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Title: The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney, Boris Artzybasheff, John Marco ISBN: 0-8032-6907-2 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (18 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Lao means old in Mandarin and Cantonese
Comment: One day a Chink takes out an ad in the local news paper announcing a circus coming to town that day. The ad is mysteriously worded to attract a variety of locals and a transient. The side shows are quite different than most circuses and so are the animals including something that is consistently indefinable. Each person sees the circus in a different way. Many tend to ignore or gloss over any inconsistencies. It is if the circus had never been there.
They say it is best to write what you know. Charles G. Finney served in the U.S. 15th infantry in China; oddly enough so did one of his characters. He worked on a news paper in Arizona; oddly enough so did one of his characters. I suspect he is on a first name basis with the menagerie in Dr. Lao's Circus.
The story, well there really is not one. The plot, nope not one of them either. Characters? Yes they were characters.
A good movie adaptation of this book is "Severn faces of Dr. Lao", Dr. Lao played by Tony Randall. The all but absent plot was replaced with a standard one that helped tie the story together and wrapped up lose ends. They cleaned up the dirty parts and watered down the god Yottle. It is well worth viewing (see my review).
Rating: 2
Summary: a mediocre book at best
Comment: There are rare occurences where a movie outshines the story on which it is based, such as with Bladerunner or 2001. In that vein, I have to give Charles Beaumont, Twilight Zone veteran and screenwriter for the film "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao", some real credit, as he completely transcended the source. Seeing the movie and then reading this book... well, there's no comparison.
I know that Charles Finney's novel "The Circus of Dr. Lao" is a cult classic and loved by many, but I have to offer the other side of the coin, as the book was a huge disappointment to me. The basic plot has a mysterious asian man appearing in the town of Abalone, AZ, to put on the strangest circus the residents have ever seen. Far from being populated by clowns, acrobats, and animals, Dr. Lao's circus is full of mythological beasts that provide insight into human nature. We are introduced to a cast of cardboard locals who, while serving as a vehicle to introduce the oddities of the circus they attend, play no worthwhile part in the story. Finney's writing style is uneven in the extreme - there are a few bits of brilliance that completely overshadow the predominantly unpolished text. It's almost as if the book is a collection of notes for what would have been a much larger novel, and it could be a work of art if expanded upon and given some direction. As the story is only ~100 pages, expansion would have been appreciated instead of the pointless appendix of characters, creatures, items, and study questions (!) which is oddly in-depth for a story with such lightweight content. The ending of the story is very abrupt and has no real explanation. Nothing is solved, and there is no conclusion: did anyone learn anything from their encounters? We never know.
As a final note, think twice before throwing this one at your kids: this is not a book for children, and while some of the situations may seem somewhat tame by today's trash novel standards, it's obvious that the objective was to titillate readers in 1938. So, if you want something with real focus and a message, I recommend that you view the movie "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao" instead of reading the source material. The only reason I hold on to this book is because of my love for the movie, as well as the beautiful illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff.
Rating: 5
Summary: A book to fire the imagination
Comment: When I first read this book in my youth I was completely taken with it. When I rediscovered it as a 40 year old it captured me again. A decade later someone loaned me a copy and I again submerged myself in it. I'm ecstatic to know it's available here and I can now experience this circus again.
Maybe the book isn't for everyone, as some have suggested. If not the loss belongs to the part of 'everyone' it's not for, not within the portion of everyone it is 'for', where it will simmer to be tasted and savored in flashes of memory and thought long after the meal.
If you've already eaten take this one for dessert.
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Title:Seven Faces of Dr. Lao ASIN: 0790746115 Publisher: Warner Studios Pub. Date: 03 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $20.48 |
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Title: A Voyage to Arcturus (Bison Frontiers of Imagination Series) by David Lindsay, John Clute, Loren Eiseley ISBN: 0803280041 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Moon Pool by Abraham Merritt, Robert Silverberg ISBN: 0803282680 Publisher: Bison Bks Corp Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Tales of Wonder (Bison Frontiers of Imagination Series) by Mark Twain, David Ketterer ISBN: 0803294522 Publisher: Bison Bks Corp Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Lost Continent: The Story of Atlantis by Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne, Harry Turtledove, Gary Hoppenstand ISBN: 0803273320 Publisher: Bison Bks Corp Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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