A Ticket to the Circus: A Memoir Immediately

It's a mistake to buy this book for what you might consider the juicy, two-timing Norman parts, where wannabe women trailed him like alley cats and he, like so many men of his ilk, always a sucker for a sycophant, gave in and let them have their ways with him. It would be a mistake to get stuck there, because that ain't the cherry on top of this memoir, it more like the crumbs under the table.

What this book is about is a life lived fully and beautifully by a little girl from Arkansas, a little girl with big trusting eyes, a wise soul full of faith, and a forever innocent heart that took delight in everything that came her way, and boy did it come her way, and boy did she buy that ticket to the circus, went in and never left, leaving her southern God fearing childhood behind, she became Norman's sixth and final wife and the only one who he ever considered his peer.

That's what's important in this book. Norris (nee Barbara) was and remains a very bright light all on her own. She's an original. You'll find few memoirs as honest as this one. She pulls no punches. She tells the truth, she knows no other way.

Norman was terribly in love with her and she with him. His love letters to her, which she shares in this book, make you love the guy. But this book makes you love her. She is the ultimate woman, wise, beautiful, beguiling, able to weave together a blended family of many ex-wives and nine children while she painted portraits of the rich and famous, wrote stories, wrote and directed plays, edited her husbands work, cooked fabulous southern meals, traveled, entertained and engendered devotion from her family and a myriad of friends. She was Norman's muse. He could never get over his luck in marrying her. But, he was also jealous of her and he demonstrated it in nasty ways. He was blustery and smart and celebrated, but Norris is a steady high beam of light, the kind you come into the world with. Everyone loved her, men and women alike.

Throughout her fabulous complicated life which she shares in this book, from the beginning until today, she remains truly humble and grateful for everything that came her way. When the tough times came and they did, illness, hers, his, her parents, she soldiers on taking care of them all. And when she discovers the betrayals you feel the pain with her and travel with her to the detached state that forever changes things. But, she rallies and rises to take care of everyone and everything in her keeping. This memoir is one of the best I've read. I didn't want it to end.Get more detail about A Ticket to the Circus: A Memoir.