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Title: Not very compelling
Review: As a historical text, Stewart O'Nan's "The Circus Fire" is OK, but to me it definitely was not "brilliantly constructed" as promised in the summary on the back of the book. The story itself is definitely a fascinating one and one and I for one am curious about the lack of a comprehensive history before O'Nan's. That aside, this book is so bogged down in a massive jumble of facts that it is difficult to follow in parts and I lost interest well before the end. If the author had concentrated on five or ten principal characters instead of 34+, this would have been a more compelling read. I realize that everyone involved has a story to tell, but it is hard to keep each person straight due to the sheer amount of people that O'Nan attempts to include.
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