The Basics
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Contents |
[edit] Genre
Thiller
[edit] Logline
"While on a camping trip, a young boy and his older brother stray from their family and happen upon a carnival in the middle of nowhere."
(this is set--in stone. Please don't edit it.)
[edit] Point of View
The book is written from an omniscient, third-person point of view.
[edit] The Setting
Make sure that our description conforms. For more details, visit the Locations.
[edit] Character Archetypes
- Main Character: Narrator (omniscient third person)
- Protagonist: Ethan Brown
- Antagonist: The Ring Master
- Guardian: Tam Brown
[edit] The Carnivale rules
Magic works, but its power doesn't come without a price. Some animals can talk, some can't. The more exotic they are, the more likely that they have some power of speech. The Carnivale has the usual: games, rides and shows.
Some of the Carnivale folk have been a part of the fold for a while, others haven't. As we learn more about them, we discover each has a dark past--something that they wish they hadn't done, something they wish they could forget about. None of them like to talk about how they joined the Carnivale, or why.
The way to escape the Carnivale is to confess your sin. But no one is willing too.
The Carnivale folk tend to offer unsolicited and oddly questionable moral guidance for a child.
[edit] Themes
- Everyone has a dark side, but not everyone can admit it.
- Tam feels that he doesn't fit in with his family, and doubts that his parents care about him the way they would a biological child.
- Life is a Carnivale.
[edit] The Ending
- The Dark Ending: By the end of the novel, the sins of the Brown family have been revealed, and they have all joined the Carnivale. Mother has joined the bearded lady and recites bawdy rhymes. Tam has committed some evil even worse than that of the Ring Master and therefore has taken his place in the show. Only Ethan escapes, and he becomes one of the Audience, returning every night to watch his family from a distance.
- The Happy Ending: By the end of the novel, Tam's parents have at great peril worked their way into the Carnivale, the father in particular risking his own soul in the process. Seeing the way his parents care for him--regardless of his being adopted--Tam finally feels able to confess his great sin without fear of abandonment, and due to the confession he is able to leave the Carnivale.
