Circus
by Claire Battershill
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Description
A dazzling collection of award-winning stories with the emotional punch, sharp wit, and disarming charm of Rebecca Lee, Karen Russell, Neil Smith, and Jessica Grant. Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Step right up and prepare to be dazzled by this delightful debut from Claire Battershill, winner of the CBC Literary Award, co-winner of thenbsp; Canadian Authors Association's Emerging Writer Award, and finalist for the inaugural PEN International/New Voices Award. As they transport us from show more a crowded airport departure lounge to the stillness of the British Museum, and from the spectacle of the Winter Olympics to the modesty of a local Miniatureland, these radiant stories explore the often surprising things we're willing to do for love and human connection. Fed up with his long history of failed blind dates, a shy English bureaucrat gives himself thirty-one days to find love on the Internet. A father buys his daughter a blue plastic tent to ready her for outdoor adventure, but neither is prepared when the tent becomes a neighbourhood sensation. The world of competitive sports provides the backdrop for a young man's coming of age in "Two-Man Luge: A Love Story." And in the award-winning title story, the granddaughter of a former circus performer (who played the role of a man-wrestling bear) finds herself grappling with the capriciousness of life and love. At once witty, tender-hearted, and profound, these stories are filled with a memorable and all-too-human cast of characters on the cusp of enormous change - whether they're ready or not. Written in spare yet startling language, Circus is a beautiful reminder that sometimes everyday life can be the greatest show on Earth. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is just one story from a book of short stories. I don’t think I realized that when I picked it up. Or, if I did, I’d forgotten by the time I picked it up to read (now)! Anyway, I can’t really do a summary because it was so short and it seemed a bit all over the place. It moved too quickly to really have any kind of plot or story. It seemed like it might have made for a nice outline of an actual novel, maybe. That’s what gave it the 3 stars (ok) from me. A nice outline for a novel. But, really, it was too short, nothing much happened (until the very end, but then it ended, so we didn’t really get to find out what that was all about!).
Loved these stories, in particular the title story, "Circus", "Sensation", and "The Collective Name for Ninjas". I really, really wish that the story "Brothers" had continued on, I want so much to know how it all played out.
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Author Information
6+ Works 85 Members
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- Members
- 30
- Popularity
- 929,570
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.63)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
