Rating: 
Summary: A tale of heroism and heartbreak
Review: The author of "Snow Angels", one of my favorite novels, has written a non-fiction account of the Hartford circus fire of 1944. This is a gruesome story in many instances, describing in great detail what happened when the fire began under the big top, and the ensuing panic and death. There are stories of parents sacrificing themselves to save their children, and of the heroic efforts of the circus people and average citizens to rescue the victims. The book has a plethora of photos, which makes the story that more compelling, because of the images they convey. The prose is taut, but several times the author uses the word "ahold", which grated on my sensibilities. The attempts, throughout the years, to ascertain the identity of Little Miss 1565 was extremely poignant. This episode is one of the little-known events of our history, and is well worth reading about, for these people deserve to have their story told to a new generation.
Rating:
Summary: A horrific, moving account of an American tragedy
Review: Stewart O'Nan's thoughtful, careful account of the Hartford circus fire is a powerful narrative, leading to a greater understanding of the tragedies that often result from poor judgement and reckless disregard. It is also an inspiring story of heroics in the face of hellish conditions and a testament to the importance of community and family support in times of need. For three main reasons, I recommend this book. 1. Undoubtedly, this book has historical importance. O'Nan offers an account that is rich in detail, a valuable historical record. From direct dialogue to seemingly minute details, O'Nan recreates a time and place that few would otherwise experience. One common theme expressed by the survivors of this tragedy was that it was seldom spoke of--that after the tragedy, addressing the fire was avoided in the community and in individual families. O'Nan reminds us, though, that this is a story that needs to be told. The circus, though less popular today, remains a part of America's pop culture, and it's easy to dismiss pop culture as unimportant. However, what better reason than the fact that everyone has experience with the circus to learn more about it. 2. O'Nan has an attention to detail seldom seen in nonfiction accounts. At times, the detail is painful and disturbing. However, O'Nan carefully avoids sensationalism. The details he offers are necessary for an understanding of this tragedy. He does not exaggerate or dramatize. With this story, the facts alone are enough to move the reader and appeal to pathos. 3. Finally, O'Nan's story is an important reminder of the demands and responsibilities placed on communities and industries to protect public safety. It is a theme that we can trace throughout history up to our present--that the influences of the dollar must never override the importance of our security and safety. Perhaps it takes a setting as innocent as a circus to remind us this powerfully. This is a narrative as gripping and moving as any bestselling fiction. Nearly impossible to put down, and just as difficult to forget, a reader will long remember the stories of these victims and survivors. It is a horror that, fortunately, few of us will have to face. But it is a story from which, fortunately, we can learn.
Rating:
Summary: A keeper!
Review: I am sure that any decent writer who was willing to dig through the archives and old newspaper stories could have written a good book about the Hartford circus fire. For Stewart O'Nan however, that was not enough. He not only did the research that any author would do when writing about a historical event; he tracked down the survivors. That is what makes this book so good. The stories told by the survivors make the whole story much more personal and much more tragic. On top of all this, O'Nan's writing style is superb. As a novelist who usually deals in fiction he writes in a very engrossing manner that keeps the reader's interest from cover to cover. The chapters are divided by dates and O'Nan takes each of the several families he follows in detail from their preparations for the circus to the very end. Whether that end is death or recovery we get the whole story. In this way the reader is able to connect in a personal way with the victims. If they escaped we find out how they got out. If they required hospitalization we get the story of their recovery. If they are killed we are taken through the identification process and some of the funerals. O'Nan even follows two of the survivors into their careers as firemen. The reader is also treated to the inner politics of the Ringling family and the power struggle after the fire. Along the way we meet circus people who were indeed negligent, politicians who struggled to cover their own negligence, nurses, doctors, and lots of policemen. We also meet many heroes; many of them policemen and firemen just like on 9/11. O'Nan spares no detail but he never gets boring. The reader will also get a good feel for 1944. The circus was short on workers because of the war. Hartford's residents were prospering because of the war industries. Gas and food ration stamps were so precious that the police were amazed that so many people turned in stamp books found on the midway or still in the smoldering big top. This book is just simply fascinating all the way around. Finally, O'Nan takes the reader up to 1999, Fifty-five years after the fire. That fifty-five years brings new investigations, new theories, new suspects, and the end of Ringling Brothers' days as a tent show. In 1994 there is a touching fifty-year reunion of the survivors. To the very end, O'Nan handles the subject with dignity and grace. The subject matter is sorrowful and you will be moved close to tears, but I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Subject
Review: "The Circus Fire" documents the events surrounding the burning of the Ringling Brothers big top in Hartford, Connecticut, during World War Two that killed 167 people and seriously injured many more. It is an event that took on new life in the public eye in the 1990s with the supposed identification of a little girl's body who was body never claimed. This is an exhaustive account, which is one of the book's weaknesses. Author Stewart O'Nan tells the story from the viewpoints of many different survivors, often shifting perspective from paragraph to paragraph. And while this style allows many voices to be heard, it is often confusing to the reader. A myriad of names appear in the narritive and it is easy to lose track of which story you are following. As a result, the victims tend to blur into a mass of humanity instead of maintaining their own identity. Additionally, while the accounts of the fire itself is quite riveting, the later chapter focussing on the aftermath are far less so. Overall, this is a good book for disaster buffs, but casual readers are likely to find it less enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A Heartwrenching, Haunting Book
Review: Novelist O'Nan has written a piercing non-fiction account of the legendary Ringling Brothers Circus fire in Hartford, Conn. on July 6, 1944. 167 people died, the majority women and children. Because of the sheer horror of the event combined with the fact of violent deaths of families and dozens of small children, the story of the fire has taken on a mythic, almost Gothic quality. O'Nan sorts through all the legends surrounding the fire while still acknowlegding that mystery are at the heart of the event. Who started the fire? Was it the psychotic teenager who confessed years later? And what about the legend of the demented woman who pretended to be a doctor at a hospital where the victims were: she supposedly set the limbs of some of them so badly they had to be amputated--truth or fiction? There are accounts of human savagery as people clawed at each other to escape the burning big top. There are also stories of heroism and self-sacrifice. And very gruesome details of what fire does to the human body. Of course there is the story of Little Miss 1565, a small girl killed in the fire who had a mostly preserved face, and yet was never identified. O'Nan is drawn to extreme human situations in his fiction, but he has really done a fine thing with this true story. It will haunt you for days.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting and Haunting
Review: A very thorough account of the Circus Fire in Hartford in 1944. I was transported back to a time and place I never knew and felt as if I were there. I had heard of the unidentified little blonde girl, but thought I had read that she was indentified. After reading this, one is left wondering once again. I read this in one sitting and I would imagine you will also.
Rating:
Summary: The Show Did Not Go On
Review: Compelling story about the devistating effects of fire on women and children. Shows the lack of preparedness, back then, of the entire emergency system from fire department to hospital. Shows how an excellent fire investigator can 'peel back the onion' and finds information through good synthesis and analysis of the facts. Brings to bear the life safety issues of large public events.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacularly Haunting!
Review: I first heard of the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire from an episode of Unsolved Mysteries whereby detectives were trying to discover the identity of Little Miss 1565. Although the television episode showed portions of the home movie and interviewed some of the people, this book gives more intimate details of the circus fire. Aerial photos of the blackened oval of what was left of the big top are especially haunting and bring to light the magnitude of the devastation. It is truly a miracle that so many survived.
Rating:
Summary: Horror at the Big Top
Review: I chose this book as a native of CT who had read newspaper articles about the Hartford circus fire over the years. This disaster was of a magnitude that kept it from being completely forgotten by CT residents, even after forty or fifty years had passed. As a child just getting into the habit of reading newspapers, I noted mentions of the tragedy at anniversaries and after the "solving" of the identity of a little girl known only as Miss 1565. Later, as an adult living far away from CT, I became even more intrigued about this monumental occurrence after reading a review of Mr. O'Nan's book. I resolved to buy the book and find out more about the circumstances of that warm July day.
It turned out that the book, aside from quenching my desire to be more informed about the circus fire, was an excellently researched and wonderfully composed read. The accounts of eye witnesses were plentiful and detailed, the statistics were clear and concise, and the phrases were turned in a way that was enjoyable to read, even despite the gruesome subject matter. Background from before the actual happening, minute details during the conflagration, and narrative of the many aspects of the aftermath were blended together in a non-fiction depiction which avoided the dryness of a historical tome. This was one of those books that I could not put down, reading it from start to finish in one day. My advice to Mr. O'Nan is to find another subject that you can present with equal depth and panache and my advice to a prospective reader is to grab this book and dive right in.
Rating:
Summary: Big-Top Conflagration
Review: This account of the big-top conflagration in 1944 is morbidly haunting. What was supposed to be a wartime diversion for approximately 10,000 in Hartford, Connecticut ended up becoming an enduring nightmare. Many were injured, and 167 died during the minutes of the actual fire, and for weeks afterwards from injuries sustained. O'Nan pulls no punches in his account of this horrific event. He devotes more than 100 pages to recounting the minutes while the fire blazed, as well as many of the individual tales in and around the tent. His style is straightforward and blunt. The descriptions of the panic, and the horrific condition of the bodies that O'Nan puts forward will stay with me for a long time. I have long been fascinated by what I would define extreme psychology, or in other words, the character and depth of personality that is revealed in times of crisis or emergency. This book more than satisfied my curiosity. At times I found myself struggling to get through the pages, as stories of heartbreaking loss and tragedy unfolded one after another. The tone is not moralizing, and O'Nan is comprehensive in exploring the perspectives of all the actors through first-hand accounts. Of course there is the above-mentioned rush of panic, but the author also details the clean-up, the categorization and detailing of the sometimes unidentifiable remains of the victims, as well as the legal search for culpability. There are even a few mysteries that further draw the reader in. This book is fascinating, but very emotionally affecting. I recommend it, but with the reservation that the reader should be prepared for a difficult experience that may be too moving for the overly sensitive.
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