I thought about being generous and giving this 3 stars, but I thought better of it. There was too much wrong with this book to have 3.
The writing was poor. Not terrible, but certainly not "publish" worthy. There were several times I was reading and honestly couldn't understand who was doing what. I would waste time re-reading paragraphs, trying to decipher what was happening. And finally I would just give up and move on, trying to figure out through context clues.
There were also more than a few grammatical errors. Extra words. Missing words. The usual.
The plot was not terrible, but much like the writing, it wasn't up to par. It was a much less attractive Water for Elephants. The events were predictable, the characters were a bit too cliche, and the ending fell flat.
And the rape. The book wasn't improved by adding it. It was simply for shock value. To make your eyes bug out there at the end. I don't like being manipulated by 2 things: cancer and rape. The reaction is immediate sourness toward the story and the author.
The only thing I can say is I loved the train carriages. I'm tempted to run off and join the circus if it means I can live in such a plush, lavish train car.
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