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Post by mate on Nov 1, 2008 7:07:19 GMT
Couldn't find a book section so here it is. Two days ago my sister came home and with her she carried the Pilo Family Circus. The funny thing about it was one, We are both terrified of clowns and two she married into the Ashton Circus..... Any way I started reading this book at lets say 11 pm and finished (with breaks in between having to ride my horses and such) 5 pm the next day. I normally hate reading books but in this case OH MY GOD. It was the best book EVER!!! If you ever come across the Pilo Family Circus BUY and READ it.!!!!
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Post by norsu on Nov 1, 2008 18:19:11 GMT
Hm... I've never heard of it, but I'll have to look in to it! What is it about?
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Post by mate on Nov 2, 2008 1:45:57 GMT
I couldn't be bothered writting out my own review on what it is about so I stole someone elses lol
As if Stephen King hasn’t already wiped the smile off many a circus-lover’s face, along comes Will Elliott and his novel The Pilo Family Circus – winner of the inaugural ABC Fiction Award. Elliot’s story is set in the generically familiar and seemingly benign suburbs of Brisbane, a most unlikely location for horror – or so you’d think.
His central character is Jamie, a fairly normal kind of guy who has a fairly abnormal run in with a couple of clowns while on his way home from work one night. But it’s only after he pockets a small bag of powder, dropped by one of the clowns, that he gets sucked, or more accurately, dragged into the insanity that is The Pilo Family Circus. Kidnapped via a portaloo into a kind of alternative universe at the gateway to hell, Jamie finds himself at the fair, although there’s not much fun to be had. This circus is a horrorscape of freaks, murderous dwarfs and psychotic clowns, all lorded over by the ominously cheerful Kurt Pilo. But it’s when Jamie plasters himself in clown paint and transforms into JJ the clown that he really gets a taste for the darkness that resides within.
While the fun fair has provided many a spooky setting for tales of mystery and horror, what makes Elliott’s circus so terrifying is its clear references to the dark underbelly of our own society, with its proliferation of drug abuse, crime, violence and mental illness. Elliott himself was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his late teens and it’s not difficult to connect the transformation that the white face paint makes to the clowns, to the personality changes suffered by some with mental illness.
In this story the paint renders the clowns all powerful, psychotically violent and totally lacking conscience or compassion. As the maniacal makeup wears off, it’s only a magical powder – made from the dust of human souls - that wipes the pain away. It’s powerful, poignant and chilling but also paints a compassionate portrait of the internal struggle and remorse of the afflicted, for actions essentially out of their control.
The language itself is graphically spare. Like the clowns’ costumes, the imagery is bright and vivid, at times confrontingly so. And, despite the violence, there are parts of The Pilo Family Circus that are really quite funny. But the true success of the novel lies in Elliott’s ability to burrow beneath rational, adult perceptions about the world and tug at barely- conscious childlike fears of black magic, monsters and subterranean satanic activity. It’s definitely a page-turner and a thought-provoking read, but possibly not for those planning a visit to Cirque du Soleil anytime soon.
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Post by norsu on Nov 2, 2008 13:41:25 GMT
Whoa. It is a horror? LOL I wonder if we have it, all my dad reads is Stephen King!
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Post by mate on Nov 2, 2008 22:38:57 GMT
I wouldn't call it a horror but it might be classed as a horror, like in the book store.......
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Post by norsu on Nov 30, 2008 17:56:26 GMT
Oh. It is scary though- right?
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