Review in Spectacle




"The same redemptive power is obviously the motivating force behind Marie Carter's The Trapeze Diaries, which is told far more simply and ironically far more movingly than the Cristiani book. For Carter, finding the courage to conquer the trapeze becomes a metaphor for her battle against so many of the fears she carried into her adult life from her childhood. Having conquered the trapeze, she finally comes to peace with her father's death, establishes a new relationship with her mother and although she never reestablishes a relationship with her older brother she is at peace with that failure as well.
Although The Trapeze Diaries is a very slim text, it is filled with honesty on every page. The author's lessons on the trapeze, provided by "the aerialist," do not occupy a great deal of the text, but they and her admiration and respect for circus artists provide an essential backdrop for her journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and ultimately are the keys to her new found freedom and jooy.
Born and raised in Scotland, Carter, we discover, has come to New York City to find a new life and manages to overcome the fears and introversion instilled at home. Her mother also becomes a new person thanks to her visits with her daughter.
Obviously the blacksheep of her family, Carter ultimately seems to become the most well adjusted, and most fulfilled, and perhaps she owes it all to the trapeze."