Egan's freshman novel, about a girl who, along with her widowed mother, is frozen in time since the suicide of her hippie sister the decade before. Set in 1970s San Francisco and Europe, where the protagonist traces her sister's footsteps. Started off a bit rough but it's smooth now, and quite vivid. One scene on the beach with the sisters and the dying father made me put the book down for a few days -- the narrator's childhood memory was so real and painful. By the end, Phoebe has shed a great

I like Jennifer Egan's writing, in its fluidity. The story itself often makes me feel like I am swimming in words. But sometimes, I feel like I am being deceived - the characters only appear to have complexity and vulnerability. It is like watching a movie that you like because it has a lovely way of unfolding, but there is nothing that will linger, afterwards. I feel often like the language is much more meaningful than the meaning it is trying to (or not trying to) convey.

This book was recommended by a friend. I see now that it is in part 'her story', i.e. dead father, suicide sister, etc. so I'm not surprised that she enjoyed it. I, however, feel that I learned absolutely nothing from this book. The main character is an immature young woman, self-indulgent, self-referential, passive-aggressive in her behavior, not particularly likeable. The dead sister's boyfriend is a typical predatory male of the 'I couldn't help myself' variety, prepared to hit the road on a

Jennifer Egan is one of my favorite authors. Like many readers, I was wowed by "A Visit from the Goon Squad" (2010), but I was dazzled just as much by the novel that preceded it, "Look at Me" (2001), whose intricate plot is part thriller, part social satire, and part multi-layered identity drama. In addition to being stylistically unique, the narratives in both these previous books shift around in time, even looking ahead into the near future. "Look at Me" was even uncannily prescient about Face...

Maybe 4.5. I really enjoyed this novel - powerful, compelling, beautifully written. I didn't love it quite as much as Manhatten Beach or Emerald City, but it was still fantastic.

All done, Jennifer. Next! (Impressive debut, but understandably not my favorite.) Officially read your ouevre- 5 novels, 1 short story collection, 1 short story for The New Yorker. Waiting on you now! ---- The Invisible Circus (1994) Author: Jennifer Egan Read: 12/27/20 Rating: 2.5/5 stars As of this review, the last of Jennifer Egan's ouevre- including five novels, a short story collection, and short story for The New Yorker. I am now up to date and comprehensively read everything! I did also m...

If you're coming to The Invisible Circus after reading A Visit from the Goon Squad or The Keep, as I did, you're likely to be disappointed. It's different kind of book, more straightforward, with all the earmarks of a novel whose protagonist, Phoebe, is destined to lose her innocence.“The dullness of Phoebe’s bedroom met her like a blow: polar bear wallpaper, rows of faded stuffed animals, a wicker chair that crackled when you sat in it.”After graduating from high school, Phoebe decides to trave...

After a promising start, this book failed to go anywhere. I lost all patience with the annoying main character, and really had no interest in her quest to find "answers" about her sister after awhile. Her naivete grew wearying, and I longed for the ability to reach between the pages and slap her. Egan has a gift for description, but needs work on her pacing. Perhaps that improved with her subsequent works.

Pat Conroy is quoted as having said about Egan's precocious debut that 'if there were any justice in the world, no one would be allowed to write a first novel of such beauty and accomplishment.' I completely agree! I wouldn't say 'The Invisible Circus' is perfect, but it comes very damn near. It's a story about love and loss, about growing up and about all those significant things in life. It circumnavigates the globe and transcends time, taking its young heroine from San Francisco to the mounta...

Finished this book at 1AM. Jennifer Egan is such a beautiful writer, it' almost inconceivable. It is perhaps problematic to read "The Keep" prior to her other novels, because "The Keep" is so perfect, what with the castle and the baroness and the prison writing program and the descriptions of really good food. "The Invisible Circus" had lost revolutionaries, which are like kryptonite to me--I'm powerless to resist their appeal (is kryptonite appealing to those it renders powerless?). But also, i...

when I was reading I knew it'll be a definite five-star though the rating wasn't that high. I really enjoyed the reading. It was kind of fluidal, just going easily and smoothly in its bed,the picture so vivid. In the end, slightly near the ending, it changed a bit, there was a tumult, a bit out of ordinary things happening, apparently to absorb the reader even more, but it worked vice versa and the worst part was it got predictable. Anyhow it's a spectacular piece of writing, expertly written.

Okay, two things are clear:1. Jennifer Egan must not be allowed to dwell onto historical fiction. 2. She is a great emotional story-teller, please go on. Consequently,3. Manhattan Beach needs rewriting.

I think Jennifer Egan is a tremendous writer. Her first book shows this talent to great effect, the first part of the book is a brilliantly sad exploration of families and the best of intentions going awry. It's smart, clever and wonderfully well written, each line packs an incredible emotional punch. It then all takes a turn into this odd love story which left me deeply unmoved. If you liked her other books, it's interesting to see how it all started.

I love books about the hippie generation. Not the political side as much as the freedom and adventure! I am obsessed with the idea of letting go and experiencing life. Which I am too rational to do myself. This book shows the paradox between the sheer beauty and danger of that crazy time period. It's about sisters and the tug of war between past and present.

I love Jennifer Egan. I read her books in reverse order (starting with 'The Keep', then 'Look At Me', and then 'Invisible Circus'). I love that she explores different themes in each book -- all three are very different. 'Invisible Circus' gets a firm 3 stars from me. I loved the overall feeling of living in the world during a time of great change, but not being able to identify just what it is that is happening even though you still want to be a part of it. Still, she uses a lot of exposition an...

Phoebe lives most of her life reeling from the grief of having lost her father and then her older sister, Faith, before she reached her adolescence.Her sister was a flower child and fell to her death from a cliff in an Italian seaside town. At the age of 18, Phoebe decides to pursue her sister's ghost through Europe to see if she can decipher what really happened to her.She explores the shadows of the 60s and the flower children and skirts the memories of her childhood. This book is an excellent...

I think I read this years and years ago but I remembered nothing. Why is it that I retain so little, even from books like this one, which I enjoyed? I’m so envious of people who can recall with amazing accuracy everything that they’ve ever read.

I enjoyed this more than Egan's Manhattan Beach but not nearly as much as A Visit from the Goon Squad, which is the best book I've read from her. This story took me a while to become invested in and even longer to care about any of the characters, and that was its weak spot. However, Egan's writing itself is wonderful. I was fully invested by the end but I would have enjoyed the book much more if it came to the same conclusion without the major revelation that's given toward the end (no spoilers...

All of the quotes on the front and back cover promised this would be a "brilliant," "mesmerizing," and "emotional" book about an 18-year-old who backpacks across Europe tracing her dead older sister's path to the place in Italy where she committed suicide. Instead, I found it dull, predictable, and irritating. The main character, Phoebe, is woefully naive to the point where I had absolutely no sympathy for her. I wanted to smack her and yell at her to grow up. The plot twist at the beginning Par...

This is a wonderfully descriptive book, set in the late 70´s. Phoebe has just finished high school and sets out on an impromptu quest to find out more about how her sister died. She heads to Europe, following the path her sister made years before.The story is rich, both historically and in terms of her own and her sister´s internal/emotional struggles. I imagine that most who read this would be able to relate on some level to the insecurities and difficulties that the characters face. And, if no...

Wow. Just wow.My partner was held captive for some nights in a row by Egan, and after finishing it she promptly handed it to me, saying "this might be my new favorite book of all time." I understand that notion.Egan manages to tell an amazingly captivating story and change her protagonist more by what she doesn't say than by what she says. There's always a reason for her characters actions, destructive as they may be, and those reason are hidden in the symbolism between the lines. That is how yo...

Well written, particularly given it's her first novel....you could see the potential for Goon Squad and Manhattan Beach. Only a 3 (possibly more like 3.5....c'mon Goodreads 🙄) because I was really irritated by most of the characters, and it felt like I wadn't supposed to be 🤷🏻‍♀️

DNF @150 pages. My Jennifer Egan backlist journey didn’t start off well. This wasn’t bad, just quite boring. I cannot fathom reading other 200 pages.

Jennifer Egan writes very cinematically in "The Invisible Circus", so it's not a great surprise that the book became a movie (2001). By "cinematically", I mean that Egan writes vividly of the times and places that the narrative covers, allowing the reader to truly visualize the settings.The book tells the story of 18-yr old Phoebe, who is having a little trouble finding a path through life until she suddenly decides to travel to Europe to visit all of the spots that her older sister Faith visite...

And unbelievable first novel, yet I was only familiar with Egan's later works, and was anticipating the audacious intellectual flights of fancy of, LOOK AT ME, or the intricately and bizarrely plotted story-line of, A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD. However, THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS is a very solid and readable examination of a family, and how the mood and tone of the radical sixties changed them forever. Although, the focus is on this particular family dynamic, the book also operates as a metaphor to de...

Like, oh my god. This soooo reminds me of the time I deferred my enrollment at U.C. Berkeley to go traipsing around Europe in an attempt to retrace the footsteps of my crazybeautiful older sister who's untimely suicide from an Italian sightseeing spot served as the catalyst for my burgeoning maturity and stuff. And I slept with people. (Sorry.) Just a pretty obvious "good but not great" first novel from a young author; super heavy on extraneous descriptions of buildings/cafes/European streets th...

The protagonist, a teenager living in San Fran in the early 70s, has lived her entire life in the shadow of her flower-child older sister, who has long been dead due to mysterious circumstances. In what turned out to be an extremely satisfying coming-of-age novel, she goes to find out what happened, travelling to Europe in her sisters footsteps and encountering bohemian characters (and sometimes tragic burnouts, junkies and users) from her sister's life. The mystery's resolution was surprising t...

Egan's writing is at times cloying and manipulative, but the beauty of her language allows the reader become seduced into the near-psychotic of the main character Phoebe, and her relationships with her deceased sister. Her journey to discover how her sister passed away can seem overwrought at times, but Egan conveys such a sense of the fantastical that the reader is willing to go along with the flow.

I did not care for her other book, The Keep, however, I really did enjoy this book. Phoebe lost her sister at a very young age, and she decides to travel to Europe to follow in her footsteps and discover what her last moments were like. This book contains an interesting main character, as well as fleshed out secondary characters, and excellent writing. I enjoyed it!

So beautiful. The main character is terribly young and selfish, but the writing is gorgeous and the emotions so palpable it was impossible not to feel for her. If only in real life you could have that clarity of thought about what you’re experiencing at each moment. I cried my eyes out.