Review by Booklist Review
Orphaned twins Eleanor and Bolt must flee the evil clutches of their creepy "uncle" in Chaon's mesmerizing and macabre historical adventure. When the children's mother died a month before their thirteenth birthday in 1914, they assumed that the Ohio boardinghouse she ran would be their birthright, but Mom was in greater debt than they realized. A would-be savior arrives in the form of "Uncle Charlie," a dastardly character who favors marijuana cigarillos and black lipstick. After the twins attempt to poison Charlie, they run away, only to find themselves on an orphan train headed west. Eventually, they are adopted by the owner of a traveling circus with a cast that includes a dog-faced boy, a giantess, a three-legged lady, and a girl with a small head protruding from the back of her skull. Chaon immerses readers in rich period detail and enchanting character backstories. (The classic film Freaks is an obvious inspiration.) The twins soon realize that they have a gift of their own and begin to settle into their new family. Chaon infuses verisimilitude by employing witty vernacular and vivid descriptions of carnival life. The tale is further elevated by Chaon's clever exploration of theosophy and spiritism. A brilliant work that celebrates humanity in all its guises.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Psychic twins join a carnival sideshow to escape a madman in Chaon's spectacular latest (after Sleepwalk). Born in 1901 Ohio, Eleanor and Bolt Lambkin can read each other's minds and, sometimes, the thoughts of others. Their father, Jasper, an itinerant mentalist whom they never knew, died by suicide, and after their mother dies in 1914, Bolt and Eleanor are taken in by a man who calls himself Uncle Charlie and claims to be their only living relative. Turns out Charlie is actually a murderous grifter and onetime friend of Jasper's, who hopes to make money from the twins' paranormal abilities. Bolt and Eleanor stupefy him with spiked beer, talk their way onto an orphan train, and are adopted in Iowa by traveling carnival operator Harland Jengling. Eleanor is standoffish with Jengling and his troupe but Bolt bonds with performers Elmer the Dog-Faced Boy, Gladness the half-ton woman, and even the eerie Rosalie, who has a partial second head and can predict people's deaths. Determined to punish--and profit from--the twins, Charlie follows their trail westward, setting the stage for a climactic encounter that tests their ability to protect each other. Chaon dazzles with his vision of family, strangeness, and the tension between care and exploitation. This captivating adventure is not to be missed. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Twin siblings run off to join the circus, which proves to be a dark carnival indeed. Bolt and Eleanor, the teenage twins at the center of Chaon's brilliant fifth novel, are orphans who've fallen under the watch of "Uncle Charlie," a con man and serial killer. They escape Charlie's clutches with the assistance of a mysterious Mr. Jengling, who operates a circus and recruits them for his sideshow--which includes a strongwoman, dog-faced boy, and, most creepily, Rosalie, a woman with a second head growing out of the side of her neck and who can predict how and when you will die. For all that darkness, the brother and sister find a welcoming ersatz family; interstitial chapters explore the background of each performer and the unique talents Jengling detected in them. (Bolt and Eleanor's own talents--telepathy and telekinesis--are only just emerging.) Chaon is focused on how we find our identities outside the ones the world wants to apply to us; as the title suggests, Chaon takes inspiration from Tod Browning's 1932 film,Freaks, in which the sideshow performers chant "one of us" as a sign of acceptance. Meanwhile, Chaon has also delivered a sharp thriller, as Uncle Charlie attempts to chase down the twins, leaving a bloody path along the way. Set mainly in 1915, the novel captures a vanished vaudeville world that Chaon resurrects in thoughtful detail, down to the era's slang (ziggety,conflustered,woofits). But in its latter chapters, the novel is also powerfully otherworldly, deliberately warping assumptions about life, death, and the nature of souls. Bolt and Eleanor take divergent paths once they've joined the circus, but Chaon suggests that any path rooted in consideration of others is a valid one. A magic trick: a novel that's both deeply unsettling and tenderhearted. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
