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muffmacguff's review against another edition
3.0
This book was basically fine. He travels with a circus for a season and writes about it. He begs to be allowed to work as a clown while reporting on the circus and I think the book is weaker for it. He spends barely any time interviewing the circus staff because there’s a thick line between them and the performers. He acknowledges animal rights issues without doing literally any reporting himself on what abuse is actually happening - he mostly takes the animal trainers’ word for it, which is sort of silly because he repeatedly notes that everyone in the circus lies to him all the time. There are definitely some interesting stories in here but his analysis is very surface; he repeatedly insists that the circus IS America, like ok dude we get it. I think there’s a much more thoughtful book hidden in here that a more talented writer (and one who wasn’t embedded as a performer) would have been able to bring out. Anyway, it’s a breezy enough read for those of us still dreaming of running off with the circus.
djrmelvin's review against another edition
3.0
Another life in the circus book, this one is nonfiction. Mr. Feiler spent a season traveling with the Clyde Beaty-Cole Brothers Circus, one of the last large tent circuses. He trains (very quickly) as a clown, and drops right into what he calls the two halves of the circus, the performances and the performers. It's obvious from the story telling that Mr. Feiler loved his experience, and made a lot of friends while he was with the circus, because he's very hesitant to say anything negative about the experience. When he does, he's quick to point out positives to offset them. Rose colored glasses aside, if you've ever wondered about the day to day life of being part of a circus, I'd recommend this book.
mercourier's review
3.0
Though I like the structure of the book, the stories the author alluded to seem more interesting than the ones he actually tells. It's a melancholy book rather than joyous not that I expected an overly happy portrait of a dying art.
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