Come See the Living Dryad

I usually do not care much stories told through diaries/journals or letters. This story had all three, but was so well written that I had to go to the Google after reading it to see if the people discussed in the story were based on real people. The answer is, the main characters are not, but any other performers mentioned as working in the "freak" shows were real.

I have always been enamored of the idea of "freak" shows. I adored the movie "Freaks" by Tod Browning (Who ran away from home to join the circus and performed in a 10-in-one with various circuses and sideshows before becoming a movie director.) To me that movie did not show the performers as being abused of exploited. In fact for most of the movie, the storyline is a domestic thriller. It is only at the end that there is any sort of "supernatural" event. The truth is that without the sideshows, most of the performers would have been on the street begging, or would have been institutionalized. There were terrible people who took advantage of people whose only "sin" was in being born different. Sorry. I am quite passionate about this topic.

The characters in this story were very well developed and were fully realized. The "mystery" was not much of one, but I very much enjoyed the developing plot. The story felt bigger than a short story.

This was a 5 star story all the way.