Most of my enjoyment from this comes from the carnival theme and setting. I'm a sucker for the carnival stories. It's not some exaggerated nightmare either, it feels real. You get to know the workers and the job down to the details. There is not much to the story but I did not really have a problem with that at all. There is a plot but it is not the point of the book to me. There is enough to keep you going though and what is there is neat. The characters are very well drawn and motivations/actions are all in line. It's a melancholy book but not so much that it drags you down.