georginadean 's review for:

Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham

4.0

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‘man comes into the world a blind, groping mite. he knows hunger and the fear of noise and of falling. his life is spent in flight— flight from hunger and from the thunderbolt of destiny. from his moment of birth he begins to fall through the whistling air of time: down, down into a chasm of darkness...’

nightmare alley is based around carnivals, freak shows and seances. these settings are some of my favourites within any genre, but i especially found this book to be fascinating. i am used to viewing these settings in the context of horror, or even just disturbing literature such as ‘geek love’ by katherine dunn, but this is an allegory of the struggles in the great depression era of america.

stan carlisle, a falsified medium, uses all of his time and energy to become rich from the scamming of people from higher echelons of society. he attempts to swindle them, stealing their money through made-up ghosts, spirits and horoscope readings - all in an effort to achieve the american dream. he begins by working in the carnival and breaks away from it when an incident with a drunken man occurs, vowing to never act the way that he did.

however, life is not always that simple. he becomes stuck in a nightmare alley; running from footsteps behind him towards the light that is the ‘american dream’, yet always encountering obstacles along the way. the light is a mirage; it will never be reached. this is an expertly crafted novel that, by the final page, comes full circle. it’s easy to see how the great depression spiralled out of control, and how hope for the average american citizen was thwarted as the rich got richer and the poor were left behind. fantastic novel, i cannot recommend it enough.