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Nights at the Circus
Nights at the Circus
Angela Carter | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
9
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
The beautiful layout of the plot, the characters (0 more)
Wandered slightly at the end (0 more)
So creative - a totally unique writer
Fabulous!

I'd been expecting good things from this book, as everyone always tells me how wonderful Angela Carter is, and it certainly delivered!

It's a surreal, earthy kind of book, divided into three distinct parts, which largely focus on the introduction of Fevvers (the fabulous cockney winged woman), the days at the circus, and the wilds of Siberia. Hey, I did warn you it was surreal!

In this book, the reader encounters intelligent pigs (I LOVED Sybil!), brothel madams who like dressing up as Nelson, depressed clowns and more. It's a weird, wonderful world that Carter conjures up, but a joy to immerse yourself in!

It's also great to read an author who is simultaneously so elegant with her language, and so brutally down-to-earth. This echoes the main character in a way, who has the potential to soar to the sea or crash to the ground.

Definitely a must-read...I've no doubt I'll be revisiting this book in the future!
  
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
Balli Kaur Jaswal | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Interesting, a little repetitive
I wasn't sure what to expect with this bizarrely named novel, and I was slightly worried it would be some Karma Sutra style book but it was nothing of the kind.

A group of old Punjabi women attend an English language class run by a British Asian young woman who mistakenly brings in an erotic book one day. It opens up a world of sensuous pleasure for the women, who are normally quite conservative about such topics.

While it's quite a novelty and funny at the beginning, the stories become repetitive and it becomes a little boring. The honour crime story was far more interesting and I wish there was more focus on that side instead of turning it in to a Gurinder Chadha type of novel. The stories are meant to open up other aspects of the community such as arranged marriages and the impact of honour - but it just doesn't seem to connect that well.

The protagonist Nicky is great though who reflects many British Asians growing up with dual cultures. Good but not great.