Customer Reviews

The Ringmaster's Daughter

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book was a strange story by an author that I've enjoyed reading in the past. The book was a great price, in new condition.

I gave this to my granson who is 10 years old and he loves this book.

This is a well written, interesting novel revolving around Gaarder's most intriguing narrator. I enjoyed the vignettes throughout the book as well as the link to the greater story, but I felt as if I was watching a train wreck toward the end. I wonder why such an intelligent narrator was unable to deduce the obvious, which was, really, my only frustration with this novel. I did appreciate the novel's ancient Greek tragic turn, as Gaarder's other novels deal with saddness and loss as well, but not as darkly as this one. I truly felt angst as a reader, and thus, even if I didn't LIKE the outcome, I could certainly appreciate it in the contex of the story.

I read the more popular Gaarder novel called "Sophie's World," and I enjoyed that very, very much. "Sophie's World" got me started in pursuing the study of philosophy. Gaarder was a new author for me, and I got really excited about checking out more books written by him. I then came across the "Ringmaster's Daughter," and I must say that I was very much DISAPPOINTED with it. I think it's dull, convoluted--the characters are just not believable and are just plain awkward. Perhaps, Gaarder should stick to writing about philosophy--he'd be much better at that.

Anyway, just a warning. If you enjoyed "Sophie's World," then do NOT read the "Ringmaster's Daughter." You'd be very disappointed. No wonder someone at Amazon sold the book to me for one cent.