Book Review: The Circus in Winter

The Circus in Winter
By Cathy Day
Harvest Books
Publication Date: July 6, 2005
ISBN: 978-0156032025

It's obvious why I chose to read this book. After being recommended to me a while ago, I found it on paperbackswap and quickly ordered it. I'm so incredibly happy I did.

The Circus in Winter tells the story of the Great Porter Circus from its purchase in 1884 to its closure in 1939 through various voices starting with that of Wallace Porter himself, a man who looses his wife to disease early in their marriage. Porter sells his livestock and purchases a financially struggling circus, complete with its performers, riggers and animals. Every year the circus traveled the country and settled in Lima, Indiana during the winter months - Porter's hometown. After the initial chapter that set up the theme, each subsequent chapter follows the story of a different person who was either a performer, relative of a performer, or local person affected by the circus. A basic plot is intertwined through each story, but the side stories are what makes it interesting, the true story of residents of Lima.

Through the book you meet many ragtag characters, including Jennie Dixianna who performs the Spin of Death of the Spanish Web (note: I performed said spin) and attracts men nightly. There's the Hofstadters (Hans and Nettie), Germans who travel with the circus. Hans, at the age of 35, is killed by his elephant, leaving Nettie to raise their son, Ollie, alone (who goes on to become a clown and then open his own cleaning business in town). Bascomb Bowles was a slave who was recruited by the circus to act as an African savage - there he quickly met his future wife, Pearly. As the story progresses, the time period changes and modern day characters, descendants of performers, tell their side of the story. In Lima, everyone knows everything and by the end you feel as if you're a resident.

Combining fact with fiction, Cathy Day tells the story of a struggling railroad circus, and the magic it brought its performers - both good and bad. Day, a former resident of Peru, grew up with the circus, as her great great uncle was the elephant tamer (who the character of Hans is loosely based off). Through old clippings and intense research, she created a real life for each fictional character.

What I loved most about this book is the detail it goes into. When I read Water For Elephants, I was originally disappointed that it didn't delve more into the actual circus acts. The Circus in Winter gave plenty of details, ones that made me shout "YES!" with agreement and call my fellow circus friends to read them paragraphs. I felt like one of the performers at times. Jennie Dixiana's wrist continuously bled from her act - Day could have written about me and my always bleeding ankles. The performance was more important than health at times.

Overall, The Circus in Winter is a fantastic circus and historical book. Those who have a background in circus arts will love it; however, rubes (non-circus folks) will find the tangled story and brilliant descriptions engrossing. It's neat to remember a time when the circus was the main attraction for a city. When people gathered from all around to watch the performers hang upside down or let lions jump through hoops. I'm glad circuses like Barnum and Bailey still exist and still travel the same way they did in the early 1900s. There's a certain amount of history that goes with them - sawdust and all.