Mumbo Jumbo Is My Speak

Published: April 15th, 2011
The Mumbo Jumbo Circus (Mumbo Jumbo Circus #1)
By: Jane George
Red Willow Publishing
ISBN-13: 9781936539086

If you enjoy stories by Diana Wynne Jones & J.K. Rowling, you're in the right neighborhood. Look over there. Magic. Mystery. Mayhem. The MUMBO JUMBO CIRCUS...

When the enigmatic Ringmaster asks 15-year-old Evanja (Evan) Leane to run away and join the circus, she says yes. Anywhere’s got to be better than foster home Number Eight. Evan learns that this ragtag circus, a haven for throwaway teens, relies on more than spectacle and illusion. This circus is built on magic. Each of the teens possesses a donvrai, a true gift, that manifests only in the presence of the Ringmaster’s mysterious Ju-Ju. Unlike many of the other teens who must wait for their donvrai to emerge, Evan’s gift surfaces on her first night: she can read horses’ minds. This would be totally awesome except she has been deathly afraid of horses since foster home Number Three. But circus is a dying art. If Evan wants to save her beloved new-found home, she must concoct a brilliant horse act that will bring in the crowds. And she’d better get over herself and get on with it fast; there’s a traitor close to the Ringmaster who will stop at nothing to make sure she doesn’t succeed.

Review

 

     Evan is foster care child, bouncing around from home to home pretty much ever since she was born.  There have been good placements and bad ones, but this latest one (number eight) is pretty much the worst.  So when she is called a freak and then says the magic words, Evan is approached by Compere, the Ringmaster of the Mumbo Jumbo Circus, about becoming part of the traveling show.  That is when the adventure starts, because the circus possesses magic that Compere's Uncle, owner of a rival circus, will stop at nothing to possess.  Not to mention the Ju-Ju gives donvrai, true gifts, the power to express themselves.  Evan's gift is that she can speak to horses by reading their minds - problem is she's terrified of them.  But with a traitor among the ranks and a devastating loss of something key to the show, it might be up to Evan to save Mumbo Jumbo with her amazing act.  Along with help from the Pickled Punk (the Panhandle Prophet), the elephant boy, the Circus' teenage cook and some illusionist shifting polar bears Evan might be able to do something important and find something even more special along the way - a family to call her own, ragtag as they may be.  I have almost no experience with books set in circuses, magical or otherwise.  The closest I can come to that is The Dreamland Social Club by Tara Altebrando.  I got a lot more than I expected.   

     Jane George has a gift with words and from the very beginning when Evan is being knocked around by her hillbilly foster parents, she painted a picture that was so real I could see it in my mind.  Once she meets up with the Mumbo Jumbo folk and gets caught up in their problems and joys, there really is no turning back.  There is a budding love triangle between Evan, Wally (the cook) and Johnny (the elephant boy) but it is very tame and it becomes quickly apparent who she actually has feelings for.  The everyday struggles of a dying circus, the camraderie between the performers and the magic of the show itself definitely cam across in technicolor for me as a reader.  Evan's wonder is easily shared and I became very invested in the fate of the circus and everyone involved in it.  The addition of the talking elephant Solly, and the jarred but sassy, prophetic Pickled Punk (another term for a human fetus preserved in formaldehyde and used for a sideshow attraction), the polar bear shifting Nanurark family and a host of other colorful characters only added to the richness of the story.  The plotline involving the evil uncle, Shock Jacques, could have been less stereotypical but it never fell too far into predictable villain tropes to be truly annoying.   The revelation of what the Ju-Ju actually was fit perfectly into the setting of the story and was hilarious.  Overall, a wonderful coming of age tale set in a magic circus that I would love to visit.  Definitely one of a kind! :)

 

VERDICT:  5/5  Stars

 

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available online in ebook format, or maybe even at your local library.*

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee

Published: March 13th, 2012 (Paperback)
American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
By: Karen Abbott
Random House
ISBN-13:  9781400066919

America in the Roaring Twenties. Vaudeville was king. Talking pictures were only a distant flicker. Speakeasies beckoned beyond dimly lit doorways; money flowed fast and free. But then, almost overnight, the Great Depression leveled everything. When the dust settled, Americans were primed for a star who could distract them from grim reality and excite them in new, unexpected ways. Enter Gypsy Rose Lee, a strutting, bawdy, erudite stripper who possessed a preternatural gift for delivering exactly what America needed.

With her superb narrative skills and eye for compelling detail, Karen Abbott brings to vivid life an era of ambition, glamour, struggle, and survival. Using exclusive interviews and never-before-published material, she vividly delves into Gypsy’s world, including her intensely dramatic triangle relationship with her sister, actress June Havoc, and their formidable mother, Rose, a petite but ferocious woman who seduced men and women alike and literally killed to get her daughters on the stage.

American Rose chronicles their story, as well as the story of the four scrappy and savvy showbiz brothers from New York City who would pave the way for Gypsy Rose Lee’s brand of burlesque. Modeling their shows after the glitzy, daring reviews staged in the theaters of Paris, the Minsky brothers relied on grit, determination, and a few tricks that fell just outside the law—and they would shape, and ultimately transform, the landscape of American entertainment.

With a supporting cast of such Jazz- and Depression-era heavyweights as Lucky Luciano, Harry Houdini, FDR, and Fanny Brice, Karen Abbott weaves a rich narrative of a woman who defied all odds to become a legend—and whose sensational tale of tragedy and triumph embodies the American Dream.

Review

   Gypsy Rose Lee was a stripper, a burlesque dancer during a time that alcohol was outlawed, underground speakeasies were King and flappers ran wild with gangsters.  She was able to distract the public from their weariness and the troubles the Great Depression had brought them.  A great deal of this biography is spent in Gypsy's complex relationships with her mother Rose and her sister June.  This was not my usual read by any stretch of the imagination.  I do love to learn more about history and biographies/memoirs are wonderful things to read if they're well done.  I did feel like the book was far more about the myth of Gypsy Rose Lee than the realities of her.  I enjoyed all of the ancedotes and the detail the author goes into.  I love the time period that was focused on, the Roaring Twenties onward through the wartorn Forties.  I loved the glamour and harshness of Prohibition and the unimaginable way it coexisted with the Great Depression.  It was easy to imagine being taken in by the beauty and mystery of a burlesque dancer and very big personality like Gypsy Rose Lee.  The book relies largely on imformation already in the public consiousness, interviews with Gypsy's sister June that give sometimes vague information, the words of actress June Havoc, and the recollections of her son Erik Preminger.  Who knows if we as curiosity seekers will ever get the truth behind the curtains?  Either way, it was a truly intriguing and fun book to read for one such as myself who had only heard Gypsy's name in passing and didn't really know anything about her.  Maybe not recommendable to true enthusiasts looking for new info, but for new readers who are meeting Gypsy for the first time.

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

* I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published in paperback on March 13th, 2012.*