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bluestarfish's review against another edition
4.0
The first part of Nights at the Circus is fascinating but also a bit relentless in the speed of narrative and how much of it there is. It really does mimic Fevvers and Lizzie spending all night talking pretty much non-stop to Jack Walser. Fevvers - is the swan lady fact or fiction? At any rate she is fascinating. You can see why Jack would run away to join the circus to find out more/be with her. The second part shows us more about life in the circus through the stories of various artists, acts, and goings on. It's a frenetic place but at least the weirdness is spread around and not cooped up in one hotel room. Fascinating novel.
suzemo's review against another edition
3.0
I don't even know where to start with this book, because it's utterly bonkers.
Fevvers is a woman with wings who, after being raised by prostitutes, becomes a world famous aerialist. Walser is an American journalist who begins by writing an article about her, and ends up running off and joining the circus - originally to discover more about Fevvers, but of course, nothing goes as planned.
Many adventures, nonsensical, silly, serious, violent, loving, amazing, horrifying erotic, political, and fantastical happen. There are princesses, murderous tigresses, strong men, clowns, Archdukes, faberge eggs, crazed American businessmen and everything else in between.
I want to give it 4 stars, and I would just based on the narrator (audio), but I just couldn't get into the book. It felt very wooden in a lot of ways, and I'm not sure that was intentional. Except Liz - she gets 5 stars.
Fevvers is a woman with wings who, after being raised by prostitutes, becomes a world famous aerialist. Walser is an American journalist who begins by writing an article about her, and ends up running off and joining the circus - originally to discover more about Fevvers, but of course, nothing goes as planned.
Many adventures, nonsensical, silly, serious, violent, loving, amazing, horrifying erotic, political, and fantastical happen. There are princesses, murderous tigresses, strong men, clowns, Archdukes, faberge eggs, crazed American businessmen and everything else in between.
I want to give it 4 stars, and I would just based on the narrator (audio), but I just couldn't get into the book. It felt very wooden in a lot of ways, and I'm not sure that was intentional. Except Liz - she gets 5 stars.
mamimitanaka's review against another edition
3.0
No doubt a fun read, full of all sorts of the postmodern magical realist joys that are so capable of sating my literary cravings. I am once again left a bit emotionally cold by Carter's world, though it feels like no fault of her own and more my own biases... there's a constant tone to this book that seems to balance ironical whimsy with a highly conscious sincerity, with the former seemingly being informed by a parodical awareness of traditions from both English literature and magic realism. Sometimes the cheeky tone is a bit much for me, especially since it's pretty much in a single style throughout the book (the prose is nonetheless great, however). Plus the whole "demented carnival" aesthetic is something that I can only handle in small doses, hence it took me awhile to finish this. But while it made this difficult to pick up on a regular basis, there's a lot to love here; there's tons of great setpieces and the feminist undercurrent of the novel adds a lot of dimension; the amount of darkness and depravity in Carter's world would almost seem sadistic if it weren't so tenderly balanced with constant compassion and curiosity, which she's keen on employing towards every character, even the ones she more blatantly pokes fun at for their patriarchal flaws. And Fevvers and Walser are great joint protagonists and I never tired of following their strange adventures. Carter still remains a difficult author to grasp for me, but the act of reading her work is a joy even if I have trouble viscerally understanding some of the deeper ideas she's driving at.
hexagong's review against another edition
5.0
Angela Carter is incredibly articulate. I learned a new word on every page. The story was fantastical and anything but simple. It was entertaining, touching, raunchy at times, and so well told. I would happily read any story told by this author.
fevvies's review against another edition
3.0
At first I wasn't sure what to make of this novel. But when I stopped trying to analyse it and just enjoyed the whimsy of it all, I came round to it. It is a nice fairy tale in a sense, and the only thing that bugged me about it was some of the descriptions. Angela Carter described every emotion, and every philosophical musing with the most beautiful language, but left other things which really ought to be described in more depth, without description at all. Other than that, it is quite an enjoyable book.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of the books that have been one my mental TBR for the longest time. I think from around 2016. Don't often buy books new library's, second hand and flea market is more my strategy for getting books. But after I've learned I could request books at my library this was one of the first books I just got to read. I love Angela Carter's way of writing stories. They are a bit weird but in a different beautiful as well. And this was no different from that. I found her stories to be rather uniqe and a fun reading experience even though it can sometimes get a bit odd. I'm intruiged to look for more books by her to request but I think I've only got short stories collections of her left
michaelcattigan's review against another edition
2.0
Great start, Fevvers is a fantastic character and a brilliant voice in the opening part, usurping brilliantly the male narrator... but then it lost its way...
Somehow I feel guilty not liking it!
Somehow I feel guilty not liking it!
lokroma's review against another edition
3.0
A rollicking, bawdy, sometimes raunchy story of the passage of the "new woman" from 1899 into the 20th century. Carter's writing is excellent, dense, rich, but the book is too long by a third.
hej234567's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Ableism, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape