About book The Circus Fire: A True Story Of An American Tragedy (2001)
First off, I started reading this book and I didn't have a real reason why. I love the circus, but I knew exactly what I was getting into here: a really depressing nonfiction with a lot of unsolved history and more questions than answers. As I was finishing it today, I happened to read the date of the fire for the ten millionth time... and realized that the anniversary of that fire is today. Just a creepy little bit of synchronicity to bring everything around full circle.Anyway, this book was de-pres-sing! Not that it had any business to be anything but, of course. But if you're looking for a book that wraps everything in a neat little package and answers all of your questions, or makes you want to toss it aside and go find the Shriners... you should probably not read this book. I actually feel disappointed after finishing this. Not because it was poorly written, or boring (though it did seem long), but because nothing has been solved. That's no fault of the author's, and I didn't dock any stars from the rating because of it, but I feel unfulfilled somehow. There's probably no way at this point to ever get the answers to the questions the book raises. On one hand, this book is really disjointed—you read one sentence about a person and then three chapters later there's another sentence about the same person. In fact there's really only one victim that gets mentioned in several paragraphs so the reader gets the full effect (Little Miss 1565). It makes it hard to follow someone's story when it's spread out, one sentence at a time, over a whole book. On the other hand, the disjointed writing style almost feels perfect for this book—it worked, and it worked because it was a very simple and effective way to make me feel like they must have felt all those years ago. There was a sentence about the mayor, maybe halfway through, where it said at the beginning of the disaster all of these people were strangers and by the end of the day they were all familiar to him. That's how I felt at the end of this. Another thing—this book was really kind of graphic. Not over the top graphic. It wasn't needless gore. It was “hey, this is what happened.” And if there are images now that are always going to stick in my mind, well, maybe that's not a bad thing. But seriously, I'm never going to forget the description of a mother and a child who literally melted together. Usually with nonfiction books I don't always like a completely unbiased account. This time, I liked that the author didn't try to impose any of his own theories on the “unsolved mystery” part of the book. Enough to disprove the theory of the unknown girl's identity, sure, but he never came out and said who he thought she was, either. I'm just going to say this to get it off my chest, even though it's not a problem with the book, just with people in general. There were SEVERAL unidentified victims and people only cared about one. It was very touching, how the two men went and put flowers on Little Miss 1565's grave every year until they died. Very nice how they said, “if she were my little girl I would want someone to remember her.” Well, that's very sweet. Except there are two other unidentified children, and they barely get a mention. Their graves are right there and they never get flowers. I'm not trying to cheapen the men and their completely sweet act. I'm asking why it seemed like no one cared about the other two. (Note: I do understand that it's because 1565 was so recognizable and still unidentified. That's not the point I'm trying to make here.) I think at the end of it, I felt worse for the other two kids because they were just kind of forgotten in all the hype about the “famous” one. I felt like they didn't deserve to get remembered because they got burned more. That is a really sad way to feel about something like this. I don't think I'll ever reread this book. Not because it was bad, but because once is enough!
Growing up in Connecticut I have been interested in the Hartford Circus Fire since I first found out about it. It was surprising to be that at the time I had first learned of this disaster there were no books published that were just about this incident. Stewart O’Nan, a well known novelist, took on the grueling task of writing this non-fiction account of the historic circus disaster and hit it out of the park!The first thing that really catches the eye of the reader in this book is the forward by the author. He proceeds to explain exactly why he decided to write this book and what the story means to him. This instantly connected my experience to that of the author – being unable to find any books about this subject and living in the close vicinity of the disaster itself. It really helps the reader to understand how important it was for him to tell this story. I also really liked the layout of the book. The author brings you through the history of previous circus disasters and uses this to really set the tone and in a way foreshadow the events that would take place in Hartford on June 6, 1944. It also opened a whole new world of historical information and events that I just had to go check out after. He then spends time really helping you get to know many of the people who would eventually become victims, survivors, and heroes of this tragic day. By spending time connecting the reader to these people their ultimate fate during the fire becomes important to you and makes you feel the event more than just reading some statistics. O’Nan then takes you through the events of the fire as seen from different perspectives and then moves into the aftermath at the hospitals, the morgue, police station, fairgrounds. He then continues the story up until the time the book was written following the mystery of Little Miss 1565. I really don’t think that the author missed any angles at which to look at this event – you get a completely well rounded view of the fire. Reading this on audiobook ended up making this such a surreal experience for me. I work just a couple of miles from the site of this disaster and as I would be driving along to or from work it would happen that the narrator would be talking about sites that I was driving past (various hospitals, the armory, various streets) and it made it so easy to connect with the world of this book. And if I thought it was surreal seeing the places that I was hearing about, imagine my shock when my place of employment ended up in this book! I also seemed to have a physical reaction every time the narrator said the words “Stars and Stripes Forever” – I would just get a shiver. This certainly speaks to the power of the narrator. Dick Hill put a lot of emotion into the words he was reading and at times it felt like I was listening to a well written news account. I could see the world vividly in front of me. The only thing that I think would have made this audiobook better would have been if they could have included the song “Stars and Stripes Forever” – it would have completed the experience.I whole-heartedly recommended this book or audiobook to all (I have both copies myself)!
Do You like book The Circus Fire: A True Story Of An American Tragedy (2001)?
This book is about a July 1944 fire under the big tent in Hartford, Connecticut, which resulted in the death and injuries of hundreds of people. Due to panic, people were trampled to death by other patrons running out of the tent to escape the fire. Others sustained horrible injuries from burns, and many died from the fire or from their injuries. The cause of the fire was never disclosed, but theories have it that it was started, most likely from a lit cigarette or match in themen’s room. Despite investigations, it was never concluded whether the fire was caused by an accident or arson.
—Marsha
This book is O'Nan's account of the tragic fire that took down Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey's big top in Hartford in 1944, leaving 167 dead. The author is a novelist, not a historian, so it's odd that while his research seems rock solid, the weak spot of the book is the storytelling. By sticking to a strict chronological format, he compromises the power of the individual stories of the survivors and the dead. This reader, anyway, was left unable to keep the stories of each family straight as O'Nan switches back and forth between them as well as the larger narrative of the disaster and its aftermath through the course of the whole book.I understand why he made the choice--to preserve a "you are there" experience of the tragedy unfolding without switching back and forth in time, so the reader doesn't know who lives or dies in advance.Despite this fundamental flaw, the book is a definitive telling of an entirely preventable tragedy that should be better known than it is. Ringling Brothers paid restitution to the victims amounting to $4 million, but did not seem to have suffered any lasting damage to its image or popularity despite the appalling negligence that resulted in six of its employees getting sent to prison.
—Kevin A.
For some reason I'm fascinated by old circuses; I think a combination of my fascination with freaks and transients/my undying love for tatty retro glamour of all kinds/too many episodes of Circus of the Stars watched as a kid. I found the book's ridiculously macabre subject matter totally compelling and couldn't-put-it-down-even-though-I-probably-should-because-I-might-have-nightmares-because-I'm-a-wimp readable. I'm a fan of Stewart O'Nan's fiction, and was a little surprised by how totally stripped-down and muted and understated the writing was here. I expected something more obviously literary or lyrical, I guess, but considering the topic, in the end I think the unadorned and solemn style worked well. An affecting, gruesome and haunting book.
—Sarah
