A Son of the Circus

Rating:
Summary: Irving shows (again) why he's the finest novelist around
Review: This is a wonderful novel--engrossing, well-crafted, moving, humorous, and profound. Even after 630+ pages, I was sorry to come to the end of the book. To this I must add: based on some other reviews I have read, a prerequisite for reading *A Son of the Circus* evidently is development of an attention span longer than that typical of today's channel-surfing, sound-byte-seeking generation.

The plot is Byzantine and carefully-woven, but ultimately predictable in some ways. The story and its ending are not particular strengths of the novel, but are mainly vehicles for Irving's skillful neo-Dickensian depiction of contemporary India--more specifically, some of its colorfully bizarre social settings and the diverse personalities that animate these unusual environments.

Oh, the characters! I will miss them so! The endlessly fascinating personages who appear, disappear, and reappear throughout this lengthy narrative provide the very heart of Irving's masterpiece. There are so many! Particularly unforgettable are the actor John D., whose alter ego is his forever-sneering on-screen persona, Inspector Dhar; John D.'s garrulous and impulsive Jesuit missionary twin (long-lost, of course!); the crippled elephant boy, with his dreams of skywalking on the circus high wire; the staid and forever disapproving steward at the exclusive Duckworth social club, at which much of the principal action in the novel occurs; the twisted and tortured transsexual, Rahoul; and finally, at the center of this circus there is the essential straight man, Dr. Farruk Daruwalla, a childrens' orthopedic surgeon (and screenwriter) who splits his time between his native India and his adoptive home in Toronto, where he feel "always an immigrant." Complementing these unforgettable characters is a lengthy cast of dwarfs, transsexuals, prostitutes, drug dealers, drunks, drifters, and other assorted misfits and freaks. As always, Irving shows his affinity for the strange and tortured underside of human existence.

At one level, the novel is simply another of Irving's jaundiced romps through the absurd, the socially marginal, and the unspeakable, and the author's typically ironic dry wit can lull the reader into thinking this is all just a lengthy exercise in twisted humor and world-weary cynicism. But there is so much more! In the end, Irving has succeeded in creating a profound, complex, poignant, and moving portrait not only of the rich and glorious chaos that is contemporary India, but of humanity as a whole.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: I read this book before I travelled to India, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After travelling to Delhi, I have a new appreciation for his explanations on the abundant cacophony of confusion. He does an excellent job describing the smells, sights and sounds. This book will leave you with a hunger of the enchantment India has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER WINNER
Review: This is also another book by Irving that I have read many times. It is in my "don't loan out or you'll never get it back" collection (along with A Prayer for Owen Meany).

Rating:
Summary: panoply of imaginings
Review: I looked for this book because I lost it moving, and last week a friend began talking about it and I wanted it again. I read it many years ago in hard cover--but didn't it come out as A Boy From The Circus?--when I received it as a gift, and found Irving's capacity to spin imaginative tales of his creative characters around history and fact a consuming skill. Following the dictum of Forster--that characters must have lives before they can perform in a story--Irving gives them life and their lives give us the story: of India, of Zoroastrian ritual, of cults and zealots and murder mystery as well as the mystery of murder. I'm afraid to read more of Irving in case I am disappointed in comparison to this book. (Didn't like Hotel NH, and thought Garp was too quirky to be classic, though I liked it. Is Owen Meaney really very good?)

Rating:
Summary: Just a very funny read
Review: Have read plenty by John Irving. This book is untypical of him in the way that it isn't serious at its heart. It's just a fun read, written in the well-known, bizzare Irving-style but without the heaviness. If you want a fun read delivered by a master, read it.

Rating:
Summary: leaden comedy
Review: This is a huge, hugely self-important comedy that has all the heart and buoyancy of a shard of flint. Irving's quirkiness, which serves him so well in Garp and elsewhere, here just feels neurotic and obsessive. The book is vastly overwritten, charmless in its characterizations and story, and its heart is deader than a stone. It makes me think it's time for Irving to retire.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story, taught me alot about India and its people
Review: This is a LONG book and, like Irving's other novels, contains many sub-plots. While not every sub-plot "works", the overall effect is a fun romp through India. Sort of like a Michener novel, but with a John Irving view to it (ie, somewhat warped :-)).

I should add that I've read Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, and Owen Meany over the years. Owen Meany should be enshrined as one of the best novels by an American writer. A Son of the Circus is almost good (but better than Garp, HNH).

Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: I don't understand why this book has gotten such poor reviews by some people. I realize it's quite different from Owen Meany and Garp in some ways, but I think the essence of A Son - that quality that only comes from John Irving's amazing writing - hasn't changed. I personally count this as one of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A solid novel. Engaging.
Review: I don't understand why some other reviewers have given 'A Son of the Circus' such horrible reviews. This is the only book by John Irving that I have read (it was a gift) and so maybe that makes me 'impartial'. I wasn't sure I would like 'A Son of the Circus' since my tastes don't run in the 'Bestseller' vein and it seemed hard to get through. I also thought a white New Englander's 'vision' of India would be trite if not down right racist. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Since this is my first Irving novel his style of mixing together many elements was very interesting and enjoyable. The plot and setting were unconventional. The issue of identity was approached in such a thoughtful, touching, and 'real' manner, I think it was stylistically better done than many other works by Asian-American authors (but then Asian-American authors have a whole different set of politics and expectations they have to deal with). The only complaint that I have with it is it's uneven tempo. At times it did drag. And the last pages in the novel seem to show him quickly 'cleaning up' loose ends with a commemorative paragraph for each character. A very unsatisfying and hardly a dignified end for someone you spend 200 pages getting to know. But it is far from trash. I wouldn't say this is a book you should rush out to get, but you could do a LOT worse than 'A Son of the Circus'.

Rating:
Summary: Irving really captures the essence & hilarity that is India
Review: This was one of the best books I've read in a long time. I picked it up at a bargain-basement sale a few years ago and never got up the courage to read it. Well, I just finished it after a week of non-stop vacation reading. I had a hard time putting it down! As a first generation Indian-American, I could empathize with Dr. Daruwalla's feelings of isolation and why he was uncomfortable trying to fit into two different countries and cultures. Irving truly captures the flavor of India in this novel--both bad and good. I was amazed at his powers of observation--the maniacal taxi drivers, the chaos in the streets of Bombay, the beggars, the Hindi film scene, the interpersonal relationships at the upper-crust Duckworth club. The many plots and sub-plots were so cleverly intertwined that they held my attention throughout the 600+ pages.

Truly an excellent book, Mr. Irving!