Freak Like Me

Jim Rose is a great showmen. The Circus has been around for many years. I own 2 of his books. Freak Like Me and Snake Oil. I would also add in that I own a copy of Circus of the Scars I think anyone who like jim rose should read. A Freak like Me tells you the story about how the Jim and the Circus got there start. The book is filled with many pictures and funny stories. I highly reccommend this book, you can only by this book used now. I would also say that you should see the twisted tour dvd and the jim rose circus sideshow dvd as well.

Why would a man assemble a group of modern-day, self-made Freaks and tour the world, making people faint and throw up? Written by the group founder/leader, Freak Like Me covers Rose's childhood in Phonenix, getting teased for being cross-eyed and always being tied up while playing cowboys and Indians. Years later, working as an exterminator, Rose hands in his bug sprayer and heads to Europe, picking up the fine art of street performing along the way. Freak Like Me covers the birth of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow in 1991, and follows it through various incarnations up to the tour with Nine Inch Nails in 1994. The book has tons of pictures and descriptons of plenty of things you shouldn't do at home: as Rose intones in his show "go over to your friend's house to practice until you get really good." A bit Rose-centric at times, this is nevertheless an excellent look at the post-modern sideshow.

Is lifting cement blocks with your nipples something you might find interesting? This book is SICK. This book is disgusting, horrifying and GROSS. AND MOST OF ALL IT'S AWESOME. The oddities in this book are to be cherished by the few who can appreciate there demented artistic qualities.

I first became aware of Jim Rose on the "Humbug" episode of The X-Files. From then I was hooked. I scrounged around for all the info I could find on the man and his Circus. Through The Jim Rose Circus website, I found out about Freak Like Me. I ordered the book within days--and regretted nothing when I began reading it. Freak Like Me is written in the candid, humorous tone that reflects Rose's performing demeanor. His book is open and honest without being graphically nasty. Yes, he is "graphic" in explaining what manipulations he and his roustabouts perform, but not unduly so. He takes his reader along for the ride, and what you encounter, you encounter. Rose makes no apologies. But he also doesn't gross you out just for gross-out's sake. I was not disappointed by Freak Like Me in the least. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to find Jim Rose to be a compassionate (and passionate) performer--which was surprising not because I didn't think he would be, but because I had hoped he would be and didn't want to be disappointed! Jim Rose is a fascinating individual and a man dedicated to his art. And though some may not think of having one's face stuck in glass while someone else stands on your head as "art," Jim Rose's memoir shows that life and art are what you make of it. You say tomato, he'll hammer a nail up his nose. Thanks for the opportunity to write about this wonderful book!