Status
Available
Publication
Harcourt, Inc. (2004), Edition: 1st, 274 pages
Description
From 1884 to 1939, the Great Porter Circus made the unlikely choice to winter in an Indiana town called Lima, a place that feels as classic as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and as wondrous as a first trip to the Big Top. In Lima an elephant can change the course of a man's life-or the manner of his death. Jennie Dixianna entices men with her dazzling Spin of Death and keeps them in line with secrets locked in a cedar box. The lonely wife of the show's manager has each room of her house painted like a sideshow banner, indulging her desperate passion for a young painter. And a former clown seeks consolation from his loveless marriage in his post-circus job at Clown Alley Cleaners. Cathy Day follows the circus people into their everyday lives and brings the greatest show on earth to the page.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member Whisper1
This is a fascinating novel of the Wallace Porter circus that wintered in Lima, Indiana. The author grew up in Peru, Indiana where the actual Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus wintered.
This is a humorous, insightful, poignant in-depth look at circus life from 1884-1939. Painting a lovely canvas of circus
Through a series of well told, interlocking stories, this is well researched snapshot of a complex community.
Highly recommended.
This is a humorous, insightful, poignant in-depth look at circus life from 1884-1939. Painting a lovely canvas of circus
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freaks, clowns, acrobats, ring leaders, managers, owners, elephants, hippos, tigers and the strong resiliency of a circus struggling to survive, the author never stoops to pity or darkness.Through a series of well told, interlocking stories, this is well researched snapshot of a complex community.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member punxsygal
A series of stories about the circus in Lima, Indiana--the elephants, the spin of death, the clowns. But it goes further, into the generations to follow, other lives lived, but still circus people. Beautiful writing.
LibraryThing member yourotherleft
The Circus in Winter is an excellent book made up of interconnected short stories about all variety of people tied to a circus that wintered in a small town in Indiana. Usually novels made up of short stories leave me cold, but these were so well woven together with such pervasive common themes
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that it was really enjoyable. Day brings the circus people and their descendants vividly to life in both their joys and their tragedies. I especially liked how the last story brought out the theme of town people being those that stay but circus people always moving, even when they are no longer technically "circus people." Day definitely captures the enduring impression the circus left on the town even well after it had disbanded. Show Less
LibraryThing member kendy15
Imagine that a circus back in the early 1900’s used an old horse farm in small town Indiana as their winter headquarters. How many lives could be affected by this activity? What kind of people made up the circus of long ago? How many generations would the circus affect long after it was no more?
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Answers are discovered in Cathy Day’s engrossing tale Circus in Winter. For many the circus was an opportunity for a better life, for others it represented youth and innocence, and for some it was an escape. Adult themes of death, abandonment, love, sex, and depression are explored in this fictional novel. Those familiar with the south-central Indiana towns of Lima, Rensselaer, Valparaiso, Nappanee, Warsaw and Alexandria will appreciate the references to past and present times. Show Less
LibraryThing member extrajoker
stories: Wallace Porter / Jennie Dixianna / The Last Member of the Boela Tribe / The Circus House / Winnesaw / The Lone Star Cowboy / The Jungle Goolah Boy / The King and His Court / Boss Man / The Bullhook / Circus People
I really enjoyed this collection of interrelated short stories all set in the
In other words, this collection may appeal to non-"circus fanatics" who appreciate character-driven, introspective writing.
I really enjoyed this collection of interrelated short stories all set in the
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same town, where a traveling circus spends the winter months. Together, these tales form a sketchbook history of the town (inspired by Day's own hometown) and its denizens. Really, though, the stories deal with the motivations and relationships of their very human characters, with the sawdust and sequins merely a backdrop.In other words, this collection may appeal to non-"circus fanatics" who appreciate character-driven, introspective writing.
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LibraryThing member stevedore
Seemingly a collection of short stories that weave in and out of each other to tell the tale of quiet town that has more history than it knows. Oddly, the style reminded me of Julian Barnes' History of the World in Ten and Half Chapters.
LibraryThing member iubookgirl
I thought Day did an excellent job of depicting this golden era of the American circus. I have always heard of the Indiana ties to the circus, but never embraced them as I did after reading The Circus in Winter. I am now itching to visit the Peru circus museum.
LibraryThing member bremmd
There's something inherently fasinating about a circus. There's also something inherently creepy about a circus. What does the circus do when the winter comes? Why, they settle in Indiana. Why they would choose a cold place to winter instead of say, California or Florida is a question for another
The second section of the book deals more with the families who live in this former circus town and while not nearly as fascinating still very well written and an interesting take on how the history of a small town plays a large part in the lives of it's inhabitants.
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book. There is a town in Florida where ex-circus folk live but that's another book as well. This is the story of the fictional Wallace Porter circus and it's winters in Lima, Indiana (Lie-ma, not Leema) Based on a read circus that wintered in Peru, Indiana this is a inside look into depression era circus life.The second section of the book deals more with the families who live in this former circus town and while not nearly as fascinating still very well written and an interesting take on how the history of a small town plays a large part in the lives of it's inhabitants.
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LibraryThing member thatotter
I thought this was pretty weak--lots of plot cliches, not enough detail, generally depressing.
LibraryThing member susanbevans
Cathy Day's The Circus in Winter is a collection of stories woven through the lives of people connected in some way with the Great Porter Circus. The "feel" of the stories is almost historical/biographical, rather than what one normally considers fictional. The subjects of Day's stories are
An amazing piece of contemporary fiction, The Circus in Winter is undoubtedly a book worth reading and relishing. Cathy Day's style of writing is simple and without unneeded embellishments. I enjoyed each of her stories for what it was: a work when blended together with the others contained in the book, completes a beautifully moving portrait of the circus and small-town life.
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well-written and elicit from the reader a kind of depth of feeling not often found in short fiction.An amazing piece of contemporary fiction, The Circus in Winter is undoubtedly a book worth reading and relishing. Cathy Day's style of writing is simple and without unneeded embellishments. I enjoyed each of her stories for what it was: a work when blended together with the others contained in the book, completes a beautifully moving portrait of the circus and small-town life.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
I love reading books set in my home state, Indiana, but they are few and far between. So I was excited to discover this book, the story of a circus whose home base was in Indiana. The whole book is about the circus, but each chapter features a different star, a different player in the overall
I’ve seen it compared to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and that description is spot on. Both books breakdown small-town life and the dark secrets that lie in everyone's past. There are sweet moments, but overall it's about the heartbreak inherent in the human condition.
Day draws each character beautifully and you're invested in their story from the first pages. Each person is fragile despite their sometimes tough exteriors. Wallace Porter is a resident of Lima, Ind. and buys the circus from a man named Hollenbach. Porter’s own story is so tragic that it sets the tone for the rest of the book.
There’s Jennie Dixianna, who was raised in the Alabama bayou and now performs the “spin of death,” wearing her perpetually bloody wrist as a proud talisman of her both talent and stubbornness. Then we meet the Boela tribe, which includes generations of members. It starts with Bascomb and Pearly, but continues with their son Gordon, his daughter Verna, and her son Chicky who is a dwarf. Even characters that aren’t human, like Caesar the elephant, find a way to pull you in.
There are stories set within the circus and others that feature the lives affected by it. There’s the lonely wife of its manager who fills her home with murals of the circus. One family moves to Peru years after the circus has closed, but vestiges of its glamour still seep into their lives. The circus also barely survived a huge flood in 1913, which wiped out many of its performers and animals.
I loved how all the stories are tied together. The son of the elephant keeper lived in the Colonel’s house, later his daughter Laura is featured in her own story. Because the time period in which many of the stories take place, there is an inevitable tone of racism. The way African-Americans are treated throughout the book breaks your heart. They could be a featured act in the circus just by being black. That made them a wild curiosity that might have come from the “jungle.”
The author grew up in Peru, Ind. which was the home of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. It wintered there and many of her family members were involved in it. I was curious how much of the book was inspired or based on true story she might have heard growing up.
BOTTOM LINE: Hauntingly beautiful stories about loneliness in so many different forms. The circus may be the stage for these particular stories, but their resonance and relatability reaches across the years.
"The world is made up of hometowns. It's just as hard to leave a block in Brooklyn or a suburb of Chicago as it is to leave a small town in Indiana."
“This is why they call it the heartland. In the summer, the fields on either side of Mrs. Colonel’s house glowed a brilliant green, rippling in the wind. The air stretched above like miles of blue canvas, and Mrs. Colonel pictured a center pole rising up from Indianapolis’s Monument Circle to hold up the endless sky.”
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company of characters. It begins with the tale of the circus’ owner in 1884 and then winds through the decades.I’ve seen it compared to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and that description is spot on. Both books breakdown small-town life and the dark secrets that lie in everyone's past. There are sweet moments, but overall it's about the heartbreak inherent in the human condition.
Day draws each character beautifully and you're invested in their story from the first pages. Each person is fragile despite their sometimes tough exteriors. Wallace Porter is a resident of Lima, Ind. and buys the circus from a man named Hollenbach. Porter’s own story is so tragic that it sets the tone for the rest of the book.
There’s Jennie Dixianna, who was raised in the Alabama bayou and now performs the “spin of death,” wearing her perpetually bloody wrist as a proud talisman of her both talent and stubbornness. Then we meet the Boela tribe, which includes generations of members. It starts with Bascomb and Pearly, but continues with their son Gordon, his daughter Verna, and her son Chicky who is a dwarf. Even characters that aren’t human, like Caesar the elephant, find a way to pull you in.
There are stories set within the circus and others that feature the lives affected by it. There’s the lonely wife of its manager who fills her home with murals of the circus. One family moves to Peru years after the circus has closed, but vestiges of its glamour still seep into their lives. The circus also barely survived a huge flood in 1913, which wiped out many of its performers and animals.
I loved how all the stories are tied together. The son of the elephant keeper lived in the Colonel’s house, later his daughter Laura is featured in her own story. Because the time period in which many of the stories take place, there is an inevitable tone of racism. The way African-Americans are treated throughout the book breaks your heart. They could be a featured act in the circus just by being black. That made them a wild curiosity that might have come from the “jungle.”
The author grew up in Peru, Ind. which was the home of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. It wintered there and many of her family members were involved in it. I was curious how much of the book was inspired or based on true story she might have heard growing up.
BOTTOM LINE: Hauntingly beautiful stories about loneliness in so many different forms. The circus may be the stage for these particular stories, but their resonance and relatability reaches across the years.
"The world is made up of hometowns. It's just as hard to leave a block in Brooklyn or a suburb of Chicago as it is to leave a small town in Indiana."
“This is why they call it the heartland. In the summer, the fields on either side of Mrs. Colonel’s house glowed a brilliant green, rippling in the wind. The air stretched above like miles of blue canvas, and Mrs. Colonel pictured a center pole rising up from Indianapolis’s Monument Circle to hold up the endless sky.”
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Awards
Great Lakes Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2005)
The Story Prize (Finalist — 2004)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2004
ISBN
015101048X / 9780151010486