A Son of the Circus

By: John Irving

Narrated by: David Colacci

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)

Long tedious book

After reading A Prayer for Owen Meany I had expectations..... but alas, nowhere close. In it's own right a good story. But way to long. at one stage hoped that the various bad guys and "girls" will just die or get caught so that I dont have to read about them any longer.

Okay but overly long

To say I loved this book would be a lie. To say it was too long is not a lie.

I did like the characters in this book and liked the story to a pint BUT I think it could be edited down to half it's length.

If you liked "Q+A"...

...you might like this bizarre tale of family, community, hierarchy, missionaries, twins separated at birth, and transexual serial murder in India. Unlike Q+A's Vikras Swarup, Irving isn't Indian, but he avoids cultural appropriation (I think--I'm not Indian) by stating upfront in the intro that he doesn't know India well, thanking a host of South East Asian artists for their help, and creating an ex-pat main character who is alientated from his birth country but not assimilated into the West.

I found the novel humourous and tremendously entertaining, but it's not for everyone: Know that there are multiple quirkly characters weaving through several intersecting storylines highly dependent upon coincidence, like a modern day tale from Trollope or Dickens with a twist of PG Wodehouse's mania, all held together by excellent narration.

Irving asks, in a postcolonial global village, "where are you from?" rather than the usual, "who are you?", and the only viable attitude he offers to complexities of human nature is that of a child's wonderment at a circus, despite the probability that the acts are based on cruelty to participants. The opposite of such wonder is fundamentalism. Many characters are shackled by fate, but a few escape predictable ends through human imagination or altruism.

Irving presents an unflattering but loving portrait of Bombay/Mumbai in the late 80s, before the terrorist bombings of 1993 and economic boom of 2000s. I'm not sure how an inhabitant would respond to the outsider's view. Also I'm not sure how a transexual might react to some of the characters. Some also might be put off by the novel's use of "cripple"/"crippled" to describe what we refer to now as disability, but all the charaters are "crippled," if not physically than emotionally or socially.

Typical Irving

John Irving it seems will alway pick on women, almost women, and children. You will not be disappointed. Again, he is the master of finding something funny in human suffering. His description is so rich you can almost smell the the surroundings.

Great book

The ideas he explores are profound:belonging, fate, fantasy or reality. My girlfriend has been telling me for years to read this book and I'm so glad I did.

I am being loving it.

This is my second time through this enjoyable journey. It's a long and frolicking story with mystery, humour and many kinds of love.

Not a one time read

The shifts in time, multiple names for characters, and constant shifting can make it hard to follow. I think Irving was trying to NOT write like himself, to mixed result. It has the potential for a really great murder mystery, better than most and unpredictable, but not in one reading.

Irving's Best Since Garp

I'm an Irving fan, and haven't enjoyed his work this much since Garp. Unlikely characters in strange circumstances, and it all works wonderfully. I laughed out loud, very unusual for me, and was hooked on characters I initially thought would be hard to like. Excellent narration, long book but worth it.

A Long Trip

I liked this book a lot but by hour 15 you'll wonder if this will ever end. Just go with the long diversions and back stories, the language and the great reader. You'll be through it in no time!

Masterful Writing But...

First I’ve read of this author. I just am not a fan of perversion, gender dysphoria, ambiguous sexuality, and murder as such focal points of plot. Maybe ‘circus’ of life and its misfits rather than anything much about actual circus, except the dwarf cab driver. Note to author: concentrate on character development.