Title: Jumbo
Author: Stephen Gerhard Malone
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing/Vagrant Press
Genre: Based on true events, fiction, adult fiction, historical fiction
Rating: 4/5 stars
Pages: 231
Review:

I have a lot to say about this book!

What really kind of stuck with me when I read this book was the difference between this book and Swan by Sidura Ludwig. (You can read my book review for Swan by clicking here!) These are two very different books, but they both follow the same sort of formula, in a way. After reading Swan, I had a certain lasting impression from that book. When I read Jumbo, I found a lot of comparisons between these two books. I found Anna Swan from Swan, and Little Eyes Nell Kelly from Jumbo to be a lot alike. For some context, Little Eyes Nell (but we just call her Nell) is a performer in P. T. Barnum’s show. To be exact, she’s his star performer, and the most famous person in the world at this time. Nell is also the shortest woman in the world. That’s her special trait, and she performs in P. T. Barnum’s shows riding horses, elephants, and jumping through rings of fire, and more. While Nell is the shortest woman in the world, Anna is the tallest. Although they might seem like polar opposites of each other I found a lot of similarities.

When Nell is a child, she desires one thing; to be taller. To grow, to not be so small as a child. Since Anna Swan is a child through the course of her book, her main character motivation is to shrink, to be smaller or average height. Both girls are out of the ordinary and just want to be ordinary. While Nell’s character motivations change as she grows older, I find it interesting how, as little girls, they both want to change their heights. Anna goes so far as travelling to Halifax in search of a shrinking potion, and Nell is convinced to leave her mother to go off to the circus because she is promised a growing potion. Although they are opposites, they are alike.

Another compare and contrast point that I will discuss is that Jumbo portrays P. T. Barnum in a more negative light than Swan does. In Swan, P. T. Barnum comes across as more of an opportunity, a chance to really showcase Anna Swan to the world. Anna is much older than Nell was when Nell was taken to be a part of the circus, but Anna was granted the freedom of choice to tour with Barnum. Swan portrays him in a more positive light because he is seen as a good thing for Anna. Reading Jumbo really offers a different perspective on the character of P. T. Barnum. I also think that it’s really worthwhile to read Swan and Jumbo back to back. One is an origin story of how one girl became a worldwide sensation it’s very sweet overall, and Jumbo is a more mature, heavy-handed story of the ins and outs of a life in the circus.

Okay, enough comparisons, I did this last time also with Swan and Tall Girl lol. Jumbo by itself plays out very well, very cinematically. I could really imagine this book as a movie, the character descriptions, and emotions and the tone of this book, and the visuals. I think the author really wrote this book to appeal to the reader’s senses, and I really loved how he handled that. Nell is also a very good character, I loved seeing her relationship with Jumbo and how she grew as a person. Jumbo himself doesn’t do a whole lot though, as an elephant he can’t do a whole lot except for be a character motivation to the characters, the two main characters being Nell and Scotty, Jumbo’s handler.

This book is such a roller coaster, and I love how it was all inspired by true events. I didn’t know much about Jumbo’s story before, so this book really helped me learn. This book tells a compelling story of what life would be like living in a circus, and I would definitely recommend it for more mature audiences, there’s quite a bit of swearing and mentions and references to things that aren’t really for younger audiences.

I hope you consider checking out Jumbo by Stephen Gerhard Malone, and I’ll see you in the next book review! Goodbye!

Here is the official synopsis of Jumbo from Nimbus!
A work of historical fiction following the prized African elephant who stole the show of the Barnum & Bailey Circus — and the hearts of people around the world — exploring exploitation, unrequited love, and the unbreakable bond between living things, from the author of The History of Rain.
There was, perhaps, no living creature more famous in the nineteenth century than Jumbo the elephant. Born in 1860 and taken from the wilds between Sudan and Eritrea at the age of two, he was sold to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and then to the London Zoological Gardens, before becoming the prized possession of notorious American showman P. T. Barnum. “Jumbomania” swept England, embroiled the Houses of Parliament, erupted into open warfare in the British and American press, and monopolized popular kitsch and culture. By the time Jumbo sailed into New York City in 1882, thousands scrambled for a chance to see “The Sun of the Amusement World.”
In this magnificent feat of historical fiction, Jumbo’s story is told by Little Eyes Nell Kelly, The World’s Smallest Singing, Dancing, Horse-riding Woman and Barnum’s star attraction. Initially jealous of her gargantuan new co-star, Nell keeps a close eye on Jumbo and his reclusive and dedicated trainer, Matthew Scott. But Nell soon realizes that she and Jumbo are simply two caged creatures in a circus full — and Jumbo’s confinement is slowly killing him. As The Greatest Show on Earth criss-crosses North America, Nell must brave greedy circus showmen, backstabbing trapeze artists, and the relentless pursuit of the cruel animal trainer, Elephant Bill, to keep the curtain from closing on her career — and her very life.
Taking readers from the deserts of Sudan to Buckingham Palace, to the manor houses of Connecticut and the dizzying heights of the Brooklyn Bridge, and every “one-saloon-three-church town” in between, Jumbo is a menagerie of riotous colour that brings Jumbo’s incredible story to life, and a masterful novel that explores exploitation, unrequited love, and the unbreakable bond between living things.