What a horrible excuse for a novel. If this book were transformed into a wedding-planner's companion, it would be an excellent read; all the description and sets and atmosphere are absolutely beautiful. These inanimate objects are the only real characters. The people are ornamentation only existing to adorn the author's fabulous vision of an enormous black and white and red party that spans 16 years. 
 But, alas, the back cover boasts a dangerous and wonderful duel that never happens and hardly discusses the countless circus tents with their charismatic rooms full of clouds.