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Our Lady of the Circus
David Toscana Book Review

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Plot Summary of Our Lady of the Circus
"'Our Lady of the Circus', a book by Mexican writer David Toscana, tells the tale of a troupe of performers/"freaks" who struggle to make it on their own after being kicked out of a once-formidible circus. Travelling through a remote part of Mexico, they come across an abandoned mining town and decide to make it their own. However, trying to create a new life for themselves is hard for these eccentric individuals. They each randomly pick a piece of paper from the magician's hat to see which town role they should play: the midget takes the role of a priest, the bearded lady as doctor, the strong-man as whore, the contortionist as the town "Negro", and so on. The absurbities and tragedies that ensue are at the same time humorous, shocking and bizarre. An extremely hard book to categorise! "
J. Hatton, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Our Lady of the Circus
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - 1900-1920's
Other aspects: - story of the poor
Poverty, surviving Yes
Kind of living: - farm poverty - general poverty story
Culture clash? - Being oppressed by outside culture
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society) - Hispanic
If story of urban/rural... - Small town life
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric
Ethnicity/Nationality - Hispanic/Latinic
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - missing body parts/abilities

Main Adversary
Identity: - society

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Southeast
Small town? Yes

Style
Person - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - licking - impregnation/reproduction - male homosexuals doing their thing
Lot of foul language? Yes
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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