*Book source
~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher ~ Robert Daicy
Published ~ 10 March 2013
Genre ~ Historical/Fiction
Pages ~ 494
My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5
William
Barker lives in New York
in 1925. He has a good job in banking, a house, a 1923 Model T Ford and his
pride and joy, a lively seven-year-old son named James. His life would be
perfect if it weren’t for his wife Helen. No longer the loving, slim, smiling
woman he married she has turned into a termagant making what should be a
relaxing and loving home life nearly intolerable. However, he’s not one to give
up just because things are rough and he has James to love. Until a few seconds
of inattention changes everything. How will he go on when he believes he would
have been better off dead?
Talk
about life changing. William goes through something that turns his life upside
down. Alone and horribly scarred, he’s still healing physically and trying to
heal mentally, but when his boss says the scars will distract the important
bank clients he doesn’t even have a job to occupy his mind. After being
rejected at various places while looking for employment he begins to wonder how
he will support himself. As luck would have it, when he’s driven out of a diner
by people calling him a monster, Roland Skelton comes to his aid. Roland owns a
traveling carnival and he believes he has just the job for William if William
is willing to take a chance. While skeptical about the job, after thinking it
over, William decides he has nothing to lose in giving it a go, so he signs a
three year contract and becomes Skelton’s Spectacular Traveling Carnival’s new
headliner, Frankenstein’s Monster.
The
beginning of this book is a bit slow going, but my favorite part is the
description of Coney Island. James is
wonderful, but Helen is a cold bitch and I just wanted to reach out and smack
the shit outta her. William, ah, William. You can’t help but love the guy. Keep
tissues handy. I had to give up reading this book in public because of the
waterworks that would suddenly pop up. William goes through quite a lot and
comes out stronger in the end. The description of the traveling carnival life
is very interesting and the other performers are great. I especially loved
Roland. As the book was reaching the conclusion I ran several scenarios through
my mind, trying to think how it might end. I have to say though, I did not see
that particular ending coming. My gast was flabbered. This book has stuck with
me. I’m still thinking about it and I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it for some
time to come.
