Name: The Invisible Circus
ISBN: 9781780332161

Jennifer Egan

In Jennifer Egan's highly acclaimed first novel, set in 1978, the political drama and familial tensions of the 1960s form a backdrop for the world of Phoebe O'Connor, age eighteen. Phoebe is obsessed with the memory and death of her sister Faith, a beautiful idealistic hippie who died in Italy in 1970. In order to find out the truth about Faith's life and death, Phoebe retraces her steps from San Francisco across Europe, a quest which yields both complex and disturbing revelations about family, love, and Faith's lost generation. This spellbinding novel introduced Egan's remarkable ability to tie suspense with deeply insightful characters and the nuances of emotion.

The Invisible Circus

Phoebe O'Connor, 18 years old in 1978, is obsessed by the memory of her charismatic older sister, a flower child who died in 1970. Searching for the truth about her death and life, Phoebe discovers they go to the ambiguous heart of a generation that tried to follow its dreams of freedom.

Invisible Circus

Cora Sicard

I finished this a few weeks ago. It was a page turner that I enjoyed and recommend. The subject matter is a bit tough as the whole plot revolves around the suicide of an older sister.

Daryl Houston

Having read and liked a couple of others by Egan lately, I delved back to her early work. From the beginning, this one was sluggish and just felt really uninspired to me. It was a labor to get through, and I found myself skimming at times just to advance toward the end. The prose was fine but not beautiful, and the story just didn't land for me. If this had been my first Egan, I doubt I'd have read more.