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ursulab's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
isabellaianni's review
4.0
i don’t even know what happened. detailing it to you would take a life time. beautifully chaotic story i’m gonna think about for a long time
anjsi's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
averypaige's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
bluelilyblue's review
4.0
She was feeling supernatural tonight. She wanted to eat diamonds.
A novel that is easy to get into, but extremely difficult to keep coming back to, Carter's Nights at the Circus gets increasingly carnavalesque and outlandish, to the point where I wasn't even trying to absorb information about the plot and the characters--I had accepted it for the obscure fever dream it is. It blurs the edges between everything and everything--reality and dream, fact and fiction, femininity and masculinity--and it lets a very ambitious, very postmodern view of humanity and gender identity. Glad I didn't give up on it!
ganzfeldstate's review
5.0
Literally the best book I have ever read. I cried actual tears of joy reading it because I loved it so much - I don't want to say anything that might spoil it but please, please read it.
lelia_t's review
4.0
Such unapologetic voluptuousness. Sophie Fevvers is tall, buxom, winged and larger than life. We meet her, along with reporter Jack Walser, in her dressing room after a show, where she burps, farts, eats, drinks and tells ribald stories and seemingly tall tales about her life as winged woman.
There’s an earthy sensuality to the aerialiste and Angela Carter is refreshing in her willingness to talk about the true turning points in a girl’s life. Whether you sprout wings and live in a brothel or not, developing breasts and the onset of menstruation (or as Fevvers describes it, “when my, pardon me, woman’s bleeding started up along with the beginnings of great goings on in, as you might put it, the bosom department...”) initiate most girls into a new world of sexual availability that can be both terrifying and empowering. Sophie Fevvers responds by betting big on herself, besting lechers, and unabashedly blossoming in the limelight. “Look at me! With a grand, proud, ironic grace, she exhibited herself before the eyes of the audience as if she were a marvelous present too good to be played with.”
With Fevvers’s winsome audacity, and compassionate heart, I was happy to follow along with Walser in her wake, sneaking into the circus and experiencing the carnival atmosphere among the tigers, strong man, clowns and monkeys. The book did drag for me a bit towards the end, as Walser is recovering from amnesia among Siberian tribes people, but I loved this story of a woman who’s unapologetically herself, wings and all.
There’s an earthy sensuality to the aerialiste and Angela Carter is refreshing in her willingness to talk about the true turning points in a girl’s life. Whether you sprout wings and live in a brothel or not, developing breasts and the onset of menstruation (or as Fevvers describes it, “when my, pardon me, woman’s bleeding started up along with the beginnings of great goings on in, as you might put it, the bosom department...”) initiate most girls into a new world of sexual availability that can be both terrifying and empowering. Sophie Fevvers responds by betting big on herself, besting lechers, and unabashedly blossoming in the limelight. “Look at me! With a grand, proud, ironic grace, she exhibited herself before the eyes of the audience as if she were a marvelous present too good to be played with.”
With Fevvers’s winsome audacity, and compassionate heart, I was happy to follow along with Walser in her wake, sneaking into the circus and experiencing the carnival atmosphere among the tigers, strong man, clowns and monkeys. The book did drag for me a bit towards the end, as Walser is recovering from amnesia among Siberian tribes people, but I loved this story of a woman who’s unapologetically herself, wings and all.
nicnicblue's review
I like the idea of Angela Carter books but just find it a struggle to actually read them