Customer Reviews

The Pilo Family Circus

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On his way home from work late one night, Jamie almost runs over a strange man in a clown suit. The very next night his car breaks down and he's pushing it off the road, he sees the same clown on the roof of a gardening store across the parking lot, a second clown trying to coax him down. One of the clowns tosses a bag near where Jamie is hiding, and he absentmindedly picks it up. He'll soon discover his mistake. Living in house with junkies for roommates, he sprinkles some of the powder in the milk his roommate Steve has been stealing from him. He also tries some himself, thinking it could be drugs.

Next, he comes home to a house completely and utterly trashed, nothing left unbroken and feces smeared everywhere. There's a note for Jamie, "Pass your audition, feller, you're joining the circus". Dreading the countdown, Jamie finally does something outrageous and finds himself awakening in the Pilo Family Circus. He's given a clown outfit, a bag of the powder, and facepaint. Now partners with leader Gonko, wordless but shrieking Goshy and his brother Doopy, Rufshod, and Winston. After putting on his facepaint, Jamie becomes JJ the clown, outrageous, mean, and out of control. There's something in the facepaint that changes him. You'll meet the members of the freak show ran by Fishboy, and created by MM (Master Manipulator) who turns normal humans into hideous freaks like Tallow Man and Nugget. The clowns pretty much have free run of the circus, only the acrobats dare to challenge them.

Kurt Pilo, a giant of a man, religious and strange, runs the circus with his dwarfish brother George. There's something very strange about Kurt, you'll be put on edge just reading about him. Clowns are scary enough, but after Pilo's Family Circus you'll be terrified of them. Between shows, there's night after night of malicious shenanigans in one form or another. I could not put this book down. It starts fast and runs at an incredible pace. The characters are frightening and their actions unexpectedly evil. 'Pilo Family Circus' is the best horror novel I've read this year. The climax to the novel is utterly fantastic! I can't recommend this book highly enough to the horror aficionados out there. Believe me, your collection is not complete without the creeping horror of 'Pilo Family Circus'. Even the cover art is great, I had to turn the book over at night because I couldn't sleep with the clown staring at me. A ten star debut from a very talented new author. I hope he comes out with another novel soon, it wouldn't be too hard imagine a sequel to 'Pilo Family Circus'. Do NOT miss out on this book. Enjoy!

Here's a book sure to grab your attention: grab it, shake it, chew on it and spit it out! The Pilo Family Circus is one part comedy and one part comic book violence.

Comparisons with "It" and other evil clowns are a little misplaced. The clowns are a rough and ready bunch to be sure: lead by the scheming, sadistic Gonko, the masochistic Rufshod, the creepy space-cadet Goshy and his puppy-dog psychopath brother Doopy as well as the mysterious Winston, the clowns draw the protagonist Jamie into the Pilo Family Circus when he accidentally comes to their attention. But the clown troupe is not the real evil of the Circus, no sir. That would be Kurt Pilo, the bestial proprietor who snacks on teeth and his Napoleonic brother George. Even these two serve shadowy masters who reside... elsewhere.

In between the clowns' struggles to win Kurt's favour and sabotage other acts of the Circus (their running battle with the camp-but-deadly acrobats is hilarious) we witness Jamie's struggle with his alter-ego J.J., who emerges when Jamie is forced to don his magical face paint. This battle of wills can only have one winner - and one dead loser.

The action is fast paced, the dialogue is witty, salty and colours the characters very nicely. Subsequent readings of this book have revealed deeper allegorical elements to this story, for example the Jamie/J.J. struggle could be a metaphor for someone's struggle with addiction or schizophrenia. The circus itself may be a comment on our need for and addiction to distraction and entertainment, even as our souls are sucked our of our bodies.

In all this was a cracking read and I would recommend not reading it on the train or bus, as there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. For fans of The Young Ones and H.P. Lovecraft alike, enjoy this fine debut.

The Pilo Family Circus is an amazing dark comedy-a bizarre, hilarious, fast-paced, roller-coaster of a ride. I stumbled across it based on a reading recommendation and I'm very glad I took the plunge and purchased it. This novel is an absolute page-turner, gripping from the first page to the last, with the perfect pairing of outrageous characters, witty (and often salty) dialogue, situational humor, and sharp plotting to keep readers entertained at the circus. (Not to mention the creepy cover art!)

The story begins by following Jaime, an average Joe working an average job in Brisbane, Australia--until he nearly runs over a man dressed in a clown suit in the middle of the road driving home one night. The next night a seemingly random roadside breakdown forces Jaime to push his car home, where he spots the same clown on the roof of a garden shop while a second clown talks him down from the ledge. Jaime's casual retrieval of a velvet bag tossed away by one of the clowns soon spells disaster.

Living in an apartment full of junkies, Jaime assumes the mysterious powder in the bag is drugs. He even tries some--much to his dismay. Following a vividly realistic nightmare, Jaime receives the first disturbing note: "You have 2 days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You're joining the circus. Ain't that the best news you ever got?"

What follows over the next few days is a chilling tale of stalking as a group of menacing clowns begin vandalizing his apartment, physically threatening Jaime and his roommates, and even appearing in his dreams to coerce him into joining the circus--and that's only the beginning!

The story follows Jaime through a shocking series of events as he is conscripted into the bizarre alternate-universe of the Pilo Family Circus, a border-world between earth and Hell, where the price of a ticket costs more than money--it takes your soul. Here, Jaime is forced to join a psychotic clown troupe where the rule of thumb is: "the nicer the man, the meaner the clown." Gonko, the sadistic leader, who is chiefly responsible for Jaime's predicament, decides that "JJ the clown" will make a fine replacement for their bumbling apprentice. Unwillingly paired alongside Rufshod the masochist, Goshy, the earsplitting lunatic, and his protective brother Doopy, Jaime must don the white face-paint and undergo a transformation into JJ the clown becoming the most brutal clown in the circus, and his own worst enemy.

Trouble starts immediately as JJ's cruel and reckless pranks land him--and Jaime--in all sorts of trouble: exacerbating the vicious rivalry between the clowns and the acrobats, menacing the carnie rats, theft of the fortune teller's crystal ball, and as JJ's personality becomes increasingly unstable--murder. As the body war continues, Jaime must take greater and greater risks among the monstrous creatures in the circus, including Mugabo the Magician, Fishboy and his friends in the freak show, Kurt and George Pilo--the giant and the dwarf--murderous brothers who run the circus--meanwhile steering clear while the brothers attempt to kill each other off.

Aside from one great read, this story also contains allegorical shades of one man's battle with schizophrenia, and the inherent evils of society that are mirrored in the circus acts and their performers whose purpose for being conceals true evil.

Desperate to escape the circus, Jaime must battle himself for control of his own body as JJ's personality becomes ever crueler, but when push comes to shove, is Jaime clever enough to keep JJ from killing...himself?

Are you afraid of clowns? If the answer is no, then check out The Pilo Family Circus and see if you change your mind. Fans of horror won't want to miss it.

The Pilo Family Circus is one of those amazing reading experiences that, even if I forget the fine details in a few years, I will never forget the story and how much fun I had reading it. The book's description was almost enough to make me never want to give it a try since it sounded really, really stupid, but it is anything but. I can't blame whoever wrote the description I read though. I don't think I can explain it any better without making it sound just as bad or even worse. I can only say that this is a book so different from anything else that I have read that I can recommend it to everyone because chances are that you've never read anything like it either. "But, this is a horror novel, and it involves clowns. Isn't that a little like IT by Stephen King?" asks a horror fan I made up to make a point. "No," says I "it, The Pilo Family Circus, is not like IT or that or those." It is brilliant all the way through and covers seemingly everything from an inhuman teeth collector and eater to a wedding between a clown and a fern. What more could you ask for in a book? I will say though that I probably looked as creepy as Doopy, Goshy, Gonko, JJ, Rufshod, and all the other crazy characters while reading this one because of my almost constant grin and occasional giggling.

This is an easy review - this book kicks ass. What a great world Elliott built, full of original characters, and brought to a satisfying, bloody head. Great setup, good execution, fun storytelling. Not the greatest writing in the world, but I'm not deducting much for that because I was too busy digging the story. Read it.

Will Elliot does a wonderful job at detailing the lives of individuals trapped in the Pilo Family Circus. He combines dark humor with horror and it works for a great story. Jamie is basically forced into joining the circus, and this is no ordinary circus. It showcases one that is forged with supernatural aspects, and long-living performers. I thoroughly enjoyed the tricks of a clown. A strange face paint begins to turn Jamie into a darker individual that the other clowns and circus performers know as JJ.

This story will have you reading for hours if you enjoy anything supernatural mixed in with frightening details of every day circus life. From the bestial owner's strange fascinations, to the master manipulators odd hobby. The Pilo Family Circus kept me entertained for hours, and I was sad to finish it. I would recommend it to any readers that enjoy wild characters, a solid story, and an ending that makes you wonder.

I have never been a fan of circuses, especially not of lame clowns. What we have here, though, is an entirely different beast -- and in the case of director Kurt Pilo you can take it quite literally. The aimlessly drifting young man, Jamie, finds himself catapulted in the midst of bizarre folks consisting of troublemaking clowns, tormented freaks, carnies and gypsies, and other weird persons.

"Beneath Jamie's attempt to live a rational life where all was clearly marked and set in order, there was a wellspring of eccentric behaviour waiting to be tapped, which Jamie seemed instinctively at pains to keep from spilling over. It looked to be a daily battle. And the more fight he put up, the more impressive the results when the guy either temporarily cracked, or permanently bent. No one bends further than someone made of completely straight lines" (p. 40).

We vaguely learn about the dark rationale behind the existence of the confined zone of the showgrounds, and by extension the human world at large:

"Each part of the show is designed to part the tricks [i.e., the audience] with the most precious thing they have: the human soul...We steal them by the dozen...Every human weakness is catered to by some part of the show. Everyone has a pressure point, and like moths to flame they are drawn to whatever attraction will best be able to milk them" (pgs. 214, 216).

My issue with this novel, however, is that despite all the squabbles, nasty rivalries, potty mouths, spectacular mayhem, and grotesquely funny situations, the story never gains enough momentum to lift off; while at times the subplot is needlessly drawn out and becomes tedious: the hide-and-seek involving the fortune teller's crystal ball, for example. The other thing is that, with the possible exception of Fishboy and the elderly clown Winston, I couldn't really sympathize with any of the characters and didn't care what befell them, regardless of the circumstances which landed them in the puddle. And this includes Jamie grappling with his dark alter JJ, who emerges once the transformative face paint has been applied.

P.S. Next time around I'll ask mista Santa for the same brand of pants that clown jeffe Gonko wears, whose pockets are inexhaustable source of useful goodies. Objects like, say, a semi-automatic pistol, a gold bar or two, fake passports, and an inflatable flying saucer capable of dimensional jump, may come in handy. Just in case; who knows what tomorrow brings.

This is an excellent book. Dark and twisted, truly creepy, but with a lot of very black humour. It's a unique tale and a very well realised world, with absolutely mesmerising characters. I already hated clowns and now I have new reasons to be creeped out by them! The ending was a bit of a let down for me, but it was satisfying and made sense in the context of the novel as a whole. I took a while getting around to reading this one, but I'm really glad I did.

Will Elliott, The Pilo Family Circus (Underland Press, 2006)

I am going to start this review by saying two things that I don't believe I have ever said together in a single review: that this book has some serious flaws, and that it's almost guaranteed to make my best reads of the year list. Yes, despite its flaws (one in particular, upon which I will no doubt dwell like a bobby-soxer mourning the death of Ricky Nelson), this is a book that reaches so far down into the dark places of the human soul that it blasted its way onto the must-read list long before I hit the halfway point. For the record, I'm not the only one who thinks so; the book was much-lauded in its native Australia, as any of its press will tell you (it won five awards in 2006, ranging from specialized horror awards to broad literary ones), and was short-listed for the Stoker here in America. The only real drawback: like a number of other amazing Oceania media, once it got to our shores, it has suffered a brutal lack of publicity. I'm only one person, but I'm going to try and help that change, a little, because you need to read this book.

Jamie is a typical twenty-something slacker in Brisbane. He has the job he has mostly because it affords him large amounts of free time (and the rest is because he wants to date one of the bartenders), he lives with a couple of drugged-out friends of ill repute, and thanks to his working hours he often wanders the streets when no one else is about. Well, almost no one. On the way home from work one night, he is forced to slam on the brakes when he finds a clown standing in the middle of the road. The two have an odd moment, then the clown wanders off, and Jamie drives home, discomfited. (No surprise there. We all know clowns are the epitome of evil, yes?) Soon after, he sees the same clown, with two others, and spies on them. Why does he spy on them? Because he knows that he doesn't want them seeing him. While spying, he finds a small velvet bag on the ground. And it is there that his woes begin, for when he picks it up, and when he inadvertently ingests a bit of the contents while playing a stupid practical joke on Steve (one of said housemates), he draws the clowns' attention to him. And thus we come to the beginning of the jacket copy: the clowns want him to... audition.

All that bit is actually kind of slow. Once we get to the Pilo Family Circus (and that we get there is not a spoiler, again because of the jacket copy) is when the book really spreads its wings and begins to soar. Elliott is a diagnosed schizophrenic, so when you see him writing about a character whose personality is at war with itself (Jamie the person becomes JJ the clown. It's not a split personality, per se, though Elliott does play that aspect of it up. Winston, another of the clowns, tells Jamie that the clown make up, which is an odd blend of hallucinogen and mutagen, alters the clowns' personalities; in effect, form the reader's perspective, it makes you more you; the Jamie who pulled the prank on Steve that got them into this mess becomes the JJ whose pranks are malicious, and sometimes deadly, to the other carnies), you know he's got a better handle on that sort of thing than your average author. And the character of Jamie/JJ is so wonderfully drawn, in the circus, that even if it were a single-character novel, it would be well worth reading.

It is not, however, which provides both the book's greatest strength--its endlessly fascinating plot, the machinations of which mirror Jamie/JJ's internal struggle without ever feeling forced (one wonders whether it was even conscious on Elliott's part), and its greatest weakness--Jamie/JJ's interactions with other characters. The example that sticks in my head is one of the other clowns, Rufshod. There's a point at which JJ and Ruf pull a prank on another carny, after which JJ muses that Ruf could easily become his closest friend in the carnival. Ruf, despite being a minor character at that point, is very intriguing, and he's well-drawn for a minor character, and the reader can't help but look forward to the two of them becoming friends, mirroring Jamie's student/mentor relationship with Winston. But that never happens; it's as if Elliott wrote that with every intention of delving father into what never became a subplot at all. While that's the most obvious example, it's far from the only one. After mulling over the book in the light of Katherine Dunn's introduction, I think this may have had to do with Elliott's headlong approach to writing the book, which he completed (in multiple drafts, no less!) in an unreal, almost Amanda Hocking-style time. I think, had Elliott taken a bit more care in rewrites of going back and picking up those lost threads, I'd be sitting here telling you in no uncertain terms that despite us only being a quarter of the way through 2011, this would be sitting atop my best reads of the year list come December 31.

That said, Elliott's incredible gifts for characterization, even if he can't get those characters to believably interact in some cases, and even more incredible gifts for description of the little island of Hell that is the Pilo Family Circus, make this a fascinating little phantasmagoria that I was sadder to see end than anything I've read since Robin Hobb finished up the Tawny Man trilogy. It is equal parts, again from the reader's perspective, awesome thriller, genius bizarro (even if Elliott is not considered a part of the movement; I don't know one way or the other), and fascinating look into the mind of a schizophrenic author who happens to be very, very gifted. You may have to go out of your way to find this. No library in the vast Ohio networks my library belongs to had a copy. Trust me, though, you want to. Despite its problems, a stunning read. ****

This was an odd book for me -- while I was reading it I really enjoyed it, but when I wasn't reading it I didn't remember liking it and didn't want to pick it up again.



For the most part, I did like the book, but there were some things that didn't really work for me. I didn't like the Jamie/JJ dichotomy, although it was a decent idea and made for some interesting problems for the characters to work out. The JJ character didn't seem as well developed as I would have liked, though -- I expected (and wanted) him to be MUCH worse than he really was. I didn't think the cowering and crying (even though it was partially an act) worked, and I found it more irritating the longer it went on.



I also wanted a bigger story -- at the end of it all, it's really just about Jamie being sucked into this world, then trying to survive and escape. Well, okay. What else? Nothing! I just wanted something more. (The ending also left me with a lot of questions.)



I stumbled onto this book while browsing some pretty bizarre titles, so in my mind I suppose I lumped this book in with them -- I thought it was going to be REALLY over the top, disgustingly violent, absolutely horrifying . . . You tell me why I wanted to read something like that, LOL, cause I don't know, but that's what I expected. This just isn't that book -- at least it wasn't for me. Maybe it would be terrifying and disturbing for someone else.



So three stars for a good idea and decent (but not outstanding) execution. I'm not sure who I would recommend it to -- it's a bit odd for most people, I think, but not nearly odd enough for anyone looking for the truly bizarre.

EDIT:

I just can't stop thinking about this book. I keep having the nagging feeling that I've missed the bigger picture here.

I just read a great review (sorry, great reviewer, I can't recall your name right now) that said the author takes great pains to make clear that this book was NOT autobiographical in any way, but I have to say (& man, I reeeeally hate to contradict THE AUTHOR!) I think this book is a perfect illustration of a mind at war with itself. Intentional or not, I do think this book has to be based on the writer's struggles with schizophrenia.

With that in mind, I think this book deserves 4 stars.