Customer Reviews

Spangle Volume I: The Road Show

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Incredible reads: chunky, lurid, twisted, funny, sad, and simply great page turners throughout. In Spangle, even if you fail to get engrossed by the characters themselves (I don't see how that can happen) you learn so much about circus life itself. Even now, I can't look at a contortionist without thinking about this book.

You can't go wrong!!

This is a pleasantly low-key historical novel: Rome doesn't fall, Chicago doesn't burn, and nobody's holding the fate of Western Civilization in their hands. It's a nice change-of-pace from the average historical novel, where even ordinary people are swept up in Great Events (witness Ken Follett's excellent _Pillars of the Earth_).

_The Roadshow_ never pretends to be more than what it is: the story of an 1860s travelling circus as seen through the eyes of two ex-Confederate soldiers who join up with it for lack of anything better to do. It's crammed with incident, colorful characters, occasional bursts of action, and a lot of detail about 19th-century circus life, and rolls along at an agreeable (though hardly headlong) pace. You get to know, and care about the characters and (perhaps as Jennings intended) you come to see the troupe *itself* as the real hero of the story. Individuals come and indviduals go, but the troupe (and the show, of course) always go on.

Fair Warning: _Roadshow_ is the first of three volumes, and it reads very much like Jennings *wrote* a single unified novel that the publishers then broke into three pieces. _Roadshow_ doesn't actually *have* an ending of its own . . . just a pause before volume 2. If you find yourself enjoying the story, start looking for volume 2 while you're still working on volume 1.

I agree with others that if you think you're getting another Aztec, you'll be really disappointed. There is nothing compelling enough about it to recommend anyone to buy it, but if you find it at a yard sale for 50 cents, keep in your car for traffic jams.

Riveting characterization and excellent story telling make this a must read. Can't wait to read the sequels!

As an avid fan of Jennings, I was delighted when I ran across the Spangle series. Unfortunately, I found The Road Show so incredibly boring, that I didn't bother finishing the rest of the series. What a contrast to his other fine work such as Aztec, The Journeyor, and Raptor...

I was so eager to buy this book after reading Aztec that I went out and bought the whole trilogy. Imagine my disappointment when I couldn't even get through half of the book. Nothing happens except a forced, unrealistic sex scene. Don't waste your money.

It seems that I, unlike most it seems, am a bigger fan of Kidder's lesser read works (Raptor & Journeyer) than his most popular (Aztec & Aztec Automn)...although all have been well-worth the reading. Regardless, I've tried to get through this book twice and haven't made it...in comparison with his previous efforts, this one falls far short.

I looked for the original hardcopy of all three books, Spangle, for years and could not find it. It took Amazon about 6 months, but they finally got it for me. I just finished reading it, and I must say it was an amazing read. It doesn't have the sexual escapades of Jennings Aztec or the Journeyor, and there is a lull here and there, but overall, all three books make up extraordinary storytelling. While I sometimes glossed over Jennings extraordinary detailed descriptions, this is more than made up for by the characterization of the circus lifestyle in the 1800s, the growth of the various characters throughout the story and the political/cultural background throughout the tale. For several weeks on my train ride home from work, I enjoyed being in a traveling circus in the past, and will never forget Mr. Florian, and will never look at a circus the same way again with my children.

I am a Jennings fan but have to say that I am struggling to get through this book. It is nothing like Aztec which kept me wanting to read on to see what happens but this book has me looking for an reason to put it down.....time to walk the dog again....

The Road Show concept carries the reader from the end of the Civil War in America, to Italy with a group of Circus performers,an Elephant, acrobats, and horsemanship. The times, problems, and scams the characters deal with are engrossing to the point of my not being able to stop reading until this tale of the lives, and deaths, of the group along with new performers and circus acts ends just as they return to Europe in Italy. The book was copywrited in 1987 and I am searching for the next book to be published. Eventially they are to roam Europe until they play in Paris.