This book has a great premise-- a travelling circus struggling during the depression. Throw in an innocent young man with circus people, including a beautiful woman, lots of action and the book has great potential.Unfortunately, this book fails to reach its potential. The author states that she spent 4 months, wait she actually said 4 and 1/2 months, researching material. It is too bad that the old circus photos are far more interesting and descriptive than her writing. The characters are flat and cliched. We never learn enough about our hero to really get behind him. The reader learns nothing about the woman he falls in love other than the fact she is pretty.
The book takes the form of an old man looking back at a period in his youth. The short chapters with the aged hero mostly reflect on life in nursing homes. I felt this mostly distracted from the main circus story.
I know this book is loved by many, but is not an example of good writing or story-telling. It is more like something you would find serialized in Reader's Digest.
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