Customer Reviews

Circus Fire

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Novelist O'Nan has written a piercing non-fiction account of the legendary Ringling Brothers Circus fire in Hartford, Conn. on July 6, 1944. 167 people died, the majority women and children. Because of the sheer horror of the event combined with the fact of violent deaths of families and dozens of small children, the story of the fire has taken on a mythic, almost Gothic quality. O'Nan sorts through all the legends surrounding the fire while still acknowlegding that mystery are at the heart of the event. Who started the fire? Was it the psychotic teenager who confessed years later? And what about the legend of the demented woman who pretended to be a doctor at a hospital where the victims were: she supposedly set the limbs of some of them so badly they had to be amputated--truth or fiction? There are accounts of human savagery as people clawed at each other to escape the burning big top. There are also stories of heroism and self-sacrifice. And very gruesome details of what fire does to the human body. Of course there is the story of Little Miss 1565, a small girl killed in the fire who had a mostly preserved face, and yet was never identified. O'Nan is drawn to extreme human situations in his fiction, but he has really done a fine thing with this true story. It will haunt you for days.

I am sure that any decent writer who was willing to dig through the archives and old newspaper stories could have written a good book about the Hartford circus fire. For Stewart O'Nan however, that was not enough. He not only did the research that any author would do when writing about a historical event; he tracked down the survivors. That is what makes this book so good. The stories told by the survivors make the whole story much more personal and much more tragic. On top of all this, O'Nan's writing style is superb. As a novelist who usually deals in fiction he writes in a very engrossing manner that keeps the reader's interest from cover to cover.

The chapters are divided by dates and O'Nan takes each of the several families he follows in detail from their preparations for the circus to the very end. Whether that end is death or recovery we get the whole story. In this way the reader is able to connect in a personal way with the victims. If they escaped we find out how they got out. If they required hospitalization we get the story of their recovery. If they are killed we are taken through the identification process and some of the funerals. O'Nan even follows two of the survivors into their careers as firemen. The reader is also treated to the inner politics of the Ringling family and the power struggle after the fire. Along the way we meet circus people who were indeed negligent, politicians who struggled to cover their own negligence, nurses, doctors, and lots of policemen. We also meet many heroes; many of them policemen and firemen just like on 9/11. O'Nan spares no detail but he never gets boring. The reader will also get a good feel for 1944. The circus was short on workers because of the war. Hartford's residents were prospering because of the war industries. Gas and food ration stamps were so precious that the police were amazed that so many people turned in stamp books found on the midway or still in the smoldering big top. This book is just simply fascinating all the way around.

Finally, O'Nan takes the reader up to 1999, Fifty-five years after the fire. That fifty-five years brings new investigations, new theories, new suspects, and the end of Ringling Brothers' days as a tent show. In 1994 there is a touching fifty-year reunion of the survivors. To the very end, O'Nan handles the subject with dignity and grace. The subject matter is sorrowful and you will be moved close to tears, but I highly recommend this book.

This account of a ghastly event is extremely well researched and written. There is no hyperbole, no wringing of hands. The author simply lets the story tell itself through those who were there, for the most part.

Here is but a single stunning example, from p.109: "Several survivors said the one thing they will never forget about the circus fire as long as they live is the sound of the animals as they burned alive. But there were no animals." How much more effective that is, as prose, than the alternative method of saying the same thing.

Stories of individual selfishness and total selflessness abound, as they do in an accurate account of any great tragedy. The author does not omit either, so that the reader comes away with a feel for what it must have been like that hot July afternoon in Hartford, one month after D-Day.

I had misgivings about how well this could be told, before I read the book. Not now. I'd recommend this to any circus fan, to anyone who wants to read something really well written and thoroughly researched.

My only criticism is that the photos, many taken by amateurs, to be sure, are not well produced. I like the fact that they are on the pages where they fit, but in doing this on regular paper, details and drams are lost.

If you grew up in Connecticut, you probably heard stories about the Hartford Circus Fire. On July 6, 1944 a fire broke out during a matinee performance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, 167 people were killed (mostly women and children). The fire is etched into the memory of the people of Connecticut and survivors still feel the physical and emotional effects of the blaze.

The Circus Fire, by Stewart O'Nan not only provides the facts about the fire but also brings to life the people who were forever changed by the events of that tragic day.

"At Saint Francis Hospital, a six-year old visited his mother for the first time since the fire. The mother had crawled on top of her son as the flames rolled over them. It worked; the boy was only slightly burned. The mother was in serious condition, but she would live."

"In Hartford, a trible funeral of one mother and her two sons drew a crowd..Her husband didn't attend; he'd collapsed upon hearing the news and was in seclusion."

O'Nan conducted extensive interviews with survivors and has done an excellent job telling their stories. The 1944 fire was as devasting to Hartford as the bombing in Oklahoman City. Everyone in the community knew someone who was killed or injured in the blaze. While the story of the fire is fascinating, the memories of the survivors make the book unique.

You do not have to love history or be a circus buff to enjoy this book. I highly recommend it.

I saw the fact that this book was written in an ad in Yankee Magazine. Being one of the lucky people to survive it, I immediatley ordered the book from Amazon. When the book arrived I started to read it-but found I couldn't just keep reading. It brought back such memories-the anticipation of going to the circus-a big big treat for us. The dust and heat of that day. Our party of 6, mom dad, 2 sisters(Tibbals twins) and 2 friends. The heat as we entered the tent, the search for seats in the bleachers, up high so we could see, in what I now know was the Southwest corner of the tent. The excitment of seeing the first animal act, the anticipation of the ariel act to follow as the performers started climbing the ropes to the top of the tent, and then the scream FIRE! Turning around, and finding the tent on fire directly behind us. To their credit, our parents got us out, as we were near the main exit. But not without injuries. Bruises and superficial burns as dad hurried us to the exit, mom dropping my sister down to dad under the bleachers as the heat and smoke had got to her and she had fainted, dad rushing us out and telling us to stay together, and turning to get my mom, who, on her own, and who I can still see, walking out by herself-looking OK, but burned badly on her right arm, and the top of her head. Rushing us to our car and out of the city of Hartford and back to Middletown-his stopping at the police station in Middletown to let them know of the tragedy and then taking my mom to the hospital in Middletown and are not seeing her for a long time. The horror that the little girl who sat in front of me in school had to indure as she and her whole family perished. The terrible ordeal my other girlfriend and her sister (the Smith sisters) endured to live. It's all there. Mr. Nan has done and incredible job of putting it all together so that those of us who were little, yet were there, can know what happened and what was done. The fire was never mentioned at home and we were to little to read the newspapers of that day. While I spent many nights picking up and reliving the whole ordeal as I read on, I thank the author from the bottom of my heart for giving it the life it deserved.

This could have been the next book of fiction in a line of novels written by master storyteller Stewart O'Nan, but the fact that "The Circus Fire" actually took place allows Mr. O'Nan to cross successfully into the world of non-fiction. He does so combining broad strokes with intimate detail. Like a circus juggler, Mr. O'Nan keeps several narratives going at once, centering much of the time on several groups of friends and families who met death and injury head-on when they attended the circus in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944.

"The Circus Fire" is a very scary book. Mr. O'Nan has spared nothing in chronicalling the events of that summer afternoon. The fates of hundreds of people who tried to flee the big top were decided in many cases by good or bad decisions and luck, often escaping by a matter of inches. He accompanies his stories with several "side shows"....how people react in panic situations, how the ongoing war effort and preparedness affected the response by local and state officials, how the circus hierarchy was run, and so on.

I would suggest that readers keep a finger in page 24; the "principals" page. One will need to refer back to this particular list of attendees throughout the book. Although Mr. O'Nan sees their stories through to the end, I wish he had included that same list with their outcomes on a single page at the end of the book as his summaries tend to diffuse.

I am impressed by Mr. O'Nan's attention to detail and his observation of dozens of ironic twists. The story could have ended with the investigation wrap-up, but the ongoing search for the cause of the fire, the man who may have set it, and the identity of "Little Miss 1565" carries the book to the present. Just like fire itself, "The Circus Fire" envelops you. I hope readers will take time to read it carefully. It is a profound book.

Stewart O'Nan has corrected a major oversight by writing so comprehensively about a topic surrounded by myth and folk legend. Apparently, the story of the Hartford circus fire of 1944 has never been told in a book, but Mr O'Nan has dived into the deep end of the myths and legends and surfaced with a factual, well-researched, and eminently readable tale of the tragedy. Covering all aspects of the fire and its' aftermath, Mr O'Nan debunks the stories told as truth but bearing none, reveals new and unsung heroes, and lovingly examines the fate of Little Miss 1565, the lovely, unclaimed child who lay so long in a grave with only a number to mark her presence.

This is an exciting read, filled with the thrill of the circus, the horror of a fire out of control, the fate of survivors, and that of victims ....... both those who lived and those who didn't.

While Mr O'Nan has moved on to the Boston Red Sox in his book with Stephen King, FAITHFUL, this was his first foray into non-fiction, and he has done himself proud. This is a great story, told well, and with care.

I grew up in Connecticut, so all my life on the anniversary of the Circus Fire, articles would appear in the local newspaper but never seemed to tell the whole story of what happened afterwards in the lives of those who were touched by this tragedy. Stewart O'Nan does a fantastic job of putting together many of the pieces of this disaster and does so in an interesting and informative way. The subject of the Circus Fire was always thought-provoking, as my dad had a chance to attend the circus that day and did not go . . . . I may never have existed if he had made the trip!

Stewart O'Nan has taken the research and the true-life stories of the survivors of the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire and created a true historical accounting of this tragedy, and a memorial to the 168 people who entered the tent that very hot day in July expecting a wonderful show,only to end that day in terrible injury or death. I was at the circus that July 6th, a five-year old who was saved by a then unknown benefactor, who scooped me up when my mother was pushed down and trampled upon as we were fleeing the fire. I am amazed that it took 56 years for someone to write this accounting of that terrible, hot, steamy July day. Stewart O'Nan.s book serves as both an historical document and a wonderful memorial to the 168 people who perished.Thank you Mr. O'Nan for a wonderful job

A very thorough account of the Circus Fire in Hartford in 1944. I was transported back to a time and place I never knew and felt as if I were there. I had heard of the unidentified little blonde girl, but thought I had read that she was indentified. After reading this, one is left wondering once again. I read this in one sitting and I would imagine you will also.