3 out of 4 stars
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The Sword-Swallower and the Chico Kid
The Sword-Swallower and the Chico Kid is a fantastic tale about the incredible power of change. Duke Reynolds, a life-long carnie, finds satisfaction in life by embracing the oddities of circus life. Gary Robinson, a lost soul coasting by on life, seeks to escape from a hopeless life through drugs. When these two men meet, each leaves a delicate effect on the other that changes both their lives.
The book is divided into three sections: one detailing the lives of Duke and Gary then jumps forward in time when the two cross paths. The reader finds echoes of the same tragedies within both the protagonists’ lives (drugs, for example) and much of the book’s charms come from how two people’s lives share similarities and yet take radically different paths on their lives.
I did like Duke’s persistence. Duke Reynolds’ life is a banner of tragedy. He’s living his dream, but events conspire to break him down at every turn. He loses the only home he’s ever had, resorting to odd jobs to pay for the drug addiction. Other men might have given up. But not Duke. No matter what life throws at him, he continues to live in the moment, to find joy in performing for people. He evolves into a mentor-like figure, tough and wise and stoic in the face of old age.
I did not like the book’s reliance on the telling narrative. One of the most basic rules every writer first learns is the telling approach of writing and the showing approach. Telling is describing the action through no uncertain terms, point by point. Showing, on the other hand, is description through comparison of events, through metaphors and similes. The fire blossoms his soul is an example of showing.
The book does a lot of telling. Whole pages of events scroll between conversations. By the time the reader meets Gary, the trials and tribulations of drug use do wear thin. It’s the same events dressed in a different suit. It’s weary to have hope build up only to see it crashing down because of one drink that quickly becomes one too many. However, when the book starts showing things instead of telling, it’s events become so utterly bizarre that it’s virtually impossible not to turn the next page.
I give the book 3 out of 4 stars. I like Duke, but the story’s approach doesn’t wow me with the starkness of the character’s perspective. The book tells me things; it doesn’t show me. But the book’s strength is the similarities and differences in which the protagonists’ lives unfold. It’s amazing how two men share the same obstacles, and yet walk down very different paths. The Sword-Swallower & The Chico Kid is a tale about the power of persistence, the ability to adapt to one’s situation, and the strength to pull oneself out of the tragedy of one’s mistakes for a new beginning. It kept me going until the very end, and you will too.
******
The Sword Swallower and a Chico Kid
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