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Nights at the Circus (Paperback)

by Angela Carter (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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  • This item: Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Classics; New edition edition (3 Jan 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099388618
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099388616
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,627 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

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"

Product Description

'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".
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A magical set of characters, 28 July 2004
By Mr. Paul J. Bradshaw (Midlands, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Nights at the Circus (Vintage Crucial Classics) (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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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A modern fairy tale, 19 Jun 2003
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.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Angela Carter - Nights at the Circus, 21 Oct 2009
By RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
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. She's a language-lover's dream writer. This story is a spectacular adventure that bursts with the fantastic: fantastic character, fantastic scenes (the chimps in the circus, for example), fantastic stories (the potted biographies of the minor characters; the community of female criminals banished to Siberia) and fantastic ideas.

Her writing's a sensuous lexical feast. She has immense learning and wears it lightly. She's a Renaissance Woman of letters. She is, simply, a wonderful, wonderful storyteller, and a wonderful, wonderful writer. This and Wise Children are two of the most pleasurable novels I have ever come across.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars 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 1 month ago by In Place of Fear

4.0 out of 5 stars Dancing tigers
Nights At The Circus is all about Fevvers, the cockney foundling who grew up with wings poking through her vertebrae. Read more
Published 4 months ago by E. Shaw

4.0 out of 5 stars 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 6 months ago by Ripple

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 8 months ago by Barney McGrew

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published 11 months ago by G. Lyon

3.0 out of 5 stars 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 19 months ago by Sporus

4.0 out of 5 stars 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

5.0 out of 5 stars Once in I don't want to get out!
This is the first of Angela Carter's works that I have read. It took me ashort while to get into it at first - reading and re-reading passages toget used to the writing style -... Read more
Published on 28 April 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Nights at the circus
I read this book when I was studing my English Literature A Level. It's stayed with me and here I am going to Waterstones and buying it for my cousin who is going travelling to... Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique
This book was a required read for my current degree. The novel entertained me as well as provided me with useful insights for my course. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2003

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