass off in parts, doing so was such a bonus. So I can't say this book is going to be for everyone, but if you're looking for something truly different, that's well-written and a bit depraved, then this just might be for you.

The setup: Jamie is a bit of a wanker -- a well-meaning guy, but without much ambition or direction in his life. Let's say he's ...more

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Jul 09, 2014 seak rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, arc-review, 2014

I almost hate to recommend this book because ... what does that say about me?

The Pilo Family Circus is both completely creepy and absolutely fascinating. If you like clowns, you might change your mind after this. If you already don't like them, you'll probably think I knew it!

Jamie almost runs down an odd-looking clown and quickly finds his life changing forever. He has 48 hours to pass his "audition" and failing is not an option.

With some creativity, he finds himself in a circus that's strange ...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Char rated it it was amazing

Read it! That is all.

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Mar 16, 2009 Tressa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I don't know if I've ever read such an original story chock-full of so much weirdness, violence, and humor. Yes, humor. The Pilo Family Circus was written by a 19-year-old law school dropout from Australia who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Will Elliott wrote the rough draft in three months, sometimes in sporadic bursts and sometimes in a single sitting resulting in ten thousand words. Pilo was written in times of sleep deprivation, using cabin fever as inspiration, and while he was coming do I don't know if I've ever read such an original story chock-full of so much weirdness, violence, and humor. Yes, humor. The Pilo Family Circus was written by a 19-year-old law school dropout from Australia who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Will Elliott wrote the rough draft in three months, sometimes in sporadic bursts and sometimes in a single sitting resulting in ten thousand words. Pilo was written in times of sleep deprivation, using cabin fever as inspiration, and while he was coming down off anti-psychotic medication. This book is amazing.

One late night an Ordinary Joe named Jamie spies three menacing clowns on the street. One throws a bag of something behind a bush, and when Jamie gets it home he discovers some weird beads in the velvet bag. His ingestion of some of the beads gets him visited by three ruthless clowns who vandalize his apartment and leave him a message informing him he has 30 hours to pass his audition or he forfeits his life.

Jamie passes his audition when me makes the head clown laugh and is whisked away to the Pilo Family Circus. He is now part of a family of clowns led by the brutal and short-tempered Gonko. Once Jamie puts on the clown paint, his alter ego emerges. J.J. the clown is not an Ordinary Joe, but a psycho who enjoys roughing up carny barkers, menacing the dwarves, and getting a thrill out of murdering the gypsies who travel with the circus. Thus begins the battle between Jamie and J.J. over control of their body, not to mention keeping secrets from each other about a revolution at hand by a small group of carnival workers who yearn to break free from the Pilo Family Circus.

The circus is run by Kurt Pilo and his dwarf brother, George. The circus performers include macho but graceful acrobats, evil clowns, and a bitter magician allowed to perform only silly acts like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, which sends him into fits of rage. The freak show is run by Fishboy, and includes Tallow, a thing whose skin melts into rivulets at his feet; a Yeti that is forced to eat glass at every show; and a severed head kept in a glass cage. All freaks were once human, but as punishment by the Pilos were turned into grotesque things by the Master Manipulator.

The circus has been around for centuries, putting on shows for tricks—humans attending a normal circus but who stumbled up to the wrong ticket booth. Sometimes the tricks lose their lives due to unforeseen circumstances, but they are the lucky ones. The others who stumble back into the real world had their souls sucked out of them as wages for the performers.

The most amazing part of this book is finding out how the circus came into existence, and just who is running the show. Oh, and the clowns have been recruited throughout history to return to the normal world and steer the course of human events in violent ways—e.g. influencing a failed Austrian artist with the initials A.H. ...more

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Aug 22, 2017 Wayne Barrett rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, bizarro, 2017, fantasy

Interesting take on the psycho clown genre. I would like to have seen some more background to a few of the characters. I was disappointed that the story ended, leaving me with some unanswered questions.

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Apr 05, 2009 christa rated it did not like it

If I learned anything from "The Pilo Family Circus" by Will Elliott, it is that you cannot trust the Internet to tell you if a book is good. According to my research, this will be the first negative review of a book that won all sorts of weird Australian awards for fiction, and earned a blurb, through no fault of the author -- I understand -- likening this novel to the works of David Lynch and Chuck Palahniuk.

I'm here to tell blurbologists that just because a writer smears feces on a wall doesn If I learned anything from "The Pilo Family Circus" by Will Elliott, it is that you cannot trust the Internet to tell you if a book is good. According to my research, this will be the first negative review of a book that won all sorts of weird Australian awards for fiction, and earned a blurb, through no fault of the author -- I understand -- likening this novel to the works of David Lynch and Chuck Palahniuk.

I'm here to tell blurbologists that just because a writer smears feces on a wall doesn't make him anything like Chuck Palahniuk.

In fact, this is exactly the sort of book that shouldn't be reviewed by anyone. It's not worth it. It is the equivalent of a stack of trade paper copies with the title scrawled in lipstick, featuring a high heeled shoe as the main art on the cover. There is nothing satisfying about this story: it is disjointed, poorly written, the plot fails and the writer relies on some elementary school style transitions ("Unbeknownst to him, these were the last eight hours of peace he would have for quite some time"). Not to mention the inexplicable perspective changes, and lack of distinguishable voice.

In fact, the only reason I didn't stop reading after 40 pages was because I was eager to find out exactly how bad this book could be. Answer: Pretty awful. Every time I set it down, I forgot what was going on when I picked it up.

It's about Jamie, a dude who is basically living in frat boy-style squalor, sharing a crumbling home with some nonfriends. In the middle of the night, he has an interaction with some clowns, which eventually leads to him a role in this otherworldly circus filled with freaks and carnies and a man with a fish face. He is stuck there, after he is shown that the alternative -- his old life -- will never amount to anything. Meanwhile, his body is splitting time: sometimes he is Jamie, sometimes he is JJ, a clown prone to havoc. Blah blah chaos.

I have to admit that I feel a little bad dissing on this book so seriously. Obviously these are words made by someone who had the fortitude to get them into print with a pretty awesome cover and a foreward written by Katherine Dunn, a natural pick considering the circus premise. For that, Elliott gets a kudos. You did it, man. Unfortunately, I neither laughed, nor was I frightened throughout the course of the book. I couldn't distinguish characters from each other and a lot of the time I barely understood what was happening.

...more

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Dec 20, 2014 Paul Nelson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-books-read, horror

Now the Pilo Family Circus isn’t your usual slapstick circus affair and you don't find it intentionally, whether you're looking or not. And trust me when I say you really don't want to visit this place, every act has a purpose and it definitely isn't to entertain the Fuck out of you.

Jamie, driving home from work late one night, almost runs down a pedestrian. No ordinary bystander this guy's dressed in clown getup right down to the white face and fake red nose. What he remembers most was the abs ...more

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May 22, 2015 Rebecca McNutt rated it liked it

Back in 2010, my family and I were camping in my favorite province, Nova Scotia. We stopped at this little thrift shop. My sister and I went into this back room, and on the shelves, was something we never expected to see, something horrible, something terrifying, devastating, evil… over fifty porcelain clown dolls were on the shelves, staring back at us! You know those clown dolls that no matter where you are in the room, it always seems like they’re looking right at you? Yup, there they are! We ...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Bark rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

Jamie is minding his own business when he spots some creepy clowns about town acting more than a wee bit strange. One drops a small bag containing some suspicious powder. When the coast is clear, Jamie picks it up and brings it home.

Well, wouldn’t you?!

This little incident of finders keepers brings the clown smack down upon Jamie and his roomie after the two accidentally ingest some of the clown powder. And there’s nothing funny about it. These clowns aren’t the happy go lucky, nose-honking type ...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Bandit rated it it was amazing

This book was so insanely hyped up by my fellow horror aficionados, that it was almost impossible for it to have lived up to all that praise. It did. And then some.
Pilo Family Circus is just so wild, crazy, imaginative, violent, darkly funny, disturbing, infinitely entertaining and more, it reads like an incredibly vivid bizarre dream/nightmare yet it's nearly impossible to put down.
Great cover art too, the malevolent clown on the cover really sets you up for what's to come. Send in the clowns. ...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Kimberly rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, re-read, group-read

Re-read (May, 2015)

This book is every bit as exciting as I remembered it being! The author's personal experiences were a strong influence in his writing of the personality changes between Jaimie, and JJ--his clown, alter-ego.

Not much more to say on this one other than I will definitely be reading it again in the future!

Highest recommendation!

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Mar 02, 2010 Steve Lowe rated it really liked it

This is an easy review - this book kicks ass. What a great world Elliott built, full of original characters, and brought to a satisfying, bloody head. Great setup, good execution, fun storytelling. Not the greatest writing in the world, but I'm not deducting much for that because I was too busy digging the story. Read it.

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Mar 12, 2011 11811 (Eleven) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ha-top-books-challenge, favorites, reread

I missed my calling. Shoulda been a clown.

Read March 2013 and May 2015.

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Mar 06, 2013 Jason Parent rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror

It's hard to rate this book. On the one hand, Elliot's technique isn't flawless. He makes mistakes that know-it-all literary types would scoff at, that the average reader could give two shits about. But at the same time, Elliot crafts a tale that is wildly imaginative and utterly enjoyable.

So, I give him 4.5 stars, rounded up for the fact that the book is the author's debut novel. Any errors in his craft are minor and probably only caught my eye because I can't help but look for them. They certa It's hard to rate this book. On the one hand, Elliot's technique isn't flawless. He makes mistakes that know-it-all literary types would scoff at, that the average reader could give two shits about. But at the same time, Elliot crafts a tale that is wildly imaginative and utterly enjoyable.

So, I give him 4.5 stars, rounded up for the fact that the book is the author's debut novel. Any errors in his craft are minor and probably only caught my eye because I can't help but look for them. They certainly do not detract from an awesome story.

The Pilo Family Circus starts with a creepy-menacing atmosphere. Normal guy Jamie encounters two darkly goofy clowns and their much more sinister leader. Through horrifying tactics, the clowns enlist Jamie into their hellish circus.

A touch of Killer Clowns from Outer Space and a hint of Night Breed might give you a vague idea what this novel reads like. Elliot presents six clowns, each with various degrees of psychosis and diverse personalities. Gonko, their leader, is sort of like the Joker (Jack Nicholson more so than Heath Ledger), particularly when he's pulling large weapons endlessly out of his pocket (reminds me of when Nicholson's Joker shot down the bat plane). And the clowns talk and act like clowns, even when they are doing the most mundane or murderous things. We never learn Gonko and the other clowns' back stories, which makes you wonder who to sympathize with and who to revile.

The clowns are set against an entire circus of original characters filling the roles of traditional circus performers (freaks, acrobats, lion tamer, fortune teller, etc.) Two characters I didn't fully understand were Mugabo the magician and the apprentice, whose name we never learn. I searched for symbolism with these two characters, but if it was there, I missed it. Perhaps they were more plot devices than characters.

Anyway, the plot moved, and it kept me reading and entertained. The atmosphere of the book, for me, evolved from chaotic and threatening to eerily sad and hopeless, a transition that was unexpected. I enjoyed Pilo from beginning to end and would recommend it to all fans of modern horror. ...more

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Sep 19, 2016 The Behrg rated it really liked it

Reading the Pilo Family Circus is like being invited to a family reunion with VERY distant relatives. You know the kind. So distant you don't want anyone knowing you ARE family. All you know going in is that some craziness is about to go down. And as much as you expect it, as much as you know it's coming, the insanity that ensues is far more alarming, (and entertaining), than anything you might have imagined.

The novel has almost a stream-of-conscience approach to it, with characters moving throu ...more

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Jun 22, 2015 Jon rated it really liked it

A good horror novel with an interesting plot and plenty of macabre humour, The Pilo Family Circus mixes violence, slapstick, and a smidgen of H.P. Lovecraft together to good effect. In the story, Jaime is a perfectly normal, fairly meek twentysomething working as a concierge and spending his time daydreaming about hooking up with his beautiful co-worker. Then he meets "the clowns" and it all changes. Like a psychotic version of the Three Stooges in face paint, the clowns begin by terrorizing Jai A good horror novel with an interesting plot and plenty of macabre humour, The Pilo Family Circus mixes violence, slapstick, and a smidgen of H.P. Lovecraft together to good effect. In the story, Jaime is a perfectly normal, fairly meek twentysomething working as a concierge and spending his time daydreaming about hooking up with his beautiful co-worker. Then he meets "the clowns" and it all changes. Like a psychotic version of the Three Stooges in face paint, the clowns begin by terrorizing Jaime and soon decide to recruit him as a fellow clown in the greatest show this side of Hell: The Pilo Family Circus. Finding himself trapped in the circus and desparate to get away, Jaime soon learns that his biggest obstacle to escape is JJ, the person he becomes once the face paint is put on. According to the book's adage "the nicer the person, the meaner the clown", JJ is a sadist who likes his new career and dislikes sharing his body with a wus like Jaime.

If you're looking for spine tingling scares, then keep on looking. There isn't much in the book that's particularly scary. It's mostly creepy with an ample amount of dark humour (and slapstick violence) scattered throughout it. The circus setting and it's performers are well described and Elliott keeps the origins and the true purpose of the circus a mystery for long enough to build some suspense.

I particularly liked the struggle between Jaime and his dark half, JJ. Elliott does a good job of creating a despicable character in JJ and building on the tension of giving Jaime an opponent that knows all of his thoguhts and plans. Interesting enough, Elliott wrote this book during a time when he was diagnosed and struggled with schizophrenia. Though Elliott denies any part of the book is autobiographical, I'm sure some of his own struggle to maintain his identity and self crept into the tug of war between Jaime and JJ.

Elliott's prose style is adequate for the material. There is nothing particularly elegant about his writing, but it's clear and concise. All in all, it's a fast and fun read.

...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Bill rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, fantasy

This was quite good.

Anytime I place a book on my to-read list, I make a concentrated effort to avoid knowing any details about the plot. With this one, I was expecting a grim, horrific ride into hell. Well, it wasn't quite that, but surprisingly there were a couple of genuine laugh-out-loud moments.
This was mostly around the beginning of the story, and even though I had gone into this in the hopes of some October scares, it turned out I wanted more laughs as the story went on. Elliott has a grea ...more

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Dec 22, 2013 Edward Lorn rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I did not expect that ending. I expected the ending from the John Cusack/Ray Liotta movie, IDENTITY.

This one started off devilishly good. Original, dark, funny-as-hell, nasty, twisted, and more words and stuff and things. I loved it. Every paragraph had me either disgusted, intrigued, or laughing my balls off.

Then the scenery changed. We go from Brisbane to the Pilo Family Circus and, oddly enough, the book became boring for me. I found the day in and day out ritual rather banal. JJ's actions I did not expect that ending. I expected the ending from the John Cusack/Ray Liotta movie, IDENTITY.

This one started off devilishly good. Original, dark, funny-as-hell, nasty, twisted, and more words and stuff and things. I loved it. Every paragraph had me either disgusted, intrigued, or laughing my balls off.

Then the scenery changed. We go from Brisbane to the Pilo Family Circus and, oddly enough, the book became boring for me. I found the day in and day out ritual rather banal. JJ's actions didn't shock me because Winston said "The nicer the guy the meaner the clown," so it ended up being all very predictable. I think this is what led me to believe that the book was going to turn out like IDENTITY. The twin sides of the MC, so I just figured everyone was Jaime. Or... Jaime was everyone. Whichever.

Now, about the two of the clowns (and this is probably only me), they kinda blended together into my head. Goshy and Doopy seemed like the same clown, and it wasn't until the honeymoon scene (which was sheer fucking genius in my opinion; sick and brilliant) that I finally put a wedge between the two clowns and separated them. Both spoke in different speech patterns, but when they weren't talking and the author was just describing them doing things, I had a hard time keeping up with who was who. Gonko, Rufshod, and Winston all had their own separate personalities, but Goshy and Doopy seemed interchangeable. Like I said, though, this was probably just my own brain's problem and not the fault of the author.

Speaking of the author, I've never heard of Will Elliott. I don't know his story, but it supposedly explains what he went through while writing this and strengthens most readers' enjoyment of the piece. I plan on reading his memoir, STRANGE PLACES, as soon as I can talk myself into its twelve dollar price point. Which brings me to the price of this book. I bought it on Amazon for $11.79, blindly. Well, kinda blindly. There's this reviewer I trust whole-hog. If she likes a book, it goes on my TBR list, no questions asked. Then I buy said book, no matter the price. Did I get my $12 worth? Yeah, but only because of that ending.

SPOILERY SPOILS await the SPOILED because SPOILERS. Read the following SPOILERIFIC SPOILED SPOILERS at your own risk...

This motherfucker ended like Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS. Which made me think... isn't the entire book a bit like NEEDFUL THINGS? People wishing for shit and getting it. People being set against one another. Everything devolving into an utter clusterfuck of chaos. Yep, the only thing missing was Leland Gaunt, but, when you think about it, Kurt Pilo was kinda that guy. Okay, maybe this isn't completely fair, but when I read the final page of Will Elliott's mindbending carnival story, I felt as if I'd just reread NEEDFUL THINGS. Do not get me wrong. This read like a tribute, not a rip off, so Elliott gets massive points for that.

End SPOILERS!

Welcome back to those of you who didn't want spoilers. I just noted why I liked the book. Yeah, ya kinda missed it... Sorry about that. Oh well, maybe next time.

Should you run out and buy this for $12? Probably not. This will not be everyone's cuppa coco, and I don't want anyone popping back up offering to violate my rectum with their size tens because they spent the last of their meth money on THE PILO FAMILY CIRCUS and were disappointed because it's not their thing.

In closing, I dug this book, a lot, but the middle droned on. The ending was perfect, though, which completely made up for the lackluster midsection.

I'm off to read my first bizarro story. Wish me luck.
...more

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Feb 18, 2018 John rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ha-tbr-challenge, owned-books

What the heck did I just read? I think I need to read this again because this was so out of the realm...

But I liked it a lot. It was different and original. (Which is something sorely lacking, these days).

Recommended, but be prepared to be confused... and astounded!

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Oct 03, 2017 J.K. Grice rated it did not like it

Shelves: could-not-finish, horror

I know some people loved this book, but it just didn't work for me. I couldn't even finish it.

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Oct 18, 2017 Tyler J [They/He] (Wickedjr Reads) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2000s, own-kindle, a-series-im-in-the-middle-of-thing

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

My full review & more on my blog!

TW: Homophobia, Fire, Death, Animal Abuse (and death), Murder, Language, Self-Harm, R-word, Drugs

I'm not really sure what to say about this book, other than I loved it! It's horrorific at times, funny at others and tugged at my heart at other times still. It's fast-paced, or maybe that's me as I read it in 3 days because Spookathon. Still I was entertained and wanting to know what was going to happen through-out the entire book. It occ ...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Bill rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013-ha-top-books-challange

I am not entirely sure how to review this one. The story idea was very unique and I thought many of the characterizations were quite excellent. It seemed to be flirting with brilliance, but...

*mild spoilers*

The first few chapters of this started off great and I thought I was in for a brutal and violent clown horror-fest. Then I got to know the clowns a little bit more and they somehow left me wanting a bit. There were definitely a few parts that were laugh out loud funny, but I just couldn’t t ...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Ms. Nikki rated it it was ok

Shelves: own-it-pb-or-hc, horror-extreme-horror, just-an-alright-okay-read, recommended-to-me, skimmed-hard-to-finish-or-unfinis, not-my-type-of-read

These crazy clowns cause such a ruckus.
It's not your average circus.
They present false smiles,
in painted faces.
Trip you up
with knotted laces.
They make strange noises,
peeps and whines.
This job ain't no joke.
It's a real crime.
Do what you're told,
Don't make the Pilo's blue.
Step on their toes,
and it's the funhouse for you.

by Nikki

It wasn't my mug of coffee. I didn't get the horror of it all. Yes, it had its psycho moments, but there was a lot of repetition. Boring day in and day out stuff. They put ...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Marvin rated it really liked it

If nothing else, The Pilo Family Circus will be as original a horror novel as you will ever read. Sporting equal parts of Dante's Inferno and the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Will Elliott's surreal clown story will probably give you nightmares for a few nights. There has always been something dark about clowns and carnivals yet the author up the ante considerably on bad dreams and clown phobias. Part straight horror story and part hallucinogenic nightmare, this is a horror read that won't go away ...more

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May 13, 2015 Marc-Antoine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, ha-top-books, dark-fiction, humor, clowns

A fantastic read, completely imaginative and mesmerizing. So many of my Goodreads friends on HA had hyped this one up that I broke down and bought the novel. Once again I was not let down.

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Feb 19, 2011 Lea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2011, acquired-2011, reviews, bizarro

This was an odd book for me -- while I was reading it I really enjoyed it, but when I wasn't reading it I didn't remember liking it and didn't want to pick it up again.

For the most part, I did like the book, but there were some things that didn't really work for me. I didn't like the Jamie/JJ dichotomy, although it was a decent idea and made for some interesting problems for the characters to work out. The JJ character didn't seem as well developed as I would have liked, though -- I expected (a This was an odd book for me -- while I was reading it I really enjoyed it, but when I wasn't reading it I didn't remember liking it and didn't want to pick it up again.

For the most part, I did like the book, but there were some things that didn't really work for me. I didn't like the Jamie/JJ dichotomy, although it was a decent idea and made for some interesting problems for the characters to work out. The JJ character didn't seem as well developed as I would have liked, though -- I expected (and wanted) him to be MUCH worse than he really was. I didn't think the cowering and crying (even though it was partially an act) worked, and I found it more irritating the longer it went on.

I also wanted a bigger story -- at the end of it all, it's really just about Jamie being sucked into this world, then trying to survive and escape. Well, okay. What else? Nothing! I just wanted something more. (The ending also left me with a lot of questions.)

I stumbled onto this book while browsing some pretty bizarre titles, so in my mind I suppose I lumped this book in with them -- I thought it was going to be REALLY over the top, disgustingly violent, absolutely horrifying . . . You tell me why I wanted to read something like that, LOL, cause I don't know, but that's what I expected. This just isn't that book -- at least it wasn't for me. Maybe it would be terrifying and disturbing for someone else.

So three stars for a good idea and decent (but not outstanding) execution. I'm not sure who I would recommend it to -- it's a bit odd for most people, I think, but not nearly odd enough for anyone looking for the truly bizarre.

EDIT:

I just can't stop thinking about this book. I keep having the nagging feeling that I've missed the bigger picture here.

I just read a great review (sorry, great reviewer, I can't recall your name right now) that said the author takes great pains to make clear that this book was NOT autobiographical in any way, but I have to say (& man, I reeeeally hate to contradict THE AUTHOR!) I think this book is a perfect illustration of a mind at war with itself. Intentional or not, I do think this book has to be based on the writer's struggles with schizophrenia.

With that in mind, I think this book deserves 4 stars. ...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Adam Wilson rated it it was amazing

The Pilo Family Circus is one of those amazing reading experiences that, even if I forget the fine details in a few years, I will never forget the story and how much fun I had reading it. The book's description was almost enough to make me never want to give it a try since it sounded really, really stupid, but it is anything but. I can't blame whoever wrote the description I read though. I don't think I can explain it any better without making it sound just as bad or even worse. I can only say t ...more

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Jul 05, 2009 Gregor Xane rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009

An excellent debut. A pleasure to read throughout, although I did feel a bit sullied at times while reading it.

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Oct 11, 2013 Shawn Thornton added it

I fucking hate clowns. I really do. When I was a kid I had ring side seats at a circus and a stupid clown smashed an egg on my head, it poured down my face and all over my clothes. Everybody thought this was hilarious and pointed and laughed at me. I was very shy and was mortified. So I wanted to hate this book but I didn't, it was great. Its completely bonkers and great fun. I'm already looking forward to the sequel I might even order it today. Fucking clowns!!!!!!!!

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Letras Macabras: El circo de la Familia Pilo, de Will Elliott	18	109	Feb 04, 2017 12:09PM
Horror Aficionados : Buddy Read- The Pilo Family Circus (Spoilers)	80	72	Jun 26, 2013 06:38AM

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About Will Elliott

Will Elliott

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Will Elliott (born 1979) is an Australian fiction writer who lives in Brisbane, Queensland.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.