The Circus In Winter in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 28, 2022 Lisa of Hopewell rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2022

My Interest

Like many people I’d read Water For Elephants and, back in the day, I’d read a circus book called The Circus at the Edge of the Earth for a lawyer who was involved in a case with an elephant in the book! I read the book and wrote him a precis. I loved The Greatest Showman movie–more circus. I preferred If I Ran the Circus to If I Ran the Zoo as a child. And I’ve even watched the John Wayne epic Circus World.

Then, too, the author was or is a professor at Ball State University (and is o My Interest

Like many people I’d read Water For Elephants and, back in the day, I’d read a circus book called The Circus at the Edge of the Earth for a lawyer who was involved in a case with an elephant in the book! I read the book and wrote him a precis. I loved The Greatest Showman movie–more circus. I preferred If I Ran the Circus to If I Ran the Zoo as a child. And I’ve even watched the John Wayne epic Circus World.

Then, too, the author was or is a professor at Ball State University (and is or was part of the fabulous Midwest Writer’s Workshop) where nearly all of high school my friends went to college since we lived in the same town (ok, outside the town, but barely). I haunted the library there waiting for Mom to finish work in the library or for my math tutor. It’s where I discovered the Illustrated London News and looked at every single issue of Life magazine and started my royal reading. Finally, I’m pretty sure this was an Amazon First Reads book. Whew! Lots of interest!
The Story

A look from a elephant. A bunch of horses needing shoes. A sick child. A business deal. That’s how it began. This is a collection of stories about the Great Porter Circus whose winter quarters were in Lima, Indiana. We learn how the Circus came to bear the Porter name and the sad story of the owner’s tragic wife. We are told of how many of the performers came to join the circus. The stories detail the horrible racism that landed some of the “performers” in their roles–roles much like people brought to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair “Anthropology Days’ (Yes, that Fair–the one Judy Garland sang about in Meet Me In St Louis). Except these were “Negros” (as was then the term) born in the United States, but paid to pretend to be “savages.” Paid way better than for emptying buckets of “waste matter” on river boats. We learn of the “sideshow freaks”–the lady with 15 fingers and all the rest of that cast of characters.

But wait. This is FICTION. It reads exactly like a nonfiction “biography” of the circus as both a performing troop and as a business. These were real people–right. Nope!
My Thoughts

The premise here was very good–tell about the circus as it was in “real life” and not in the show ring. Let us meet and get to know the people who bring the magic. Except it fell flat for me. It’s hard to put my finger on just why, but I think it had to do with it being fiction. That was a let down.

While the stories were vivid, many were hard to like. The people they described were hard-done-by to be sure. They deserved better lives than they got and that may be why it being fiction fell flat for me. A sort of invented appropriation of misery. Then there were the animals–the elephants and horses and all that had to work and perform. I don’t have a problem with circuses using animals if they are treated humanely. That’s part of the magic of the show. But back in the day of these stories, just like the performers, they were usually pretty miserable. That made for a bleak reading experience.

“Enjoy” would not be the right word for “liking” this book. Saying it was “well done” for the subject matter or a similar phrase would be the thing. It is not “badly done.” It was just flat. I was not surprised that some reviews said “DNF.” It was tempting. But, it was the circus. I had to see the whole show. And, though it fell flat to my ears, she can tell a story. Maybe not in a key that made this story resonate with me. I’d definitely try more of her work. ...more

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