Customer Reviews

Carny Folk

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author had a great idea in taking a closer look at the personal stories of side show performers; however, the text itself reads like a badly written Freshman Comp. paper. Redundancies and awkward phrases abound. This book would have been greatly improved by additional editing before publication. I found the subject matter interesting but the text irksome.

I will admit a bit of fascination with human oddities. Why not? There seems to be little to be fascinated with anymore. Like the author, I also enjoyed Carnivale on HBO. I also enjoyed the old 30's movie Freaks.

With this book, I was expecting more than I received. While the scope was adequate, I felt the depth was lacking. Overall, it was still an enjoyable read but each sub-section left me wanting more information about the person. The most disturbing aspect of the book was the lack of pictures. For sure, pictures were included but for many subjects, I had to do a Google image search. How hard would it have been to insert a picture for each person listed in the book? When the topic is "human oddities" a picture is needed in order to get a real feel of the person's challenges.

Still yet, I would recommend this book to my friends; at least those know how to get Google on their computer.

Michael L. Gooch, Author of Wingtips with Spurs

A fascinating review of side show freaks and the more human side of their story. They seemed to hold a most non PC point of view, and some would fight for what they considered to be their rights as oposed to the rights allowed by others.

There is a lot of information about the persons covered, like where they grew up and what happened until they died. There are also pictures of most of them.

I used to go to the state fair and see the displays "See the biggest steer alive!" "See the smallest woman ever!" "See the lady who had her head chopped off in a car accident and she is still alive!" I always looked down on those people. This book helped me to see them as people and I am kind of sorry that I never went in to see any of the shows.

You have to be a touch "warped" to enjoy a book like this, but if that's what floats your boat... this is the perfect item!