cristinaro wrote: ↑13 May 2018, 10:02I don't find clowns so amusing either, yet I used to go to the circus and I am still going sometimes. It's interesting you mentioned misfits and the strange in connection with the circus. There is this novel I have read - The Gaze by Elif Shafak. It's about the weird love affair between an obese woman and a dwarf. In a magical realist sort of way, all kinds of other characters emerge. In the past, one of these characters has the idea of building up a cherry-colored tent where women come to see the ugliest creature and men come to see the most beautiful girl in the world. It's all connected to people's "gaze", voyeurism, prejudice, self-sufficiency, the readiness to judge, etc.Vlinstry wrote: ↑01 May 2018, 11:32 Still reading the book but I can say that I have always found the circus life so alluring. I am a weird one because I don't actually like going to what most people think of as the circus as I am terrified of clowns, but I do love the more traditional cirucus' with the ideas being centred around misfits and the strange, yet wonderful. I love the pull of the circus. I love that it seems like a way of escaping the every day. It looks like it is a way to be part of a faimily and to bring joy to lots of other people at the same time.
Once I have finished the book I will be able to answer your other questions.
The book you mentioned sounds really interesting and I will definitely be giving it a look. Thanks!