A Son of the Circus [Import] [Paperback]

John Irving (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; PF edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552143588
• ISBN-13: 978-0552143585
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,885,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Irving published his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in 1968. He has been nominated for a National Book Award three times-winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. He also received an O. Henry Award, in 1981, for the short story "Interior Space." In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules-a film with seven Academy Award nominations. In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Last Night in Twisted River is John Irving's twelfth novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irving shows (again) why he's the finest novelist around, May 6, 2000

By 

Douglas A. Greenberg (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Son of the Circus (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irving's Best - A Creative Wild Ride, November 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Son of the Circus (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book when it first came out, and was buying a copy for a friend when I noticed how mixed Amazon's reader ratings were. I was shocked, as I truly believe this to be Irving's finest book yet. Everything that is intriguing, outrageous and wonderful about Irving's intense writing style and ultra-creative story-telling abilities is epitomized in Son of the Circus. It is not necessarily an easy read, as Irving presents a LOT of information for the reader to digest (there are dozens of quirky characters and several subplots). With that in mind, if you feel up to the task, it is more than well worth the effort.

While reading this book, I was constantly aware of the author's genius. His ability to conceive and weave together intricate plots and carefully constructed characters into a cohesive, wildly entertaining story is mind-blowing. Irving's previous books (Owen Meaney, The Cider House Rules, Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, etc.) and the subsequent Widow For One Year are all excellent reads, but all much tamer and far less intricate than the grand spectacle of Son of the Circus. It is truly an amazing feat of fiction - a wonderful book with as many twists, surprises, and glimpses of the bizarre as one could ever hope for. Irving's beautiful writing, outstanding background research, and vivid imagination make for a truly original story that haunted me for months after reading it. Several years after reading it, I still harbor strong memories of Son of the Circus(and I have read dozens of books in the interim).

This is a book to be read carefully - it makes an excellent vacation read, when the proper amount of time and attention can be paid. If some of the other reviewers of Son of the Circus were disappointed with it, I suggest that they return to it and read every word with care - perhaps then they will understand John Irving's gift and what an intelligent and interesting book Son of the Circus is. Don't miss it - books like this don't come along very often!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally new setting for Irving; loved it!, May 15, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Son of the Circus (Mass Market Paperback)

Irving is absolutely one of my favorite authors, and if you can believe it, this actually the first one of his that I read, and it got me hooked to go out and read the better known Garp and Owen Meany books. Having read all of Irving's novels, I get a little tired of the repeated elements of boy's boarding schools in New Hampshire, wrestling coaches, life in Vienna, prostitutes, and so on. This book completely breaks out of the Irving mold for me (even though there were some formative years in Austria and the characters play squash, as in other books). It's unlike any of this other books, and I loved exploring the completely new territory in India. Transsexuals? Bollywood cinema? Circus dwarves? Sideshow freaks? Serial murder? Twins? Confused priests? Hippies? They're all here and they all come together in this beautiful narrative.

I highly recommend this to all Irving fans as one of the under-appreciated books that often falls below the radar. I loved getting lost in this fantastic world of intrigue in India, and I was sad to have this beautiful book come to an end.