The Circus in Winter

by Cathy Day

Book Overview

From 1884 to 1939, the Great Porter Circus makes the unlikely choice to winter in an Indiana town called Lima, a place that feels as classic as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and as wondrous as a first trip to the Big Top. In Lima an elephant can change the course of a man's life-or the manner of his death. Jennie Dixianna entices men with her dazzling Spin of Death and keeps them in line with secrets locked in a cedar box. The lonely wife of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156032023
• ISBN13: 9780156032025
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.0" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

an astounding achievement, brilliantly written, thematically compelling

Some fifty years from now, literary critics will judge Cathy Day's debut novel, "The Circus in Winter," as a masterpiece of early twenty-first century American fiction. So that there is no misunderstanding my opinion of "Circus," I believe her writing is exquisite, luminescent and profound. In the same manner that Sherwood Anderson captured the essence of a small Midwest town in "Winesburg, Ohio," Day, with compassion and extraordinary insight, has drawn a portrait of a physical and emotional community in our heartland. Lima, Indiana, the wintering spot for the Great Porter Circus, emerges as a microcosm of the human condition. Through Day's assured and courageous interrelated stories, we learn more than we want, not just about circus life, but the dreams, disappointments and desires that motivate our behaviors. Psychological tensions abound in this multi-generational novel-in-stories. There is the tension of an America in transition from its agrarian past to its industrial, technological present. There is the tension between men and women, between love and loss, between hopes and despair. There is the tension between illusion and reality. There is even unspoken tension in the names of the characters, particularly the Perdido family, whose Spanish surname signifies being "lost." One of Day's most significant triumphs is her revisionist interpretation of the ringmaster's oft-repeated benediction: "May all your days be circus days." Said as a blessing, the words often indicate a curse. The author understands the conflicting impulses which draw us to the circus. We wish to be disgusted as much as we wish to be entertained. We hope to be made afraid as much as we want to laugh. We admire the singularity of circus performers but are repelled by their transience, aberrance and recklessness. These contradictory impulses of mirth and menace, of delight and death, of hope and helplessness appear and reappear in the characters whose lives we come to understand in "Circus." Each story contains its own truth, and every character discovers some essential epiphany. The founder of the circus, Wallace Porter, purchases a floundering circus in 1885 as a result of unbearable loss. Deprived of love, Porter intends to redeem a broken promise made to his terminally-ill young wife. He learns that no endeavor can replace a cavernous hole in the heart. Jennie Dixianna has escaped a brutal childhood and has perfected a "Spin of Death," in which she repeatedly swivels from a hanging rope, leaving her wrist perpetually bloody. She understands men's wants and needs, but is unable to love. Instead, he collects what her lovers have left. In a cedar box is "contained the flotsam of men's pockets, the skeletons that hung like ghosts in their back-hall closets." Her story is a "collage of broken glass from a thousand shattered bottles, and each new shard made her stronger and more beautiful." Day is unafraid of tackling the circus' perpetuation of raci

Superbly crafted story collection

Welcome to Lima, Indiana: Circus Town U.S.A. Within the pages of Cathy Day's collection of short fiction, centering on the winter home of the fictional Great Porter Circus, you will meet performers, freaks, trainers, managers, roustabouts, gypsies, and townies. Although each of these stories can stand alone, and in fact some of them have been published previously in literary journals, they are best when read together to form an interwoven tapestry that depicts the residents of Lima and how the circus has touched their lives in some way. Covering the period from the Civil War to the present time, these fascinating tales run the gamut of situations and dilemmas. An animal trainer is killed by one of his mistreated elephants. The daughter of a former clown cannot resist the call of the road even though she is married to a townie. Several generations of descendants of black sideshow performer Boela Man grow away from their circus past but can never leave it completely behind. A flood inundates Lima and claims the lives of a star performer and several circus animals. A tragic accident is prompted by memories of a glamorous circus cowboy. A band of gypsies takes the local campground by storm. Every story is a gem, but in my opinion the most heartfelt is the final story "Circus People," which ties the rest together with a powerful musing on town people, circus people, and the nature of hometowns. This book contains superbly crafted portraits, touched with humor and tenderness, of a wide array of characters. The tales are set against a backdrop imbued with fascinating lore about the circus. Each story is prefaced with a black-and-white photograph that evokes the mood of the tale that follows. The author, who comes from a circus family herself and who grew up in a circus town, has meticulously researched the history and workings of the American circus and seamlessly merged fact and fiction. Although you will find almost no action taking place under the big top, you will get a realistic behind-the-scenes glimpse into the daily lives of its performers and workers. I strongly recommend this book, and hope that you find it as magical and compelling as I have. May all your days be circus days. Eileen Rieback

Home Town Reader

As a resident of Peru, Indiana, it was a pleasure to read Cathy Day's excellent short stories. I'm a transplant to this small midwestern town with its strange and interconnected history, and all the old stories I have heard about Peru became transformed into lively fiction with just enough truth to make me laugh out loud. My favorite story was "Winnesaw" which was about the 1913 flood, still remembered by many living here. I also loved her ending with circus people and town people juxtaposed. Cathy came to Peru during "Circus Days" to sign and sell her book and it is already sold out. I hope she is writing another set of stories right now!

This is a great book!

I loved this book. It's one of those rare books were you enjoy every page, and feel comfortable with, from the begining. I don't usually like collections of stories, because it seems you have to keep track of new characters too often, but Cathy Day, does a great job of her characterizations, so you never feel lost.

The Circus as Legacy

Cathy Day's fine debut collection is comprised of varied stories linked through the people, both principals and descendents, of the Great Porter Circus, a show that calls Lima, Indiana home during the off-season. The author begins with "Wallace Porter," a story that tells of how the original tragedy that gave birth to the Great Porter Circus. From there, the stories branch out like a complicated family tree. Many of the characters are haunted by the death of an impressive elephant, Caesar, who was shot to death after killing his owner, as they try to make sense of their individual lives. One of the strongest stories, "The Last Member of the Boela Tribe," reads as a condensed novel by tracing four generations and their connection to the circus and Caesar. The final piece "Circus People", told in the first-person voice of a thirty-something college professor who returns for her grandfather's funeral, pulls all the others together with a sweeping look at the legacy of the defunct circus.The subtitle of this book, "Fiction", is an apt one since "Stories" doesn't convey the connectedness of these stories. Not a true novel, this book nonetheless ties together themes and events as well as characters. Reading these stories back-to-back is essential to feeling their full emotional power. The truly wonderful part of "The Circus in Winter" is the restraint Day exhibits in what could have been a sensationalist account of the sideshow freaks, clowns, managers, and trainers. Instead, her prose is transparent, without flourish or lyricism, and she steers clear of sentimentality. To add to the strong writing, black-and-white photographs of circus memorabilia and moments introduce each story, adding the feel of a documentary and a sense of nostalgia.In this first collection, Cathy Day proves herself an adept storyteller. I highly recommend it for readers of contemporary short fiction.