Smart book, duff novel...
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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 mask', and studded with paragraphs that explain how the 'eye of the beholder' affects the object it beholds. While I don't especially object to Lacan, I don't myself like novels that have a tendentious framework. The story arc (as distinct from the cooked-up elements of 'magical realism') offers few surprises and the observations are effectively censored by the guiding philosophy (which is itself a kind of Lacanian paradox). Many readers think otherwise, but I find Carter's prose style horribly 'purple'. The favoured characters are differentiated with idiomatic voices but tend to share their author's aspirational vocabulary - which last, frankly, smells of the thesaurus and is often unconvincing (there's a sentence where someone walks 'between the pediments of the doorway'). The book also progressively succumbs to dated 80's experimental effects: the second section concludes with a kind of 'pataphor' where the heroine escapes on a toy train that becomes real, while the third section mixes first and third person narratives (with, to my mind, no outstanding benefit). At one point in the book Carter describes how the world's shamans manage to retain their integrity despite using fraudulent deception to sustain people's belief; and in a sense, that's what she does herself. There's a very funny joke about the heroine's virginity at the end of the book which perhaps carries the point ("She laughed. She laughed. She laughed."). I hope I'm not simply being misogynistic: I admire 'The Golden Notebook' and think 'Good Morning Midnight' is simply breathtaking, but I AM a bloke and this is a book written with the conscious intent of compensating for the passive role given to women in most traditional fictions. Carter benefited by the metropolitan bias of the UK publishing industry, while her Lacanian credentials have sustained her presence on University reading lists; but with the possible exception of Calvino I find that the further 'magical realism' moves away from South America the less convincing it becomes. She is a writer who has evidently inspired a lot of adolescent girls to define their sense of independence and I wouldn't want to knock that; but as a novel I found her 'masterpiece' both dated and clumsy.
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Wow who thought exams could be this good..?
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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.
I am so glad that I did! Carter explores graphically the timeless treatment of women. It is hard to place this in one time frame as so much over laps, with so many modern yet subtle analogies that you loose track of the reality. Her language is outstanding and the surrealist world coats you in a drug like state as you absorb her rich and creative imagery.
Every page is a void of description so if you don't like in depth writing then this is one to steer clear of. I loved the escapist quality to this book and her convincing social metaphors.
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A magical set of characters
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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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Once in I don't want to get out!
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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 - but once in I don't want to get out!
The characters are all colourful yet very disparate and whilst many do nothave much to recommend them Carter manages to show in them enough good orweakness for them to gain your respect, or at least your sympathy.
Above all this book is facinating... and imaginative, compelling, earthyand full of surprises... After my first experience of Angela Carter - I'mgoing to read them all!
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A modern fairy tale
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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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