A review by anika_bush
The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
3.0
One reviewer of this book compared it to The Night Circus and Geek Love...but the only similarity for me was the fact that they are all "circus" books. I loved The Night Circus, could not make myself like Geek Love, and this one fell somewhere between those two.
The narrative is split between two stories: a traveling circus in the 1790s and a librarian living in a crumbling house that is perched on the edge of a cliff in the modern day.
Simon, the librarian, receives an ancient, water-damaged book in the mail from an antiquarian bookseller. The bookseller states that one of Simon's ancestor's names is in the book and that is why he sent it to him. This book is what ties the two different story lines together. It is also the crux of a curse that haunts his family, especially the women in his family--"mermaids" in the circus who can hold their breath for over ten minutes...yet all end up drowning before they turn 30 and always on July 24th. July 24th is fast approaching and Simon's sister, Enola, is back in town after years away (working as a fortune teller in yet another traveling circus) and he fears that she is destined to drown.
I read the first half of the book on my kindle and listened to the last half (when my library hold finally came through). I really liked the first half, the last half seemed rushed to get to the ending she wanted. Maybe, though, that was because I was listening while cleaning the house (which I don't love--does anyone?) and I didn't love the reader of the book--I'm afraid those two things may have colored my perception of the last half.
The narrative is split between two stories: a traveling circus in the 1790s and a librarian living in a crumbling house that is perched on the edge of a cliff in the modern day.
Simon, the librarian, receives an ancient, water-damaged book in the mail from an antiquarian bookseller. The bookseller states that one of Simon's ancestor's names is in the book and that is why he sent it to him. This book is what ties the two different story lines together. It is also the crux of a curse that haunts his family, especially the women in his family--"mermaids" in the circus who can hold their breath for over ten minutes...yet all end up drowning before they turn 30 and always on July 24th. July 24th is fast approaching and Simon's sister, Enola, is back in town after years away (working as a fortune teller in yet another traveling circus) and he fears that she is destined to drown.
I read the first half of the book on my kindle and listened to the last half (when my library hold finally came through). I really liked the first half, the last half seemed rushed to get to the ending she wanted. Maybe, though, that was because I was listening while cleaning the house (which I don't love--does anyone?) and I didn't love the reader of the book--I'm afraid those two things may have colored my perception of the last half.