The Greatest Show

The Greatest Show
Author :
Publisher : LSU Press
Total Pages : 197
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780807144527
ISBN-13 : 0807144525
Rating : 4/5 (27 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Greatest Show by : Michael Downs

Download or read book The Greatest Show written by Michael Downs and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2012-03-05 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire sweeps along the wall of a circus tent while inside thousands of people enjoy a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey matinee. Within minutes, flames consume the canvas and vast sections collapse, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. Inspired by the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire, the interconnected stories in Michael Downs's The Greatest Show explore the aftermath of a disaster in a world of clowns, elephants, and childhood fantasies. In the opening story, Ania Liszak, a young Polish housemaid, steals circus tickets from her employer to take her three-year-old son, Teddy, to the matinee. The fire nearly kills both and leaves them scarred in different ways: Teddy's mother enjoys the beautiful strangeness of the scar on her face, but the patches across Teddy's body inspire cruel schoolmates to call him "Lizard Liszak." Over time, his mother transforms her pain into drama, while Teddy, having no memory of that day, seeks ways to return to it. These and other captivating characters appear throughout the book, creating a portrait of an American city and its people over five decades, raising questions about wounds and healing, memory and forgetting, and about the human capacity for kindness -- with all its futility and power -- in the midst of great loss.


The Greatest Show Related Books

The Greatest Show
Language: en
Pages: 197
Authors: Michael Downs
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-03-05 - Publisher: LSU Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Fire sweeps along the wall of a circus tent while inside thousands of people enjoy a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey matinee. Within minutes, flames con
The Greatest Show of All
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Jane Eagland
Categories: Circus
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016 - Publisher: Barrington Stoke

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Dramatic and evocative reworking of William Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night. Kitty runs away to join the circus but must disguide herself as a boy.
The Greatest Show Off Earth
Language: en
Pages: 186
Authors: Margaret Mahy
Categories: Circus
Type: BOOK - Published: 1994 - Publisher: Viking Childrens Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Delphinium spends her tenth birthday aboard a traveling space circus, fighting against the dark forces who are bent on stamping out fun.
The Greatest Show on Earth
Language: en
Pages: 28
Authors: John Prater
Categories: Circus
Type: BOOK - Published: 1996 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Everyone in Harry's family is a star performer in the circus, everyone that is except Harry. Harry can't do anything extraordinary himself. At least, that's wha
The Greatest Shows on Earth
Language: en
Pages: 298
Authors: Linda Simon
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-11-12 - Publisher: Reaktion Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Beautifully illustrated and filled with rich historical detail and colorful anecdotes, this is a vibrant history for all those who have ever dreamed of running