Circus performances reveal the most stupid side of human beings, and also show the most beautiful side of human beings.The circus's grand ostentation, boundless vanity, and infinite allegorical potential have bewitched many literati...Gruen also fell into that bewitchment.With the masterful timing of a presenter, she saves her revealing revelations at the end of the volume, transforming American legend into a beguiling fairytale out of reality. ──The New York Times The circus, the Great Depression, a complicated elephant and equally complicated love, an old man who has seen the world and traces the twists and turns of the past in an extremely beautiful tone, these are the elements that make the charm irresistible.Sarah Gruen has written a novel that is full of life and is completely in another world.

──Writer: Robert Olen Butler The pattern of the book is far beyond the circus, and the charm lies not only in the little things under the big tent, but also in the mental journey of the people in the book.Sarah Gruen has written a world alive for readers with the writer's literary talent: every word makes me smell, taste, and feel everything in that world.This is a novel reader's dream work. "" —Jeanne Ray, American writer This is a good novel.Sadness, powerlessness, surprise, accident, abnormal love, joy... After reading it, I was very moved, moved by everything worth remembering in my life.An adventure is exchanged for a life, do you want to try it?

——Taiwan artist: Wu Peici super bestseller In 2006, two dark horses appeared in the US book market: and .The authors of the two new works are not big-name celebrities, and they were unknown when they first appeared, and there was not much media attention. They all depended on word of mouth from readers and created a sales myth.And these two super best-sellers overseas have been collected by Century Wenjing with a unique vision.Following the launch in the summer of 2006, Century Wenjing was finally launched in the book market in January this year. It was the number one book on the New York Times and Amazon online bookstores in 2006, with a global sales volume of over 1.2 million copies, and it has been on the bestseller list for 75 weeks.Currently ranked above "Harry Potter 7".The most influential book recommender in the United States, Oprah Winfrey (Oprah? Winfrey) recommended twice unprecedentedly. In 2006, the American Independent Booksellers Association (BookSense) selected books and was shortlisted for the "Oscar of the Book Industry" - Quill Grand Prize (The Quill Award) 2006 Fengyun Book, Best Novel Award.

At the age of 23, Jacob's simple life with no worries about food and clothing came to an abrupt end due to unexpected accidents, and he broke into a world of adventure and wandering.The circus, a place where life and death are presented in their own unique way.For Jacob, the circus is his salvation, but also the purgatory on earth; it is the place where he dreams of staying, and it is also the beginning of displacement.He fell in love with the circus star Marlena, and she had married the cruel circus director August by mistake; he also met the elephant Rosie, but she was under the elephant hook every day because she couldn't understand any instructions. howling.The two trust each other and depend on each other, and finally have to choose a scary but romantic way out...

The story uses the "flashback method" and uses the memories of a ninety or ninety-three-year-old man and the strange life of a Cornell University veterinary student whose parents both died as the two main narrative axes. Commitment, love and trust - between people and between people and animals.The retrospective of the years is intertwined, like the combination of love and love, emotions and memories. Jacob’s deep affection for Malena is similar to that of the elephant Rosie. Rosie’s physical pain is like Malena’s irascible husband’s fickleness. Redeem yourself.At the end of the story, Jacob chooses to keep secrets for the elephant Rosie for seventy years.This is not only because of Jacob's love for Rosie and hatred for the circus manager, but also because of his thoughtfulness for his lover Marlena. Whether Marlena doesn't want to know the truth or accept the truth, Jacob expresses his love. The way is to keep Marlena from harboring grievances.On a deeper level, it is a complete understanding of Rosie's replacement of Marlena, and they seem to have the same heart.For Jacob, their roles overlap, equally victims who are nourished by joy and rebuked by anger.

Another highlight of the story is the circus. In the 1930s, a traveling circus with cars staggered into a remote town in the United States, bringing joy and excitement to the festive atmosphere. The railway branch Shanghai reported a wonderful performance.In front of the stage, the circus makes dreams fly; behind the stage, the freaks performing, even if they keep each other warm, is the beginning of displacement.Under the glamor of the circus, there is an unknown cruelty.Just providing water for the animals to drink is enough to put a man out of business.The hardships of life are nothing to worry about, but the old Jacob is still desperate to devote himself again.The most attractive things often have two completely opposite qualities at the same time.Human beings are like this, and the circus clearly coexists with joy and cruelty, magic and illusion, so it can continue from the eighteenth century to the present.Children watch the gorgeous performance with glowing eyes and get good childhood memories; adults watch the dazzling absurdity with preoccupied eyes and get a short rest.We have only seen the dexterous and graceful high-altitude juggling, the heroic performances of horse taming and elephant taming; we can only feel the moments of dancing, leaping, flipping and turning in mid-air, but we will never understand how the whole circus survives, struggles, cannibalize.We have grown up, and what we want to see is the cruelty behind the sweetness, which can make us live braver.Let us feel the most dazzling magnificence in the depression period, and the most touching warmth in the difficult situation.