Invisible Circus, available via Amazon
Last
months book choice was made by my kindred spirit, Marie, so I was really
looking forward to seeing what she had chosen. Marie chose Invisible Circus by
Jennifer Egan.
The
story is about 18 year old Phoebe who is haunted by her older sister, Faith.
During her travels, Faith fell to her death in an apparent suicide in
Corniglia, Italy and years later, Phoebe reaches an age where the demons left
by the memory of her sister really start to get to her; she decides to travel
around Europe and follow her sisters footsteps up to her untimely death. The
decision comes as a complete shock to her family but as the book is written in
a first person narrative, it becomes clear before she tells her family that
Phoebe was always going to take the leap.
I found Phoebes relationship with her
sister quite unsettling. It is made very clear in the beginning that Faith was
the treasured and favoured one. I can relate to that personally as my older
sister is too the favoured one, but the way Phoebe describes her feelings
towards her sister are incredibly contradictory. In one instance she is talking
about her obsession with Faith, but in another instance she is describing the lack of emotion she feels when her sister comes to harm when trying to impress
their dad. There is an undercurrent between the two of them and Phoebe seems to
really struggle with whether sometimes she even likes her sister.
While
Faith was travelling, she wrote postcards to her family, so Phoebe uses those
postcards to plan her route through Europe. The thing that really frustrated me
about Phoebe was her seeming lack of self care. She often puts herself in
situations where as the reader, you just want to shake her (y'know, this
fictions character!) and ask what on earth she's thinking; but it felt like
Phoebe wasn't thinking, it felt like she was resigned and was just going
through the motions until the end. She harks back to the 60s and assumes Faith
must have had a much better early adulthood than she did because she constantly
consumed drugs and was constantly surrounded by likeminded peers. As a 70s
child, Phoebe feels like she has lost out. There comes a moment in the story where Phoebe has to decide whether she wants to continue mirroring her sisters life or make her own path....
I
really enjoyed this book. I can't believe this is a first novel and as a amateur
fiction writer myself, I can only applaud this marvellous effort. However, one
thing that irked me a little was that sometimes the plot seemed a little too
easy. Some of Phoebes encounters are almost unrealistic and a little too
convenient considering there were around 8 years between her travels and her
sisters. Also the brother Barry is almost a backdrop, just a glimpse into what
the "alternative/ normal" life is - I'd had loved to have read more
about him.
But all
in all, it's a really good read and I'll be on the lookout for more of
Jennifer's work.
Don't
forget to check out my fellow Nerdsville crew:
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