This book came highly recommended, so I was genuinely surprised that I spent the majority of it waiting for it to improve. About two-thirds of the way in, I realized that this was as good as it was going to get, and that even if the ending was spectacularly awesome and twisty, that didn’t take away from the fact that the first 300 pages were pretty underwhelming. I didn’t hate it, but I felt like I’d already read it before. Most of the book takes place in a circus, and I read a lot of reviews that implied other people enjoyed the insider-look at carnie life. However, if you’ve read Geek Love, seen Big Fish, or read or seen any other book or movie ever made that has a circus in it, there’s probably not going to be too much that’s new to you.

The fundamental themes of memory and kindness seemed like they had the potential to be interesting, but the plot is so shallow and superficial that the book just never seems to take off. The main character, Jacob, falls in love with a performer, Marlena, in the circus. Marlena is married to August, a trainer who is controlling and abusive to humans and animals alike. The novel goes back and forth between Jacob as an old man in a nursing home and Jacob as a young man in the Benzini Brothers’ circus.

The characters are as one dimensional as the plot. There’s a touch of melancholy in Old Man Jacob’s story line but most of this thread consists of complaints about aging and the lack of an independent life. Which would be a fine thing for a character to talk about, if it was at all relevant to the other, more prominent plot thread running in the book. Jacob’s family has basically abandoned him at the home and his wife preceded him in death several years ago. The book waited just along enough to reveal the wife as Marlena for me to hope the characters’ circus days were only a brief part of an otherwise rich and complex, if not entirely romantically fulfilling, life. But no, Jacob marries Marlena and after leaving the Benzini Brothers, they go to work at Ringling.

Jacob’s is the primary pov, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that we hear so little of Marlena in the nursing home segments, but it just added further insult to an already weak character development. I fully recognize that it’s a lot to ask that every female protagonist have some strength and independence, but Marlena is just pathetic. I was disappointed that a female author would degrade her heroine like that. Most of Marlena’s scenes consist of her crying and beating her little fists as men gently wrap their arms around her tiny frame. Blech.

At the very beginning of the book, there’s a description of someone—who you first assume to be Marlena—murdering the abusive August with a tent stake. Later, you learn that it’s Rosie the elephant who actually grabs the stake with her trunk and kills August. Apparently, there is some critical speculation that because Old Man Jacob’s memory is spotty, it might actually have been Marlena who killed her husband after all. As far as I could tell, though, all the evidence points to Rosie as the killer. It’s really too bad because although Rosie’s murderous side adds an interesting twist to the otherwise boring, predictable, and completely unrealistic ending, having killed August would have actually given Marlena some semblance of strength. Alas.

I’m usually able to go along with a little suspension of belief, particularly when it means a romantic happy ending for the two main characters, but with Jacob and Marlena, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and gag a little. The two lovers escape together after August’s death, rescue a few circus animals, and start up a farm together outside of Chicago. Somehow, despite the fact that ends are tied up very neatly, I wasn’t left with a sense of justice. Instead I felt like I’d been cheated by a cheap summation with no moral complexity whatsoever. The good guys never face repercussions for their actions and presumably aren’t a bit bothered by the shady business that went down in their past.

I’m a firm believer in individual taste, so if I’ve offended anyone that recommended this book to me, I apologize. It just didn’t do it for me. Maybe the movie will be better.

Lastly, I swear I’m not a judgmental bitter hag who hates everything. My next few reviews are absolutely positive ones. =)