If I learned anything from "The Pilo Family Circus" by Will Elliott, it is that you cannot trust the Internet to tell you if a book is good. According to my research, this will be the first negative review of a book that won all sorts of weird Australian awards for fiction, and earned a blurb, through no fault of the author -- I understand -- likening this novel to the works of David Lynch and Chuck Palahniuk. I'm here to tell blurbologists that just because a writer smears feces on a wall doesn't make him anything like Chuck Palahniuk. In fact, this is exactly the sort of book that shouldn't be reviewed by anyone. It's not worth it. It is the equivalent of a stack of trade paper copies with the title scrawled in lipstick, featuring a high heeled shoe as the main art on the cover. There is nothing satisfying about this story: it is disjointed, poorly written, the plot fails and the writer relies on some elementary school style transitions ("Unbeknownst to him, these were the last eight hours of peace he would have for quite some time"). Not to mention the inexplicable perspective changes, and lack of distinguishable voice. In fact, the only reason I didn't stop reading after 40 pages was because I was eager to find out exactly how bad this book could be. Answer: Pretty awful. Every time I set it down, I forgot what was going on when I picked it up.It's about Jamie, a dude who is basically living in frat boy-style squalor, sharing a crumbling home with some nonfriends. In the middle of the night, he has an interaction with some clowns, which eventually leads to him a role in this otherworldly circus filled with freaks and carnies and a man with a fish face. He is stuck there, after he is shown that the alternative -- his old life -- will never amount to anything. Meanwhile, his body is splitting time: sometimes he is Jamie, sometimes he is JJ, a clown prone to havoc. Blah blah chaos. I have to admit that I feel a little bad dissing on this book so seriously. Obviously these are words made by someone who had the fortitude to get them into print with a pretty awesome cover and a foreward written by Katherine Dunn, a natural pick considering the circus premise. For that, Elliott gets a kudos. You did it, man. Unfortunately, I neither laughed, nor was I frightened throughout the course of the book. I couldn't distinguish characters from each other and a lot of the time I barely understood what was happening.
This was an odd book for me -- while I was reading it I really enjoyed it, but when I wasn't reading it I didn't remember liking it and didn't want to pick it up again. For the most part, I did like the book, but there were some things that didn't really work for me. I didn't like the Jamie/JJ dichotomy, although it was a decent idea and made for some interesting problems for the characters to work out. The JJ character didn't seem as well developed as I would have liked, though -- I expected (and wanted) him to be MUCH worse than he really was. I didn't think the cowering and crying (even though it was partially an act) worked, and I found it more irritating the longer it went on.I also wanted a bigger story -- at the end of it all, it's really just about Jamie being sucked into this world, then trying to survive and escape. Well, okay. What else? Nothing! I just wanted something more. (The ending also left me with a lot of questions.)I stumbled onto this book while browsing some pretty bizarre titles, so in my mind I suppose I lumped this book in with them -- I thought it was going to be REALLY over the top, disgustingly violent, absolutely horrifying . . . You tell me why I wanted to read something like that, LOL, cause I don't know, but that's what I expected. This just isn't that book -- at least it wasn't for me. Maybe it would be terrifying and disturbing for someone else.So three stars for a good idea and decent (but not outstanding) execution. I'm not sure who I would recommend it to -- it's a bit odd for most people, I think, but not nearly odd enough for anyone looking for the truly bizarre.EDIT:I just can't stop thinking about this book. I keep having the nagging feeling that I've missed the bigger picture here. I just read a great review (sorry, great reviewer, I can't recall your name right now) that said the author takes great pains to make clear that this book was NOT autobiographical in any way, but I have to say (& man, I reeeeally hate to contradict THE AUTHOR!) I think this book is a perfect illustration of a mind at war with itself. Intentional or not, I do think this book has to be based on the writer's struggles with schizophrenia. With that in mind, I think this book deserves 4 stars.
What do You think about The Pilo Family Circus (2009)?
Rounded up to 3.5 stars.On one of the threads I referred to The Pilo Family Circus as bizarro light; well, it is certainly bizarre. It started promisingly enough with lunatic clowns on the rampage, and this raised many interesting questions. The main protagonist is Jamie, and the book centers around his exploits after he is drawn into the Pilo circus. It was certainly an interesting premise but, for me at least, the whole thing got a bit too weird.Certainly, after a decent start, and a middle section which seemed to drag somewhat, the last third of the book re-ignited my interest. Overall, it was a decent read that I enjoyed, but which I didn't exactly love.
—David Brian
A good horror novel with an interesting plot and plenty of macabre humour, The Pilo Family Circus mixes violence, slapstick, and a smidgen of H.P. Lovecraft together to good effect. In the story, Jaime is a perfectly normal, fairly meek twentysomething working as a concierge and spending his time daydreaming about hooking up with his beautiful co-worker. Then he meets "the clowns" and it all changes. Like a psychotic version of the Three Stooges in face paint, the clowns begin by terrorizing Jaime and soon decide to recruit him as a fellow clown in the greatest show this side of Hell: The Pilo Family Circus. Finding himself trapped in the circus and desparate to get away, Jaime soon learns that his biggest obstacle to escape is JJ, the person he becomes once the face paint is put on. According to the book's adage "the nicer the person, the meaner the clown", JJ is a sadist who likes his new career and dislikes sharing his body with a wus like Jaime.If you're looking for spine tingling scares, then keep on looking. There isn't much in the book that's particularly scary. It's mostly creepy with an ample amount of dark humour (and slapstick violence) scattered throughout it. The circus setting and it's performers are well described and Elliott keeps the origins and the true purpose of the circus a mystery for long enough to build some suspense.I particularly liked the struggle between Jaime and his dark half, JJ. Elliott does a good job of creating a despicable character in JJ and building on the tension of giving Jaime an opponent that knows all of his thoguhts and plans. Interesting enough, Elliott wrote this book during a time when he was diagnosed and struggled with schizophrenia. Though Elliott denies any part of the book is autobiographical, I'm sure some of his own struggle to maintain his identity and self crept into the tug of war between Jaime and JJ.Elliott's prose style is adequate for the material. There is nothing particularly elegant about his writing, but it's clear and concise. All in all, it's a fast and fun read.
—Jon
I am not entirely sure how to review this one. The story idea was very unique and I thought many of the characterizations were quite excellent. It seemed to be flirting with brilliance, but... *mild spoilers*The first few chapters of this started off great and I thought I was in for a brutal and violent clown horror-fest. Then I got to know the clowns a little bit more and they somehow left me wanting a bit. There were definitely a few parts that were laugh out loud funny, but I just couldn’t tell if the clowns were suppose to be dangerous or doofus. Gonko was by far my favorite clown and the rudest and crudest of the lot. He had some truly great dialog. Unfortunately, the main character(s) Jamie/JJ fell short for me. JJ for supposedly being such a “bad-ass” clown was really just a sniveling beatch throughout his time at the circus. Overall, I am glad that I read it. 3+ Stars and a recommended read for originality and premise alone. Note: The author bio and the story of how Pilo came to be written is a very amazing story in itself.
—Bill
