A Word from the Other End of the Spectrum of Critics Christopher Bram is simply one of our best writers of fiction today. His previous works have met with well-founded acclaim ("The Notorious Dr. August: His Real Life and Crimes", and "Father of Frankenstein"), but for some reason THE LIVES OF THE CIRCUS ANIMALS isn't popular with most readers. I'm not at all sure why. This beautifully constructed book has vividly drawn characters, humor, scandal, absurdities, love form all sides of the sexual spectrum, tenderness, warmth, and a Ringmaster's viewpoint of just how untamable 'animals' can be. The plot centers around the misadventures of groups of theater people in New York City - actors, playwrights, critics, and wannabes - and Bram manages to stir the cauldron of these characters with such sensitivity that in the end - the Grand Finale of a birthday party - the whole extravaganza comes to a pitch perfect boiling point. The coda to the book shows very subtle resolution of all the lives. Bram's title comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats entitled "The Circus Animals' Desertion" and at one point out main character, the playwright Caleb refers to it " Where he says he gave his heart to the theater, but he's all burned out and his animals have run off. It's the poem with the lines 'I must lie down where all the ladders start,/In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.'" Bram runs with this terrific quote and has created a novel that, for this reader, is equal to his other fine works. Highly recommended.Grady Harp
A well paced book by one of America's best gay themed writers. Bram's truly loves his characters writing them fully human and with ease. In LOTCA we quickly devour each one of them while he shows us the joys and sorrows of everyday life in the big city. Anyone who loves NYC will love his comical, smart and fascinating view of the theater scene. Although, coincidence may seem to some very unbelievable for even fiction he still manages to leave even the cynical of heart believing that serendipity can still happen in such a big city. What reader with a soft heart could ask for more?
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This book started on such a high note for me and then quickly went over the cliff. The characters are so self-absorbed and that they just started to grate on me after awhile. Jessie, sister of the playwright Caleb, really worked my nerves and I found her relationship with Frank to be unrealistic and downright bizarre. What man gets you out of your clothes and then doesn't want to do the deed? I did enjoy the neurotic personalities of the actors and the people around them, but I could only take them in small doses. There was just something off about everyone here. Frank seemed more like a gay man than a heterosexual, Henry's voice seemed like that of a much older man (I kept seeing Ian McKellen), not someone in his 50s, Caleb's conversations with his dead boyfriend were annoying, and Prager didn't seem like a real person at all to me (probably because he practically disappears halfway through the book and then pops up again near the end). I don't really know what Christopher Bram was trying to do here. If he wanted to show that theater people are crazy, he did a good job of that, but I just felt like this book was too scattered and schizophrenic.
—Kim
