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Review
"'Angela Carter has influenced a whole generation of fellow writers towards dream worlds of baroque splendour, fairy tale horror, and visions of the alienated wreckage of a future world. In Nights at the Circus she has invented a new, raunchy, raucous, Cockney voice for her heroine Fevvers, taking us back into a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety' The Times. * 'Nights at the Circus is a glorious enchantment. But an enchantment which is rooted in an earthy, rich and powerful language...It is a spell-binding achievement' Literary Review * 'A glorious piece of work, a set-piece studded with set-pieces. The narrative has a splendid ripe momentum, and each descriptive touch contributes a pang of vividness. By doing possible things impossibly well, the book achieves a major enchantment' Times Literary Supplement * 'A mistress-piece of sustained and weirdly wonderful Gothic that's both intensely amusing and also provocatively serious. This is a big, superlatively imagined novel' Observer * 'A remarkable book by any standards' Guardian"
Book Description
'Raunchy, raucous...a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety' The Times
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nights At The Circus is all about Fevvers, the cockney foundling who grew up with wings poking through her vertebrae. Abandoned by her real mother Fevvers is taken in by a prostitute, Lizzie, and becomes a kind of mascot for the whorehouse in smoky Victorian London. As the novel opens Fevvers is telling her story to a young American journalist, Jack Walser, who is flattered, cajoled, bamboozled and enchanted by the wonders which unfold. Later he is caught up with Fevvers and Lizzie's doomed journey to Russia and beyond with the Colonel's circus (and his fortune-telling pig), where they fall into the clutches of bandits and brigands on the Mongolian steppe and Jack Walser loses his memory and becomes a Shaman.
Angela Carter came to be known as a magic-realist writer and is known for dazzling the reader with the grand gestures of fabulist storytelling. This is one such fable, wrapped lightly in feminist theory and philosophical posturing (neither are intrusive to the galloping pace of the narrative). Along with dancing tigers, the reader is treated to the magical and creepy history of Clown-lore, the gothic horror of a freak exhibition and at least two villains determined to steal away or otherwise debauch the fantastic beauty at the centre of the book. But Fevvers has bestowed her love upon Jack Walser and she will not rest until she has won him back.
Set aside your prejudices against the genre for this is a modern classic; it thrums with humour, warmth and charm and is an enthralling read.
Angela Carter came to be known as a magic-realist writer and is known for dazzling the reader with the grand gestures of fabulist storytelling. This is one such fable, wrapped lightly in feminist theory and philosophical posturing (neither are intrusive to the galloping pace of the narrative). Along with dancing tigers, the reader is treated to the magical and creepy history of Clown-lore, the gothic horror of a freak exhibition and at least two villains determined to steal away or otherwise debauch the fantastic beauty at the centre of the book. But Fevvers has bestowed her love upon Jack Walser and she will not rest until she has won him back.
Set aside your prejudices against the genre for this is a modern classic; it thrums with humour, warmth and charm and is an enthralling read.
24 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was sceptical when my friends nagged me into reading Angela Carter. If anything, I was critical as I began reading it, but was soon won over by the sheer bizarre nature of Fevver's tale. Despite myself, I was drawn into this story. The characters, places and storyline are unforgettable, the tale a vivid, unbelievable romp with the circus from London to Siberia.
The only downpoint to this book, I would say, is that the narrative of the first part is a bit rambling and slow paced compared to the rest of the story, but this does nothing to detract from the overall wonder and brilliance of this novel.
Don't buy this book if you're looking for a gritty, realistic story, because "Nights at the Circus" is, if anything, fantasy. However, if you want an involving, amusing and enchanting modern fairy tale, this book is an absolute must.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Richly written, the joy of this book is in the characters that Carter describes (you get the feeling she enjoyed writing it just as much): from the winged trapeze artist & her maternal assistant to the performing apes and their Professor, this is a book that surprises throughout with its imagination and detail.
This is all done at the expense of any particularly tight plot - we begin with an 80-page life story as told to journalist John Walser, but it then becomes more picaresque as we follow the circus and get to know the stories of its staff, with strong female characters particularly making their presence felt. The journey takes us an unusual route to an unusual end.
This is a world you can escape into - beautifully realised in the best tradition of magic realism.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fabulous!
Sophie Fevvers is the star of Colonel Kearney's circus. She is the winged giantess, the 8th wonder of the world, the orphaned flying creature which is half bird, half woman. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Book 1981
Men as the butt of the joke
The reason why I love this book is because Angela Carter uses male defined myth such as Leda and the Swan through the character of Fevvers to confuse men. Read more
Published 17 months ago by horrorble
Excellent story
I have read this story before and thoroughly enjoyed reading it again. Prompt delivery.
Published on 12 May 2010 by Iain Gilbert
The fascination of a swan
A fabulous tale in all senses of the word. Written as a play in three acts: 1. American journalist Jack Walser interviews famous arialiste (arieliste? Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2010 by In Place of Fear
Angela Carter - Nights at the Circus
Another wonderful book by Angela Carter. I've never come across a writer who so revels in marvellous firework explosions of words, catherine wheels of ecstatic language. Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2009 by RachelWalker
Beware other reviews - this is the PLAY adaption of the novel!
This is the text from Kneehigh theatre's great adaption of Angela Carter's fanatastical novel - some of the reviews here seem to be for the original novel! Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by Ripple
Roll up roll up
Modern Gothic novel from a fine writer; I came across this as part of an A-level Gothic module and after a hesitant start I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published on 17 May 2009 by Captain Pugwash
What a performance
This, Angela Carter's penultimate novel, is drenched in eloquence and rich fascinating characters. The novel fully realises her wicked sense of humour and the magic realsim that is... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2009 by G. Lyon
Smart book, duff novel...
Carter is a devotee of feminist interpretations of Lacanian theory. 'Nights at the Circus' is duly littered with (metaphorical) mirrors, with phrases such as the 'freedom of the... Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2008 by Sporus
Wow who thought exams could be this good..?
What a fantastically rich and exciting book! An extract from this came up on my A level exam paper and after reading the 300 words given was determined to read more. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2007 by Laylarnie
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