This was our book club's first meeting. We chose it because it is such a big story in the news lately and knew it would be easy to discuss. The book itself isn't a literary masterpiece, but it is topical and driven by the real life "plot". The story itself is enough of a hook. Once you get into it, which takes a while, it really picks up the pace and a lot of us felt we couldn't put it down. In reading Carolyn Jessop's account, you realize this is her experience as she sees it. No one in the FLDS community is going to counter it as they avoid discussing their lives with outsiders. It is an amazing story. Some of the people in the club felt it was similar to "A Thousand Splendid Suns". It is unbelievable how the lives of women (really, it is the treatment of women) in totally different cultures can be so alike. The books leaves you asking questions, which is perfect for a book club. I would highly recommend it as a book club choice as the story begs discussion.

Our club read this as the third and final book (we only meet in the summer). No one in the group loved it, but all of us liked it. We all were disappointed in the ending, and felt Gruen needed to expand upon it instead of quickly wrapping it up into a cute ending. The history is fascinating, who knew the circus was so dangerous and naughty? We all looked up more info on elephants, etc. We found that many of the book club questions were very deep and many members said, "What did I miss, I didn't find it had that much depth or hidden meaning?" The book sparked a lot of text to self connections regarding aging. Most of our discussion was about Jacob as an old man. Many members related to Gruen's fantastic writing regarding aging. She developed a great character and it created a lot of discussion about aging parents, and how it feels to have no control over your life. We totally understood how Jacob went back to those circus years in his mind.