A Son of the Circus


  • Lowest New Price: $21.42
  • Lowest Used Price: $17.53
  • Total New: 12
  • Total Used: 2
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    • Author : John Irving
    • Binding : Audio CD
    • Creator : David Colacci
    • Dewey Decimal Number : 813.54
    • EAN : 9781423335993
    • Edition : MP3 Una
    • Format : Audiobook
    • Format : MP3 Audio
    • Format : Unabridged
    • ISBN : 1423335996
    • Is Eligible For Trade In? : Yes
    • Label : Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
    • List Price : $29.95 (USD)
    • Manufacturer : Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
    • Number Of Items : 2
    • Package Dimensions : 0.60 inches (Height) x 7.50 inches (Length) x 0.15 pounds (Weight) x 5.30 inches (Width)
    • Publication Date : 2007-05-28
    • Publisher : Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
    • Release Date : 2007-05-28
    • Studio : Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD

    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.

    - Product Description

    Customer Reviews:

    Rated 4.0 stars Customers rated A Son of the Circus 4.0 stars out of 5.0 based on 110 reviews:

    • Excellent Story, Terrible Ebook.

      by - 2010-08-24  Rated 2 stars
      This was easily the worst ebook I've purchased. The punctuation was terrible and there were consistent typos throughout the entire book. It was frustrating and distracting to read such a fantastic story rewritten in such a slipshod manner. Do not waste you time and money on this edition; do youself a favor and savor this enjoyable novel in hard copy.

    • Classic John Irving, over-the-top and yet still literary...

      by Auliya (Austin, TX USA) - 2010-08-18  Rated 5 stars
      John Irving has the ability to make a plot worthy of Jerry Springer still feel like a literary masterpiece. This book is easy to read, long, satisfying, amusing, whimsical, and it shows a certain degree of chutzpah (or arrogance) for a wealthy white author to tackle the messy human conundrum that is India. He can only do it by maintaining that laugh-or-you-will-cry bittersweet tone that he does so very well. That slightly laughing tone pours all over the book to smooth out its jagged edges. I was appropriately uncomfortable on almost every page as the author laid out India in all its quirky and religiously saturated poverty-level wonder of squalor and stink. The main character (whom I miss now that the book is finished, like a departed friend) is an excellent vehicle for mixing in a sort of fondness for India "despite everything." In fact, one of the driving themes in the book is that it's tough not to deeply love India... in spite of its filth and constant circus-like insanity. Great book. After you read it, tell me, did I just give away the title? ;)

    • My first Irving novel and I'm hooked!

      by Annette Gilliam (San Diego County, CA) - 2010-02-02  Rated 5 stars
      I drive 4-6 hours each day commuting 137 miles to work in Los Angeles from home in San Diego, so I have lots of time on my hands and lots of traffic stress. I started listening to books on my MP3 player on my Garmin Nuvi about 6 months ago, and it has relaxed me, slowed my driving, and enriched my life in general. I just finished Irving's Son of a Circus this morning, and I am so sad that I have nothing more to hear about these wonderful characters. I feel as if I know them all personally. Irving is a master at characterization. I found myself driving slower just to increase my listening time. I think the book was about 26 hours long, which is about one week of commuting to me. Having never been out of the states except to Tijuana and to Calgary on business trips about 20 years ago, this book opened my eyes to other cultures. I was engrossed by his descriptions of life in India, so that now I have a completely difference impression of that country than what I had before -- a much higher favorable impression I might add. I now will buy more Irving novels to listen too, and I hope they are as interesting as this one was to me. The people who thought it was too long and boring must be very shallow and addicted to this modern-day sound-bite world. Relax and slow down and appreciate the real world. Thank you John Irving for writing this book!

    • An unexpected delight

      by James R. Gilligan (Lafayette, IN United States) - 2010-01-06  Rated 4 stars
      It took me three attempts to make it through this one--but I'm sure glad I didn't give up. I suppose a bit of a departure from form is good for a novelist every now and then, and although this is not a typical John Irving novel with respect to characters or setting, the themes and the plot are exactly what you'd expect from Irving. I enjoyed it, once I accepted the "differences," and even though it is not one of my favorite John Irving novels, it is definitely well written and very enjoyable. He delves into the theme of sexual eccentricity quite deeply here--a central plot development concerns hijras (third-gender Indian "eunuchs") and a transgender villain, and two of the main characters are separated-at-birth twins of indeterminate paternity, ethnicity, and sexual orientation--and, par for the course with an Irving novel, there is a midget (but no bears). Even though the first few chapters might be a struggle, stick with this one.

    • The world has enough for everybody's need but not enough for everybody's greed

      by arabia-interculture.com (Germany) - 2009-10-28  Rated 4 stars
      I will never forget some citations in this book, as: The world has enough for everybody's need but not enough for everybody's greed, or: immigrants remain immigrants forever anywhere and anytime as seen by the locals. The most important thing that theses sentences work as as a summarized conclusion in every occasion in this book. And there are many of them like this. In comparison to other "Absolutists" Irwing admit on the first pages of his book: I don not know India! I think that Irwing had succeeded in writing a very nice book in describing the emotional world of many people who lives-between and in many worlds, which are categorized as my-culture and your-own-culture!

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