Jamrach's Menagerie was one of the best reads I had in a long while, and I've been waiting for a new one from Birch ever since. I was hooked immediately on this colorful tale of Juliana Pastrana, a gifted young woman cursed with a genetic disorder that makes her a sideshow attraction: "Ape Woman," "Bear Woman." She speaks three languages, has exquisite manners, a charitable heart, a sweet singing voice and dances delightfully... and looks like a gorilla. (On a curious side note, the eminent chief of surgical anatomy Alexander Mott at Bellevue Hospital - see my review of Oshinsky's Bellevue book - examined her and officially opined that she was a hybrid of a human and an orangutan.) Through Juliana, Birch explores what it means to be human, how humans love and exploit one another, how one remains humane in the face of fear, disgust, and even hatred. And then the book starts to fall apart. Juliana is basically bought by a feckless, selfish, ambitious impresario who marries her, partly for a perverse attraction, but mostly to control her as her manager. Theo ferries her around the world, raking in the admission fees. The story shifts from Juliana's point of view to Theo's, and it almost seems as though Birch has lost interest. The lively, rich writing (if you don't care for lush language with lots of adjectives, you won't like it, but I do!) becomes pedestrian, loses its color... perhaps Birch meant to, but it lost me. The reader goes from engagement with this lovely, suffering woman to a slightly exhausted "poor Juliana." Once Juliana is off-stage (though still disturbingly present - no spoilers here), I began reading faster just to finish. It goes on too long, and an occasionally poignant present-day secondary plot feels perfunctory. That said, the story stays with me... I put the book down and kept thinking about it. Which is more than you can say for most. And yes, it is based on facts, a real person. You can Google that part yourself. I think I'm going to go re-read Jamrach. ( )

I very much enjoyed this book about the life of Julia Patrana. I found the writing and narrative very interesting and easily flowed and kept me interested the entire way through. The only thing that makes me not rate it a 5, is like other reviewers the second story about Rose which takes place in more modern times really didn't feel necessary at all. It certainly put an interesting twist at the end (no spoilers here) but wasn't enough that I feel required to be there and I found myself rushing through those sections because I just wanted to get back to Julia's story.

I found this book at the Dollar Tree and what a deal - I would recommend this book (even for more than the dollar I got it for) as it is an enjoyable and interesting read of a very interesting life. ( )

The history behind the story is horrifying and fascinating but the story as given here rang very very hollow. It's a dramatization of roughly historical happenings but it really mostly lacked real drama or feeling. The more modern story interleaved with the older one was very spare and kind of puzzling. I'm no snob (anymore) about historical fiction. I've read a couple of Mary Doria Russell's books in the last year or two, for example, and by contrast, they feel both well researched and put me more immediately into the lives of the characters. This book is small town community theater to Russell's Broadway. ( )

I found the synopsis of this book intriguing; it is certainly a book outside of my usual reading even though it is technically historical fiction. Julia Pastrana is a young girl in Mexico with a number of birth defects including being covered with hair all over her body. She had been rescued from an orphanage and taken into the care of some people who if they didn’t love her they did at least keep her safe. As she gets older Julia starts to want more from her life and so when an opportunity arises to perform with a troupe of sorts she takes it.

What I didn’t realize when I started the book was that Julia Pastrana was a real person. This sent me down a google rabbit hole until I learned about this amazing woman. It made me wonder if she had been born in modern times if she would have had a longer life. I don’t know if she would have been treated any better – in fact some ways I suspect it would have been worse given the state of today’s society.

The story is fictional but it does follow the course of Julia’s life as she becomes a bit of sensation as a performer; she sings and dances and then reveals her face to the audience who predictably react in shock. As time goes on she starts to wonder if she is nothing but an oddity. She is intelligent, she can speak three languages and yet people do not believe she is a human being. What must it be like to have your basic humanity questioned?

Julia moves between promoters until she meets Theodore Lent. He is a mix of con man and entrepreneur. He takes Julia to Europe where her shows are received in varying degrees of popularity. She does seem to live a life that makes her happy. I don’t want to spoil that story although it is a part of the historical record. I would rather let the reader choose how they want to learn Julia’s fate.

I found this to be a fascinating read. It did get a little slow in places but that didn’t take away from the whole for me. The everyday minutia of Julia’s life helped to truly humanize her. She was a truly remarkable young woman to rise above her birth defects and push so hard for herself. It’s a lesson for those of us born with far fewer problems. I think she would have been fascinating to know. ( )

Where do you begin when you leave a book in an emotional trash heap?

I fell in love with the cover immediately and still think it is one of the best I’ve seen this year. And certainly the flashy promise in the press blurb worked its magic on me. I leapt at the chance to read the book.

The dazzling new novel, evoking the strange and thrilling world of the Victorian carnival, from the Man Booker-shortlisted author of Jamrach’s Menagerie.

Let’s start with some true facts. The protagonist in the novel, Orphans of the Carnival, was a real person. In 1834, a native Indian woman living in western Mexico gave birth to a child so fiercely abnormal the mother feared her daughter was the result of supernatural interference and fled with the child into the mountains. Upon discovery two years later, the child, covered from head to foot with dark black hair and an ape-like face was abandoned by her mother and placed in an orphanage. The child was found to be highly intelligent and blessed with a sweet disposition. A local governor adopted the child to serve as a maid, caretaker to an elderly family member, and an in-house oddity. In 1854, upon the death of her charge, the child left to return to her native tribe. Somewhere in that journey, she was discovered by an American showman and was convinced to join him for a life in the world of human curiosities thus enabling her to fulfill her dreams of seeing the world outside her small village.

The child’s name was Julia Pastrana and in her short lifetime became one of the world’s best known curiosities.

The author has done her research. The major facts known about Julia Pastrana are in the novel. I know this because I was affected enough to learn more about the real Julia. Believe me, Julia’s life story coated with the fictional embellishments will rip your heart out.

I was appalled at the horrors and mental cruelty she suffered at the hands of greedy carnival men and “respected” medical authorities that repeatedly reported that she was a hybrid human. There’s no doubt that this fiction represents Julia’s reality.

In the real world, one well-known New York medical authority examined her and declared she was a half-breed of human and orangutan origin. This wasn’t a new idea. Two hundred years earlier a Dutch doctor stated that orangutans were born “from the lust of Indian women, who mix with apes and monkeys with detestable sensuality”.

Each time Julia stepped on a stage and faced the hordes of gawkers ostensibly interested in her singing voice and her talented dance routines, she knew, and you, the reader knows they are just there to stare at her face. Her greatest desire in life was to be loved and for people to see her, to see beyond the hairy body and the “world’s ugliest face”. Her single most need was the answer to a simple question…Am I Human?

Julia’s final manager, Theo Lent (and husband) must have been a real son-of-a-bleep. The author presents him from two sides- the face of the carnival barker who lived to make money off his “precious possession” and the lonely friendless leech marrying to force Julia to remain with him. When tragedy strikes, Lent shows his true colors and they are not pretty.

A misfit modern day junk collector finds a discarded broken doll and her fictional story reveals itself to have links to Julia. Overall, this added story was a distraction to the emotional turmoil surrounding Julia and her unfortunate life. I believe that sticking to Julia and the other poor unfortunate souls in this macabre world of entertainment would been better. In my advance reader copy, Rose’s story breaks into Julia’s story making it difficult to keep track of the narrative. Having said that, the ending of the book was a complete surprise to me.

I wanted to give this book a 3 star. In so many ways, it probably deserves it. The first half of the book had me flipping pages. The story just repeated itself over and over. New city, new show, same old cruel taunts and jeers. Midway I found myself ignoring Rose’s story and just reading to finish the book. As much as I flinched at every cruel word flung at the unfortunates, I never felt a depth to the characters themselves.

I do want to thank Netgalley and Doubleday for the advanced readers copy. This review reflects my own personal views and reaction to the novel. ( )