interesting setting and characters

3.5 stars, rounded up. I'll be honest, the interesting setting of this book was the biggest draw for me in picking it up. I love "forgotten history" types of stories and this one, set in a 1920s era Nashville zoo that no longer exists, where main character Two Feathers performs as a horse diver (a talent I'd certainly never heard of before), held plenty to like. The plot of this one does meander at times, and there is a lot that the author is trying to incorporate with various story lines, and these are completed and explored in different degrees of depth. The story does look deeply and critically at issues of racism and land ownership, especially in the context of the southern location the book is set in, and experiences of the characters working at the zoo (particularly those of Two Feathers and Crawford). The setting, my initial draw to this book, remained really fascinating- it's interesting to think about the changes in zoos in the near century since this book is set in addition to the important topics raised throughout the book.