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Welcome to the website of
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ForeWord Reviews' look at the novel: https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/appalachian-carnival/
Book review by Robert Downes, author, editor, and founder of Northern Express, Traverse City, Michigan
http://npaper-wehaa.com/northernexpress#2013/01/07/?page=12
(When the page loads, double-click on it to bring up readable copy.)
Book review by Robert Downes, author, editor, and founder of Northern Express, Traverse City, Michigan
http://npaper-wehaa.com/northernexpress#2013/01/07/?page=12
(When the page loads, double-click on it to bring up readable copy.)
For a look at the first ten pages:
| excerpt_of_a_fool_rides_the_wheel_of_fortune.pdf |
Synopsis
May Day, 1970... Annabelle Cory, nineteen and disheartened with her coal-town prospects, flirts with Walt Ritter, who runs a game in a traveling carnival and wins a date with her after the show closes. Till then, she wanders McCain’s Magic Midway, plays some games, and rides the Ferris Wheel. At a sideshow, a three-armed man reads her Tarot—cards with mystic images that eerily echo her present situation.
Later that night, at a club in town, Walt makes much of his life on the road. Annabelle confesses her yen to be elsewhere. Abandoning caution for her chance at romance, she follows him to his hotel bed, and the next day goes on the road with him and the carnival.
Annabelle narrates her tale of the following week. She works a hoop-toss game in the day-to-day world of an Appalachian carnival—a realm of alibi agents, ride jockeys, kootch dancers, sideshow freaks, flat stores and hanky-pank joints. Her love for Walt takes wing amid blind lust, but soon flutters in and out of her confused heart.
She encounters a bizarre cast of characters. Iris, a tattooed bearded lady, lends Annabelle a booklet she wrote, spelling out her heresies. She coaxes Annabelle to seek her essential self, and warns her of the journey's dangers. Cheeks, a chubby carny who owns the Frog-Baby sideshow, deals out blackjack, moonshine, and psychedelics in his motel room. Bad-Eye Mike, beats a townie out of his paycheck, and when the rube vents his rage at Annabelle, Walt coldcocks him with a hammer, starting a feud that just won’t quit.
Later that night, at a club in town, Walt makes much of his life on the road. Annabelle confesses her yen to be elsewhere. Abandoning caution for her chance at romance, she follows him to his hotel bed, and the next day goes on the road with him and the carnival.
Annabelle narrates her tale of the following week. She works a hoop-toss game in the day-to-day world of an Appalachian carnival—a realm of alibi agents, ride jockeys, kootch dancers, sideshow freaks, flat stores and hanky-pank joints. Her love for Walt takes wing amid blind lust, but soon flutters in and out of her confused heart.
She encounters a bizarre cast of characters. Iris, a tattooed bearded lady, lends Annabelle a booklet she wrote, spelling out her heresies. She coaxes Annabelle to seek her essential self, and warns her of the journey's dangers. Cheeks, a chubby carny who owns the Frog-Baby sideshow, deals out blackjack, moonshine, and psychedelics in his motel room. Bad-Eye Mike, beats a townie out of his paycheck, and when the rube vents his rage at Annabelle, Walt coldcocks him with a hammer, starting a feud that just won’t quit.
~ A ROADSHOW OF THE SOUL'S ARCHETYPES ~
Step right up!
SEE— aspects of a Tarot card’s symbolism.
SEE—an age-old story of the quest for love, the search for oneself, the pursuit of money.
SEE—the overbearing sway of a society upon an individual.
SEE—carnies in cahoots with deputies, when outlawed drugs were tickets to heaven or hell.
SEE—Annabelle seek her liberation among a caravan of carnies.
INSIDE!—a Fool rolls the dice to win a ride on the Wheel of Fortune,
and finds herself amid a world within a world.
Step right up!
SEE— aspects of a Tarot card’s symbolism.
SEE—an age-old story of the quest for love, the search for oneself, the pursuit of money.
SEE—the overbearing sway of a society upon an individual.
SEE—carnies in cahoots with deputies, when outlawed drugs were tickets to heaven or hell.
SEE—Annabelle seek her liberation among a caravan of carnies.
INSIDE!—a Fool rolls the dice to win a ride on the Wheel of Fortune,
and finds herself amid a world within a world.
