Lives of the Circus Animals : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Tales of the City for Theatre Buffs
Review: The best way I know how to describe this frothy, light comedy is to say it's "Tales of the City" set in the New York theatre scene. The book runs just a little over the course of a week, with the various characters interconnected, and each chapter moving from one to the next. There's Henry, the older English thespian who's in a smash Broadway play, his love denied assistant Jessie, and her playwright brother Caleb, as well as Caleb's shallow lover Toby. For anyone who has spent time in the Manhattan theatre world or follows it closely, you may find this a fun, campy, nearly melodramatic read. It didn't seem like the same author who had written the fantastic "Dr August" and "Father of Frankenstein" since it has none of the depth of either of those books. However taken separately, it's a breezy read that brims with heart as a valentine to the the New York theatre and it's inhabitants.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulously Entertaining Romantic Comedy
Review: This is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. Especially if like me, you are a New York theatre fan. It starts off a little clumsily, but once it catches some momentum, it hurtles forward with sharply drawn scenes that will often make you laugh out loud, sometimes just from the sheer cleverness of the writing. There's more than a little wisdom in Bram's story about love and relationships in contemporary New York. A very satisfying tale of people finding their ways to each other. Highly recommended. And the "Ian McKellen" character is terrifically funny.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This was a great book. It was definitely a page turner and had a great fast paced story line. It is about a group of Manhattanites during the course of a few days and their lives in and around plays whether on or off Broadway. I liked the book but at the end I felt like I really didn't get to know the character too well. Christopher Bram wrote another wonderful story but I felt that the story was really lacking character development. Besides Caleb and Jessie Doyle you really have no idea of what the characters went through in the past. Like with the youngest character, Toby, the only thing I really know about him is that he is from Wisconsin...that's it. What kind of life did he have in Wisconsin that would make him move to NYC and start to strip? I liked the book a great deal I just thought that it would have been a better book if the author would have fleshed out the characters a little more.

Rating:
Summary: Rules of the Game
Review: This was my first Bram novel, and I will eagerly turn to his earlier work. I loved the New York theater milieu and the skill with which he juggled a large cast of characters. Yes, I balked at some outrageous coincidences early in the book, but I was eating out of the author's hand by the denouement. Bram writes convincing sex scenes of various persuasions and offers a broad cast of characters ranging from a famously out British Shakespearean, to a New York-phobic suburban matron, to the New York Times' No. 2 drama critic ("the buzzard of Off-Broadway"). The whole gang ends up at a beautifully handled party scene that brought to mind "La Regle du Jeu." And Chekhov's famous dictum about the gun on the wall comes into play before the final page. Great fun, with sympathy for all its flawed characters.

Rating:
Summary: Rules of the Game
Review: This was my first Bram novel, and I will eagerly turn to his earlier work. I loved the New York theater milieu and the skill with which he juggled a large cast of characters. Yes, I balked at some outrageous coincidences early in the book, but I was eating out of the author's hand by the denouement. Bram writes convincing sex scenes of various persuasions and offers a broad cast of characters ranging from a famously out British Shakespearean, to a New York-phobic suburban matron, to the New York Times' No. 2 drama critic ("the buzzard of Off-Broadway"). The whole gang ends up at a beautifully handled party scene that brought to mind "La Regle du Jeu." And Chekhov's famous dictum about the gun on the wall comes into play before the final page. Great fun, with sympathy for all its flawed characters.