Freaks: Alive, On the Inside!

this book is about the circus and the freaks shows back in the day. the book is called Freaks Alive, On The Inside by Annette Curtis Klause. the story takes place (once again) in my home state of Maryland in 1899. the story revolves around a boy named Abel Dandy. he lives in "Faeryland" a place where his parents perform with other "oddities" like dwarves, the two fat ladies, and Phoebe the Dog-faced girl - a girl who he has his first kiss with (interesting though huh?!) but alas, our poor boy Abel feels all alone among all these "freaks" why you ask? because Abel is a normal teenage boy. and he is wishing for adventure and to have a kiss from a girl who doesn't have a beard (who does right?). well, one day one of the acts, the siamese twins, decide to leave and as a parting gift one of the twins gives Abel a ancient egyptian ring. as soon as Abel wears the ring he starts to have strange dreams of a woman, a woman who begs Abel to save her....so what does a teenager do....he runs away from home. Abel seeks out his adventure but soon realizes that outside of "Faeryland" the world can be cruel. He meets sinister people like the horrible Dr. Mink, who runs a traveling freak show...and what Abel sees breaks his heart and changes his life....his adventure takes a dark and dangerous twist. this story at times is funny, sad, you will go through the emotions and rightly so. the book teaches us a lesson that no matter what someone may look like, no matter how different.....all of us are human and we all have feelings.

Reader reviewed by Mairi

Abel Dandy grew up in the circus as the child of, well, freaks, but he's perfectly normal- a mixed blessing. On one hand, the other circus performers are there because they couldn't get along in the outside world. Abel, on the other hand, has never had a chance to make it anywhere else, and his lack of oddities makes it clear that he will not make it in the circus, either.

I decided to read this book for absolutely no other reason than that I liked the cover- not the one for the hardcover (which is rather ugly) but the one for the paperback, which is drawn in an almost manga- like style and features Abel accompanied by the strange woman of whom he dreams. It also has one of the better first lines I've ever read. That line, "When a boy's first romantic interlude is with Phoebe the Dog-Faced Girl, he feels a need to get out into the world and find a new life," basically sums up the book for me- we get that, for Abel, an ugly freak girl is the same as any ugly girl, but we know that she is not and feel bad for her.

When I told a friend I was reading this book, she looked at me and said, "Good Lord, is that as offensive as it sounds?" and I do have to say that the conjoined twins and the giants and the dwarves in this book are all played for laughs.

Reader reviewed by Laina






Review: At heart, I am a true romantic. I do not like sad endings. I'm too empathic, and I feel them too close. Of course, I'm the person who bawled my eyes out over the last couple chapters of the seventh Harry Potter book... but that's another story. My point was (and I know it took a while to get here, I shouldn't write reviews when I'm tired, I babble) that Freaks was one of the most beautiful romances I've ever read. Romance isn't even the right word. Love story is more like it. Yes, one of the most beautiful love stories I've ever read. But I can't tell you much about that, or I'll give away too much.

Reader reviewed by Pammy-la!

Abel Dandy is the proud son of a legless man and armless woman, who, by the way, make a great stage act by riding a bicycle in the Faeryland Human Oddities Show. Unfortunately for Abel, he doesn't fit in.

Abel was born "normal." He learns to throw knives, but that doesn't cut it. Afraid he's going to be hounded into a relationship with the dog girl, Abel runs away to seek his fortune.

Along the way, he faces abnormal adversity, meets a myriad of misfits and meanies, and has his heart stolen by the most unlikely of mistresses.

Abel adeptly plays the hero throughout in this adventurous, not-your-run-of-the-mill, coming of age novel.