Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo.
I was granted eARC access to The Circus Train by Amita Parikh through my participation in the HarperCollins Canada influencer program. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
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About the Book
The Circus Train
by Amita Parikh
Published 22 March 2022
HarperCollins
Genre: Historical Fiction
Page Count: 405
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At the World of Wonders, Europe’s most magnificent travelling circus, every moment is full of magic, and nothing is as it seems–especially for the people who put on the show
Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite her father’s overprotection and the limits her world places on her because she is disabled. Her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past. Over several years, as their friendship flourishes and Alexandre trains as the illusionist’s apprentice, World War II escalates around them. When Theo and Alexandre are contracted to work and perform in a model town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena becomes separated from everything she knows. Forced to make her own way, Lena must confront her doubts and dare to believe in the impossible–herself.
A must-read for fans of The Night Circus and Water for Elephants, The Circus Train will take readers on a heart-wrenching and spectacular two-decade journey across Europe. When all is lost, how do you find the courage to keep moving forward?
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My Review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
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The Circus Train is a historical fiction based loosely on real individuals as well as primary source accounts of disability experience during the era. It is set in Europe in the decades surrounding and including WWII and focuses on physically disabled intellectual Lena and half-Jew in hiding Alexandre from their meeting as kids in a travelling circus through their formative years apart and eventually their reunion some years after the war in France.
This book has so many elements that gave me hope it would be an instant favourite for me. I studied history at the undergraduate level specializing in Canadian and British history during the world wars and inter-war years. I love stories about strong women, stories about women doing things society says they shouldn’t, and disabled individuals striving to achieve their dreams. I also love circus stories! All the building blocks are here, the content is great, and the plot played out mostly as I hoped it would (though Lena’s breakthrough -you’ll know what I mean when you read it- felt forced,) I can absolutely see this being adapted to screen and I think this story deserves a lot of acclaim in any format.
Where it falls short for me is the strength of the writing itself. I just finished this book and I have no lingering impression of what anything or anyone looked like. I loved the idea of Lena and Alexandre, but I didn’t ever truly feel connected to them, so their ups and downs didn’t sway me to feel strong emotions on their behalf. There were a few sequences here and there throughout the book where the narrative voice jumps into summary mode to tell us what that character will do in their present but our past and it’s some weird past tense voice version of the future perfect continuous tense. This really jolted me out of the story, it usually felt like unnecessary information, and it felt very “telling, not showing” and rushed. I guess in short what I’m saying is this book needed more descriptions, more emotion, and less superfluous character’s future summarization.
Overall I do like the story and I do think it’s worth a read if you’re into historical fiction or anything of this era set in Europe. If you’re here primarily because of that circus element and you’re hoping for historical urban fantasy, magical realism, or even just lots of prose in the circus setting, you aren’t going to find that here. This isn’t The Night Circus or Water for Elephants. The circus is only a vehicle to move the plot along and barely even gets a mention by the end of the book. If you’re here for a strong, well-researched story set in the decades surrounding WWII in Europe and a will-they, won’t-they romance, this is it. Read it!
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Want more? Check out my 5 star review of Gallant by V. E. Schwab!
