A fascinating tour de force that displays the enduring, unique appeal of the circus.
A personal history of the modern circus by a circus performer and owner.
Mermin, who “ran off to join the circus” in 1969 and founded his own circus, chronicles life under the big top. The author recounts having to convince his skeptical mother of the worthiness of his ambitions; her dismissal inspired the name of Mermin’s own show, Circus Smirkus. This memoir begins with stories of Mermin’s participation in late-20th-century European circuses, such as Circus Benneweis and Circus Hoffman, and includes photos at the beginning of each section and Gersch’s sketches of clowns, tents, and other circus elements. Throughout, Mermin highlights his relationships with well-known performers, especially his mentor, the renowned mime Marcel Marceau (who never performed with a circus until Mermin persuaded him to perform in Circus Smirkus). The author catalogs the early years of building Circus Smirkus, a small Vermont-based affair that followed the model of traditional European circuses and employed young performers. One of the most interesting elements of the book charts how Mermin fostered a glorious multicultural stage, inviting “coaches and circus kids from Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Georgia, Moldova, Canada, China, Cuba, Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Palestine, Ethiopia, Great Britain, New Zealand, states from all around the US, as well as ten First Nation tribes, the Sioux, Yakama, Hunkpapa, Cree, Santee, Dakota, Oglala, Navaho, Azteca, and Cherokee.” Mermin also includes his own “coming out” as Jewish to an antisemitic fellow performer. One glaring oversight—the memoir pays scant attention to controversies over circuses, particularly the abuse of animals. Circuses continue to evolve, however, and Mermin reassures readers that the circus as an art form is very much alive, noting that his own circus will continue on after his retirement.
A fascinating tour de force that displays the enduring, unique appeal of the circus.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781578691562
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Rootstock Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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