A Son of the Circus

By: John Irving

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 26 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Born a Parsi in Bombay, sent to university and medical school in Vienna, Dr. Farrokh Daruwalla is a 59-year-old orthopedic surgeon and a Canadian citizen who lives in Toronto. Periodically, the doctor returns to Bombay, where most of his patients are crippled children.

Once, 20 years ago, Dr. Daruwalla was the examining physician of two murder victims in Goa. Now, 20 years later, he will be reacquainted with the murderer.

©2007 John Irving (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Ringmaster Irving introduces act after act, until three (or more) rings are awhirl at a lunatic pace....His Bombay and his Indian characters are vibrant and convincing." ( The Wall Street Journal)

"Irving's nimble humor springs from compassionate insights into cultural and sexual confusion and alienation, baffling questions of faith and purpose, and the kind of hope that thrives in even the most jaded atmosphere." ( Booklist)

"His most daring and most vibrant novel.... The story of circus-as-India is told with gusto and delightful irreverence." ( The Washington Post Book World)

Irving's most difficult novel

Listening to A Son of the Circus is like going for a very long, meandering walk with a crazy uncle. Lots of stories of the past, woven only slightly together, driven by insane coincidences, following spur of the moment tangents to other distant places -- and yet, when the crazy uncle is John Irving, with his unmistakeable warmth and humor at full force, it's a walk worth taking.

This is a novel I've failed to read all the way through for eighteen years (I'm ashamed to admit this) and I'm a devoted Irving fan. It takes perseverance. But listening to it did help me connect the characters (and keep them all straight) for the first time. Definitely better listened to in audio format than read.

For Irving fans (and I think you have to be or I don't think you'll make it through this one): Recommend.

Too Long

This book was very well read by David Colacci and started out well but the plot seemed to ramble all over the place. Overall, quite enjoyable but too long.

A good, solid read

I have read a lot of John Irving - some very good, some not so good. My favorite book of all time is A Prayer for Owen Meany. He can't write another one of those and I knew that when I started this book. Nonetheless, the characters are very well drawn, quirky, very human and quite Owenesque. I liked this book, the story is solid but it was missing the tight, clearly crafted writing that I think of when I think of Irving. I am glad I read it, but I am not going to run out and tell everybody to read it.

Classic John Irving

I love John Irving and if you do, you know what's contained in his novels. Novels inside novels, writers, unusual sexual relationships, and a complete story. Having read many, but not all of John Irving's books, I found the story and themes contained in this lengthy book consistent with his other writings. The narration and characterization was excellent and helped carry the story. About Part III I got a little bored because John Irving stretched this one out a bit far--there were sections of the book that didn't contribute to the overall story at all--but then for entertainment, I guess that's ok. If this were Garp or Owen Meany, I think it would have rated five stars instead. The narrator was great, it was the story that was slow or too lengthy.

Very good !!!!

Enjoyed this book very much. I found it a little hard to follow at first but once I get into it I couldn't stop listening.

Bombay Confidential

Life's a Circus. For a book that is nearly 27 hours long, there is very little about an actual circus. Most of it is about various aspects of life in Bombay filtered through the lens of Dr. Daruwalla, a visitor to Bombay from Canada despite being born and raised in India. Through his eyes, we see the three-ring circus of life. We do have a circus here, acting as a social welfare institution for orphans, but we spend more time with dwarf taxi drivers, serial killers, movie detectives, real detectives, twins separated at birth, three different TV/TS characters, closeted gay men, vengeful ex-hippies, violent chimps, exhibitionist country club dowagers, Zoroastrians, Jesuit priests, child prostitutes -- just another day (or in this case, a quarter century) in John Irving's grotesquerie of ordinary life.

But it's fascinating, irresistible, charming. So many elements are intertwined, eventually coming together -- the career and ultimate capture of a serial killer and how it figures in the cinematic careers of Dr. Daruwalla and his foster son, the separation and reunion of twins and how that brings in a discussion of closeted homosexuality and religion, the connection between Dr. Daruwalla's study of dwarf genetics and the HIV virus, the transfer of orphaned and damaged street children to the circus as a reflection of Indian social structure, and Dr. Daruwalla's lifelong search for a place he can call truly call home.

27 hours is long time for audiobook. You need a couple of things to carry you through. One is a well-written book, and John Irving delivers with crisp, well-paced sentences, paragraphs, chapters, creating a forward momentum that sucks you in and makes you want to listen all the more. So too does David Colacci's narration. Over that long period of time, he maintains the same upbeat tone, capturing the pace and mood of Irving's writing, never sounding smarmy, never going too far with the Indian accents. 27 hours of oddball characterization and unlikely turns of event over a scant plot line could've been painful if not for his on-pitch performance.

I roasted Michael Chabon for his gratuitously lengthy and wordy Kavalier & Clay (recognizing that I'm in a small minority criticizing a highly praised and prized novel). Son of the Circus is the counterpoint -- equally lengthy, but not an exercise in word vomit. Irving writes in clear, concise, straight ahead prose that creates an appropriate pace for a book of this length. That said, it is still too long. There are two, maybe three novels here -- a trilogy of books of average length. The detail into which Irving goes with some of the ancillary stories and characters is too much. Where a sentence would have sufficed, he writes a paragraph, where a page would have sufficed, he writes a chapter.

But it's not gratuitous. He tells a complete short story about each character that could have been distilled into a quick recap, but it is still highly entertaining and leaves us with richer characters with more complete back stories. I recall some advice I once got about writing fiction, that the writer has to know every character's full story even if they don't necessarily tell it. I wish Irving had kept some parts of these back stories to himself.

The most inappropriate choice of narrator ever

A seemingly basic requirement in choosing a narrator for a novel set in India: Finding someone who can pronounce Indian names, places, & terms correctly so that every time they say an Indian word it isn't grating & distracting.

Despite his disclaimer in the preamble that he doesn't know India, Irving does an amazing job of conveying the character of life in Bombay in rich detail. It was a shame that in going back to this old favorite of mine that I had to listen to it being read by someone who seemingly had never set foot in India or spoken with someone from the country.

Interesting but gets a little silly.

Any additional comments?

Interesting bits about circus life, India, transvestites, etc, but gets a little silly towards the end.

Not Garp but odd characters & plot contortortions

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not unless an Irving fan.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Interesting information on dwarfism and the peculiarities of Indian society with regard to its underclasses.

On my Top 5 list.

John Irving is a master. This book is everything. A true review would be too long. I love stories and this is a great one.