Today, I am so excited to be part of the blog tour for Kathleen Cremonsi’s memoir Love In The Elephant Tent. I was sent a copy for review by ECW Press, and asked to participate in this blog tour. I was also sent some of Cremonesi’s pictures to include in this post, just to pique your interest 🙂 Y’all… this is so exciting for me. It is so much fun to participate in the wonderful world of blogging book reviews.
So without further ado…

Review of: Love In The Elephant Tent by Kathleen Cremonesi

Genre: Autobiography/Memoir

Kathleen Cremonesi set off in her early twenties, searching for something different. She wanted a different life than her mother had, and different experiences than the average young adults in the 80s. She bought a plane ticket to Europe, with a return date in a year, and set off. A lot can happen in a year though, and while she certainly hadn’t started her pilgrimage in search of love, she found it with Stefano–the elephant trainer in a circus.

Almost before she knew what happened, she was swept up into the circus world and in love with Stefano. Over the next few years she found herself as attached to the circus as Stefano, moving through roles as a dancing show girl, ostrich racer, and shark rider. Love In The Elephant Tent is more than a story about Kathleen’s adventures in the circus, though it is that. Ultimately, it’s a story about love overcoming differences. Kathleen and Stefano have more than their share of differences–they come from two completely different cultures and have much different expectations of a relationship–but the real adventure is in how they decide that what they have in common is more important than what they don’t.

This was such a fantastic book. Whatever preconceived notions you may have about memoirs, just let them go. Cremonesi’s book is nothing like any memoir I have ever read. Usually reading memoirs is like slogging through muddy marshes, but this one grabbed me from the beginning. It reads like a novel, thanks to Cremonesi’s incredible story-telling skills.

By far, the most incredible part of this book was the message about love and how it looks in real life. Kathleen and Stefano go through a stage in their relationship where they’re both trying to change each other to fit into their perceptions of what the perfect partner should be, and as you can imagine, it only leads to turmoil. This book was so much better than a novel, because it gave a good picture of what real love looks like–accepting both the things you like and the things you dislike about a person, and trying only to make yourself better. Furthermore, it clearly worked for them, as they are still married and have been married for more than twenty years now.

If you’ve enjoyed reading memoirs in the past, or have any particular affinity for coming-of-age adventure type stories, then I highly recommend this book. Honestly, I think there must be very few people who would be unable to enjoy it at least in some capacity.

I loved it: 5 out of 5 stars.

Here are the Rest of the Blog Tour stops and dates. Check them out!

June 15, 2015: Review and Giveaway, Always Packed for Adventure
June 17, 2015: Review and Excerpt, Book Bug
June 18, 2015: Review and Q+A, The Book Binder’s Daughter
June 19, 2015: Review, Excerpt and Giveaway, Caffeine and Books (https://caffeineandbooks42.wordpress.com/).
June 22, 2015: Review and Excerpt, Fictional Real World
June 24, 2015: Review and Photos, We Peas Read (https://wepeasread.wordpress.com/review-policy/).
June 26, 2015: Review and Q+A, Bibliotica