The Ringmaster's Daughter [Paperback]

Jostein Gaarder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Panina Manina, a trapeze artist, falls and breaks her neck. As the ringmaster bends over her, he sees around her neck an amber charm—just like the one he gave his own child before she was swept away in a torrent 16 years earlier. This tale is narrated by Petter, a precocious child and a fantasist, and perhaps Jostein Gaarder’s most intriguing creation since Sophie. Petter makes his living selling stories and ideas to authors suffering from writer’s block. It’s a lucrative trade, but as he sits like a spider in the center of his web, Petter finds himself in a trap of his own making. Jostein Gaarder is the author of Sophie's World, a huge bestseller in over 40 countries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

So far we've had reviews in the TLS and SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY together with thefollowing: 'Gaarder is back on form... there is intriguing food for thought here'THE TIMES 'A masterful mixture of fantasy and reality...... a simply wonderful read.'SHE MAGAZINE 'Petter's big problem is that he cannot distinguishbetween fantasy and reality, which gives rise to the best one-paragraph explanation of so-called received memore syndrome that you are ever likely to read.'Keith Bruce, THE HERALD 'THE RINGMASTER'S DAUGHTER confirms his status as one of Scandinavia's finest literary exports and as a novelist and storyteller --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Jostein Gaarder is the author of SOPHIE'S WORLD, a huge bestseller in over 40 countries. He was born in Oslo in 1952 and lives there now with his wife and two sons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753817004
• ISBN-13: 978-0753817001
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,084,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jostein Gaarder is the author of SOPHIE'S WORLD, a huge bestseller in over 40 countries. He was born in Oslo in 1952 and lives there now with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Beautiful!!, August 19, 2005

By 

Mortiis27 (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ringmaster's Daughter (Paperback)

The Ringmaster's Daughter is told from the perspective of a young boy, Petter. Petter's overactive imagination is amazing, but sometimes gets him in trouble too. Petter is able to weave these fantastic stories, that are beautiful and sad. But he's a little crazy, too. He sees a little man that's not really there. This little man is always bossing him around. Petter can't distinguish between dreams and memories.

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down. I thought it was really unique that we got to read the stories that Petter came up with. Sometimes Petter tells stories in a way that reveals something about him or something important that he can't say flat out. Every story that Petter tells is amazing and tragic and ends with a twist, kinda like this book. Gaarder uses his "story within a story" method yet again and it works.

This is by far the best book I've read in a long time.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth reading, May 28, 2006

By 

R. Aifeng - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ringmaster's Daughter (Paperback)

This is my favorite book by Jostein Gaarder. I think what has made it a better story than others lies in its intensity: love, pain, treason, mystery are interwoven very tightly. Gaarder has succeeded in creating a very intellectual, yet eccentric narrator with depth. Among other things, the book discusses the core of creativity and the role of the creator. Frankly, I do not know what to make of the ending. Much like Gaarder's other works, the book is laden with beautiful moments and ingenious ideas.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Oh, what a tangled web we weave...", January 23, 2010

By 

R. Chaffey "beckahi" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ringmaster's Daughter (Paperback)

Jostein Gaarder is a gifted storyteller who is able to breathe life into the most unusual and unbelievable stories. His singular novel, "Sophie's World", shed new light upon the history of philosophy in an unexpectedly enjoyable way. While the magic is not quite recaptured in "The Ringmaster's Daughter", Gaarder has once again created a truly unique character whose life is bound to the power of words, for better or for worse.

"The Ringmaster's Daughter" is narrated by Petter, a solitary man who suffers from an extremely overactive imagination. Since he was a boy, he has been followed around by Metre Man, a man no bigger than a meter who no one else can see. Petter cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality, believing his dreams to be real and his life to be a fantasy. Gifted as he is with his imagination, Petter has no desire to share his stories with others in the normal sense. So he begins a business of helping out struggling writers by giving them his ideas, asking only for payment in return and promising that he will never divulge the transaction to anyone. A harmless enough pursuit to begin with, Petter later finds that he has woven a dangerous web around himself with the words he has allowed others to proclaim as their own.

Gaarder's title may be a little misleading, since it references one story that Petter repeatedly tells and improves upon, but it is fitting for the trickery that his main character employs; for Petter is ringmaster to all the authors he helps and to all the people he unwittingly hurts in his life. His story is full of compelling contrasts - lighthearted and dark, mirthful and disturbing. Just as Petter allows his clients to make of his words what they will, Gaarder allows his readers to pass their own judgment on Petter's actions and his life.