The Carousel

I can’t remember what led me to The Carousel but it must have been destiny (if there is such a thing) because I loved this novel. It took me for a ride- the kind where you have the windows down and wish you never reach your destination. It also got me to change my egg order after eighteen years.  

Here’s the premise-

A strange woman, merely stopping for gas, manages to turn a whole town upside down when she starts restoring a few old carousel horses at the local junkyard. What starts as a small restoration project by the deeply saddened ”merry-go-round lady,” evolves into the construction of a whole new carousel involving the entire town. There are numerous characters- the reliable waitress from the town diner, the young new Reverend, a strong willed little girl, two old Jewish brothers, people who just live in the town and share experiences- we learn about all of them. This book is largely driven by its characters and brilliantly so. The passages aren’t very long and a character’s interaction may only be a couple paragraphs, but it means something-it leaves you with something. You know each one on some intimate level. Even the one character, the town sheriff, who stays on the outside, closed off from the rest, you see him too. The whole project takes over three years- building a carousel (and change) requires time. There’s a lot that happens in those years – a death, wedding, children growing, everyone getting older, and the narration encompasses it all in a little snap shot- life flying by seamlessly as they grow.

We don’t learn the merry-go-round lady’s backstory until after the carousel is built. I think the choice to not reveal her backstory until the very end allowed for an intriguing mystery but also gave more room for other characters. She may have been the reason all of their lives changed, but she wasn’t the main focus. Although she was integral in setting everything in motion, she largely remained to the side, dealing with her grief. This allowed for attention to be drawn to the town’s people.

The two themes that really resonated with me were grief and change. It’s obvious from the start that the merry-go-round lady is struggling with some overwhelming sadness and you see her struggle with it for most of the book until it slowly slips away, with the construction of the horses and carousel, but more so by the community support that rallies behind her. Her story emphasizes that grief takes time to process, the length of that time varies by person, and the best you can do is just support them while they work through it. The town really came through for her. In return she acted as a catalyst for the town to start to change. Her arrival was different enough to raise a stir and once the Reverend saw the opportunity, he made sure to exploit the chance to strengthen the community in a beautiful way. Before the woman’s arrival everyone was  used to a daily routine- a routine that closer mimicked survival than actually living. By constructing a carousel via the Reverend’s suggestion, it gave people the opportunity to work together and help each other, to connect while pursuing a common goal, and to care for and love one another. Who would think that a carousel could do all that?

https://www.amazon.com/Carousel

Follow Stefani Deoul on Twitter: @stefanideoul and Instagram @sdeoul