Rating: 
Summary: "I did not want to write this book."
Review: Having read two earlier works by O'Nan, the novels "The Names of the Dead" and "A Prayer for the Dying", and having been impressed with his language and narrative structure in both, I decided to read this work of non-fiction, "The Circus Fire", an account of The Hartford circus fire of 1944 and the following investigations.
Amazon lists as a requirement for writing a review that the reviewer should "focus on the book's content and context". I am interpreting that stricture to encompass also the book's language, grammar, and style.
I have to say I had trouble finishing this book. While interested in the account of the Hartford circus fire of 1944 I was, page after page, increasingly irritated by a series of vivid clashes with my previous experience of O'Nan's writing ability.
While obviously a thorough researcher O'Nan lacks the ability to condense and formulate his findings into a readable non-fiction narrative. He presents us with a bewildering series of (often very short) paragraphs in which arbitrary changes in subject matter, viewpoint, and literary style are guaranteed to cause confusion. The diversions from standard grammar within those paragraphs, if considered leniently, could be interpreted as eccentricity, less leniently, as affectation. This writer has been writing for too long to be still searching so desperately for a new voice. O'Nan's latest grammatical discovery appears to be the use of ellipsis and he has applied this so violently that on one occasion I had to go back 26 pages before I discovered who and what a sentence referred to. The use of 1940s slang and terminology is unfortunate; it is the rare reader who wants to research out-of-date language to comprehend contemporary writing.
"I did not want to write this book. Why I attempted it I'm not precisely sure." is how O'Nan opens the Forword to "The Circus Fire". The book itself fails miserably to validate the explanations that make up the rest of the Forword in which O'Nan attempts to excuse such a strange introduction.
Not entirely negative, I could use the following quote to point O'Nan towards a lucrative future. "Goodrow was methodical, a plodder, a meat-and-potatoes guy, just the facts, ma'am."
There is always a market for another pulp fiction detective story.
Rating: 
Summary: A keeper!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A keeper!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Horror at the Big Top
Review: I chose this book as a native of CT who had read newspaper articles about the Hartford circus fire over the years. This disaster was of a magnitude that kept it from being completely forgotten by CT residents, even after forty or fifty years had passed. As a child just getting into the habit of reading newspapers, I noted mentions of the tragedy at anniversaries and after the "solving" of the identity of a little girl known only as Miss 1565. Later, as an adult living far away from CT, I became even more intrigued about this monumental occurrence after reading a review of Mr. O'Nan's book. I resolved to buy the book and find out more about the circumstances of that warm July day.
It turned out that the book, aside from quenching my desire to be more informed about the circus fire, was an excellently researched and wonderfully composed read. The accounts of eye witnesses were plentiful and detailed, the statistics were clear and concise, and the phrases were turned in a way that was enjoyable to read, even despite the gruesome subject matter. Background from before the actual happening, minute details during the conflagration, and narrative of the many aspects of the aftermath were blended together in a non-fiction depiction which avoided the dryness of a historical tome. This was one of those books that I could not put down, reading it from start to finish in one day. My advice to Mr. O'Nan is to find another subject that you can present with equal depth and panache and my advice to a prospective reader is to grab this book and dive right in.
Rating:
Summary: Horror at the Big Top
Review: I chose this book as a native of CT who had read newspaper articles about the Hartford circus fire over the years. This disaster was of a magnitude that kept it from being completely forgotten by CT residents, even after forty or fifty years had passed. As a child just getting into the habit of reading newspapers, I noted mentions of the tragedy at anniversaries and after the "solving" of the identity of a little girl known only as Miss 1565. Later, as an adult living far away from CT, I became even more intrigued about this monumental occurrence after reading a review of Mr. O'Nan's book. I resolved to buy the book and find out more about the circumstances of that warm July day.
It turned out that the book, aside from quenching my desire to be more informed about the circus fire, was an excellently researched and wonderfully composed read. The accounts of eye witnesses were plentiful and detailed, the statistics were clear and concise, and the phrases were turned in a way that was enjoyable to read, even despite the gruesome subject matter. Background from before the actual happening, minute details during the conflagration, and narrative of the many aspects of the aftermath were blended together in a non-fiction depiction which avoided the dryness of a historical tome. This was one of those books that I could not put down, reading it from start to finish in one day. My advice to Mr. O'Nan is to find another subject that you can present with equal depth and panache and my advice to a prospective reader is to grab this book and dive right in.
Rating:
Summary: Very engrossing and moving!
Review: I don't usually like Stuart O'Nan's fiction, but this work (of non-fiction) is quite good. It's the true story of a fire that broke out at a Ringling Brother's circus and killed hundreds of people. Very exciting, and very moving as it detailed what happened--a tragedy that could easily have been avoided if the tent hadn't been soaked in gasoline!
Rating:
Summary: Spectacularly Haunting!
Review: I first heard of the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire from an episode of Unsolved Mysteries whereby detectives were trying to discover the identity of Little Miss 1565. Although the television episode showed portions of the home movie and interviewed some of the people, this book gives more intimate details of the circus fire. Aerial photos of the blackened oval of what was left of the big top are especially haunting and bring to light the magnitude of the devastation. It is truly a miracle that so many survived.
Rating: 
Summary: Still Intrigued?
Review: I found Mr. O'Nan's work a compelling and at times, a gut-wrenching effort. I had always been mesmirized by that tragedy, especially about Little Miss 1565. Yet the emphasis of this tragedy is not just on her, there are others who were went unidentified in this tragedy and their sadness is also highlighted in this book. Mr. O'Nan does a good job of interconnecting the sub-plots in this tragedy and weaves together the lives of the victims in a very artful way. I am still intriqued about the arguments made by Mr. O'Nan regarding the identification of Eleanor Brooks so I will continue to read more on this subject. He definitely makes the story very real, yet surreal!
Rating:
Summary: This is the best book about a disaster that I have ever read
Review: I found this book to be extremely hard to put down. It is very exciting and well written. I really felt that I was there at the circus in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944!
Rating:
Summary: History brought to life
Review: I grew up in Connecticut, so all my life on the anniversary of the Circus Fire, articles would appear in the local newspaper but never seemed to tell the whole story of what happened afterwards in the lives of those who were touched by this tragedy. Stewart O'Nan does a fantastic job of putting together many of the pieces of this disaster and does so in an interesting and informative way. The subject of the Circus Fire was always thought-provoking, as my dad had a chance to attend the circus that day and did not go . . . . I may never have existed if he had made the trip!
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