A review by myxomycetes
The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney

3.0

A curiosity that goes up to 5-stars and down to 1-star, before righting itself.

A circus comes to a small Arizona town. It's operated by a Chinese man and is full of magical creatures. Sometimes the racial caricatures get thick but invariably Finney undercuts the stereotypes or twists them so they're poking fun at the characters who resort to stereotypes. It makes for weird reading at times.

You can certainly see it being influential on Ray Bradbury and Peter Beagle.