The Circus Fire

There are passages in this book that stand out in my memory as though I've watched them in movie. Sensitively told, always keeping in mind these were real people, the reader is reminded to always look for the second exit, because it may be behind you.

I am sure that any decent writer who was willing to dig through the archives and old newspaper stories could have written a good book about the Hartford circus fire. For Stewart O'Nan however, that was not enough. He not only did the research that any author would do when writing about a historical event; he tracked down the survivors. That is what makes this book so good. The stories told by the survivors make the whole story much more personal and much more tragic. On top of all this, O'Nan's writing style is superb. As a novelist who usually deals in fiction he writes in a very engrossing manner that keeps the reader's interest from cover to cover. The chapters are divided by dates and O'Nan takes each of the several families he follows in detail from their preparations for the circus to the very end. Whether that end is death or recovery we get the whole story. In this way the reader is able to connect in a personal way with the victims. If they escaped we find out how they got out. If they required hospitalization we get the story of their recovery. If they are killed we are taken through the identification process and some of the funerals. O'Nan even follows two of the survivors into their careers as firemen. The reader is also treated to the inner politics of the Ringling family and the power struggle after the fire. Along the way we meet circus people who were indeed negligent, politicians who struggled to cover their own negligence, nurses, doctors, and lots of policemen. We also meet many heroes; many of them policemen and firemen just like on 9/11. O'Nan spares no detail but he never gets boring. The reader will also get a good feel for 1944. The circus was short on workers because of the war. Hartford's residents were prospering because of the war industries. Gas and food ration stamps were so precious that the police were amazed that so many people turned in stamp books found on the midway or still in the smoldering big top. This book is just simply fascinating all the way around.Finally, O'Nan takes the reader up to 1999, Fifty-five years after the fire. That fifty-five years brings new investigations, new theories, new suspects, and the end of Ringling Brothers' days as a tent show. In 1994 there is a touching fifty-year reunion of the survivors. To the very end, O'Nan handles the subject with dignity and grace. The subject matter is sorrowful and you will be moved close to tears, but I highly recommend this book.

This could have been the next book of fiction in a line of novels written by master storyteller Stewart O'Nan, but the fact that "The Circus Fire" actually took place allows Mr. O'Nan to cross successfully into the world of non-fiction. He does so combining broad strokes with intimate detail. Like a circus juggler, Mr. O'Nan keeps several narratives going at once, centering much of the time on several groups of friends and families who met death and injury head-on when they attended the circus in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944."The Circus Fire" is a very scary book. Mr. O'Nan has spared nothing in chronicalling the events of that summer afternoon. The fates of hundreds of people who tried to flee the big top were decided in many cases by good or bad decisions and luck, often escaping by a matter of inches. He accompanies his stories with several "side shows"....how people react in panic situations, how the ongoing war effort and preparedness affected the response by local and state officials, how the circus hierarchy was run, and so on.I would suggest that readers keep a finger in page 24; the "principals" page. One will need to refer back to this particular list of attendees throughout the book. Although Mr. O'Nan sees their stories through to the end, I wish he had included that same list with their outcomes on a single page at the end of the book as his summaries tend to diffuse.I am impressed by Mr. O'Nan's attention to detail and his observation of dozens of ironic twists. The story could have ended with the investigation wrap-up, but the ongoing search for the cause of the fire, the man who may have set it, and the identity of "Little Miss 1565" carries the book to the present. Just like fire itself, "The Circus Fire" envelops you. I hope readers will take time to read it carefully. It is a profound book.

This account of a ghastly event is extremely well researched and written. There is no hyperbole, no wringing of hands. The author simply lets the story tell itself through those who were there, for the most part.Here is but a single stunning example, from p.109: "Several survivors said the one thing they will never forget about the circus fire as long as they live is the sound of the animals as they burned alive. But there were no animals." How much more effective that is, as prose, than the alternative method of saying the same thing.Stories of individual selfishness and total selflessness abound, as they do in an accurate account of any great tragedy. The author does not omit either, so that the reader comes away with a feel for what it must have been like that hot July afternoon in Hartford, one month after D-Day.I had misgivings about how well this could be told, before I read the book. Not now. I'd recommend this to any circus fan, to anyone who wants to read something really well written and thoroughly researched.My only criticism is that the photos, many taken by amateurs, to be sure, are not well produced. I like the fact that they are on the pages where they fit, but in doing this on regular paper, details and drams are lost.