MR: 15-122 yrs.
If you're one of the few people who hasn't yet read this New York Times Bestseller, I pity you. You honestly don't know what you're missing; you can't, or you would already have this book in your lap. It is truly a masterpiece of historical fiction that you can't afford to miss.
Ninety-three-year-old Jacob Jankowski lives in a nursing home. His biggest challenges each day include standing up, sitting down, and buttoning his shirt. He seems weak, a shadow of someone who used to exist, and it is evident that his time is running out. His body is failing him, but his mind still remembers, and it is through those memories that our story is told. Flashback to the depression. Jacob, a veterinary student at Cornell, is preparing to take his final exams when he is told that both his parents died in a car crash. Unable to face the exams, he flees. That night, he hops a train car, and finds himself onboard the train of The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He has veterinary experience, and they have animals. He's got the job.
The rest of the book is an account of his days in the circus. Not a romantic, glossed-over account, but a realistic one. No one has any money, no one has any alcohol (Prohibition), and if the boss doesn't like you, you may find yourself chucked off the train in the middle of the night. That's the circus, for you. But Jacob has no where else to go, and even if he did, he couldn't leave. He's fallen in love with the circus: the animals, the people, and especially with one of the performers, Marlene. As the plot thickens, Jacob finds himself fighting for his very survival and the lives of the people (and elephant) he's come to love.
It's hard to find anything bad to say about this book, actually. It drew me in so completely that I feel as if I had actually been on that train with Jacob, traveling across the United States. Perhaps the only part that I didn't enjoy was the overly detailed account of one of the female "performers" (prostitutes) that accompanied the circus. I could have done without it; it didn't add anything to the story and if anything, took away from the action. That's a minor detail though. When I start critiquing a chapter at a time, you know I don't have any major complaints.
So, please, for your own sake, read this book. It's the best book that I've read in a long time, and you're only hurting yourself if you let it slip through your fingers. It is available on Amazon in electronic, paperback, hardcover, and audio editions. Of course, check your local independent bookstore first. Click here to find a mom and pop store near you!
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