Rating: 
Summary: Probably the best novel I've ever read
Review: A friend lent me a copy of "The Catch Trap" and the prospect of reading a book about the circus in the 40s and 50s seemed like pure torture. Still, for some strange reason I picked it up and started reading (about a month after it was lent to me). Over the course of the next week, I found it increasingly difficult to put the book down. I stayed up literally all night one night because I just couldn't put it down.Though I'm usually not a big fan of long novels full of lots of detail, this book is riveting. The characters are full, rich, complicated people with complex, endlessly fascinating relationships. When I finished the book, I was genuinely sad to leave these people I had grown to love. The Santelli family had become real to me, almost as if I belonged to them in some way, and Tommy and Mario were my friends. And I felt like I knew so intimately what the life of traveling circus performers had been like. In addition to great characters and a great story, Bradley does a superior job of
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best novel I've ever read
Review: A friend lent me a copy of "The Catch Trap" and the prospect of reading a book about the circus in the 40s and 50s seemed like pure torture. Still, for some strange reason I picked it up and started reading (about a month after it was lent to me). Over the course of the next week, I found it increasingly difficult to put the book down. I stayed up literally all night one night because I just couldn't put it down.
Though I'm usually not a big fan of long novels full of lots of detail, this book is riveting. The characters are full, rich, complicated people with complex, endlessly fascinating relationships. When I finished the book, I was genuinely sad to leave these people I had grown to love. The Santelli family had become real to me, almost as if I belonged to them in some way, and Tommy and Mario were my friends. And I felt like I knew so intimately what the life of traveling circus performers had been like.
In addition to great characters and a great story, Bradley does a superior job of
Rating:
Summary: You can SMELL the popcorn...
Review: Amazing, wonderful writing.... MZB has truly done a labor of love....a rich, steamy, thick work of writing....The plotting, structure, narrative...a must read..... enjoy it...
Rating:
Summary: The best book I ever read!!
Review: As a disclaimer, some portions of the novel are disturbing. There is violence and strong sexual content. Now that that is out of the way. This is an incredible story of an Italian family circus act in the 40 and 50's. I found my self laughing and crying when reading this book. I could not put it down. I became obsessed (It's that good!!) I wanted to know all the secrets of the Santelli family. I wanted to fly on the trapeze, live in a trailer and travel the country. I wanted to punch Mario for being so afraid, kick Johnny for what he did to Stella and love Tommy as if he were my own son. I have recommended it to all of my friends and I can say that this is the best book I have ever read and now that it's finished I am sad to say goodbye to Mario, Tommy, Angelo, Stella, Johnny, Lucia and all the members of the Santelli family. But I can't stay sad for long, because 'The Santelli's are always ready' and after reading this book, I am one of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible, Trite, Smarmy and Forgettable
Review: As a gay man, I really looked forward to "The Catch Trap" as one of the few love stories that would really speak to me. Instead, I found a book full of unbelievably shallow and sacharine characters with little to no appeal.
Aside from the circus setting, I found the two main characters so stereotypically sappy as to be laughable in all the wrong places. I felt insulted at every turn of the page as the two boys/men toggled between love and hatred of themselves and each other.
Admittedly, I'm no fan of Bradley's writing, and "The Catch Trap" is the perfect example of why. While I understand from many a friend I've discussed this with that I'm of a minority opinion here, I can't help but recommend that this book NOT be read...by anyone.
Rating:
Summary: One of few books that is marvellous and thick
Review: Beautiful!!!! Above reviewers have put in words better than me. I just wanted to show enthusiasm for this book. This book is beautiful and that is the only word I can describe it. I was tremendously moved by this book. Characters and the settings are so deeply described, you can see inside the heart of the characters. I was hooked when I red 10 pages or so and I was so happy because this book has nearly 700 pages. I finished this book in 2 days and I spend all my spare times reading this book. This book is about a dream, purpose of life. This book tought me the purpose of a man's life can be broken or die but it can be reborn and be there forever. I wish I could live like Tommy and Mario.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book...
Review: Before I read this book, I never knew what to say when people asked me what my favorite book was. Now, I never have to think about it...this is definitely my favorite book. I liked it better than The Mists of Avalon, and that's high praise. If anyone ever wondered what Marion Zimmer Bradley might be like in a non-historical or -fantasy book, this is it. It is the same wonderful writing style applied to a more modern set of circumstances, a close-knit, Italian family of trapeeze artists in the 1940's. The characters are so vivid that I always forget that they are not real... I speak of them to friends as though they were real people, using their emotions to describe my own.
PS - If you have enough self-control, don't read the back or the front of the book until after you've gotten at least two hundred pages in. I would give a lot for some of the things in that book to be a suprise to me, and I hate it that I threw away the chance.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Paced, Richly Detailed Drama
Review: Bradley has crafted a beautiful epic around two circus performers. The novel is well reserached and brings the atmosphere of the circus to life. Without being cliche and predictable Bradley weaves love, loss and loyalty into a delicious narrative that leaves you waiting for the sequel. It's full of surprises! I highly recommend this book. In a word: eloquent.
Rating:
Summary: Very Moving
Review: Finding a book at Amazon that has been reviewed by 16 readers and has an average of 5-stars is unusual. So I bought it, finished it last night, and am about to start it again tonight. It is tremendously moving, an eloquent testament to what human relationships can be with love and perseverence. The best book I've read in ages!
Rating:
Summary: read it read it
Review: I am really lacking words to discribe how this book moved me. I speakes me from the heart. Two men, living under the eyes of a biast hippocritical society that cheers to them and would happily put tem into jail if it knew that they love each other. And that fate is not so farfetched or outdated as it seems...what would public say if it wasn't Monica L. but Mark ... Or to speak for my country, being myself in politics, i know enough fellow politicians whose career would be finished if the truth would be known....not that society would do it oppenly... everybody, or most would state sympathy and understanding....till the day they are alone in the votebox and have to make the little cross... MZB write a story about two persons and manges not only to create convincing characters but also stays away from stereotypes. From the beginning you do not only see two men, but two human beings who love each other. And while reading it on comes across the question..how tolerant am I ...this book does a lot to raise that level ....
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