I very much enjoyed this story. It was wonderfully written. I look forward to the author’s next book!

"I Fall to Pieces", Patsy Cline

My favorite Karlsson book is "The Room". This new book is along the same lines, with an unstable and profoundly unreliable narrator, but it seemed a bit less substantial than "The Room". It's still comic, intriguing, kind, and bemused, but the story is more linear and compact, even brusque. The narrator's collapse is less complex and convoluted. This book is less dark, the hero's problems are less disturbing, and there is no sustained effort to address any larger current issues of cultural interest. This is much more of a focused, almost clinical, character study.

Even though this is the more recent book, this might actually be a better point at which to enter Karlsson's unbalanced world. Actually, and I don't want to sound like the happy helpful library boy here, "The Invoice" is a funny and light work of Karlsson's and might provide a new reader with an even more accessible and entertaining way to sample his unique style and preoccupations.

In any event, if you like Karlsson you will not be disappointed by this engaging, if not very mysterious, mystery. No characters fall apart as well as Karlsson characters fall apart, and Karlsson's command of absurdity is second to none..

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

While not my normally preferred style of book, this is a very unique story. I didn't love the characters but they were well-written.

I have read many Swedish author's these days and love the novelty of their stories and creative characters they embody. This book definitely meets those parameters with the protagonist an often bullied loner who makes a world for himself in his love of music. He befriends another loner who is also bullied and they take on the music world together in their listening habits and discussions. His friend, however, volunteers to participate in a circus act and disappears. 3 stars.

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The Circus by Jonas Karlsson (translated by Neil Smith) tells of two friends who went to the circus, one of them volunteered to be in a magic act, and disappeared. Mr. Karlsson is an award winning author and actor from Sweden.

The unnamed narrator and his friend, Magnus, go to the circus together. They don’t see each other often, but share the bond of outcasts and love of music. During the show, a magician asks for volunteers for his disappearing act. Magnus volunteers and never comes back.

In his search for his friend, the narrator comes to term with his own life, present and past.

The Circus by Jonas Karlsson (translated by Neil Smith) a short but surreal story which blurs the lines of realism to the narrator. The story takes place in modern day Sweden, from the viewpoint of the narrator, a lonesome man, probably middle aged.

The man lives a peaceful, enjoyable life. He organizes his record collection meticulously, has a small group of friends he sees (not too often), and makes a living working in a bakery – hoping customers would rather deal with the cute girl than with him.

One day, his day falls apart when his friend Magnus disappears in the circus. Trying to discover what happened to his childhood friend, the man’s existence starts to blur along the edges. The only thing that keeps making sense is recorded music, the protagonist’s way of relating to the world and how to think about it.

Mr. Karlsson’s surreal and sardonic story examines what happens when you start realizing that maybe not everything is as it seems. Through the narrative, the author describes how difficult it is for lonely people to deal with isolation (he doesn’t have a cell phone), and maintain any sort of significant personal connections.

The ending was predictable and at some point became obvious, especially since it’s been done before. That, however, was not the point of the story and I didn’t feel it lessened my enjoyment of it.

First published in Sweden in 2017; published in translation by Hogarth on January 28, 2020

The Circus lies somewhere on the border between surrealistic and realistic. It might best be categorized as a psychological mystery that challenges the reader to decide whether the evidence supplied by the narrator supports the conclusion he has drawn. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a man at a circus — he apparently entered a mirror, and like Alice, left this dimension and entered some secret realm. Or did he?

The narrator is invited to the circus by his friend, Magnus Gabrielsson. They haven’t spoken in a year and the narrator regards their meeting as a social obligation he needs to get out of the way. A circus magician announces that he will make a member of the audience disappear. Magnus volunteers. When the magician directs Magnus to walk behind the mirror, the narrator can see Magnus’ reflection in the mirror but cannot see Magnus. The act ends when the magician removes the mirror. The narrator expects to find Magnus at the intermission but Magnus cannot be found. Nor can he be found in the days that follow. Nor can rumors about his disappearance be confirmed.

We learn that the narrator was a friendless child until he met Magnus. The narrator spent his school hours listening to music on his Walkman (he was more fond of synth than hard rock). When he noticed Magnus hanging around the periphery of the school playground, he struck up a conversation about music. They bonded, although the narrator did most of the talking. Magnus absorbed the narrator’s music lectures, learning as much as possible about the bands Magnus recommended.

At some point, the narrator realizes “there was another life outside the claustrophobic little world Magnus and I constructed.” He imagines himself befriending a popular kid named Dennis until Dennis steals his Walkman. So much for the wider world.

As an adult, the narrator’s only friend is Jallo, who he met at a summer camp. When the narrator tells Jallo about Magnus’ disappearance, Jallo suggests an address the narrator should visit. The narrator is surprised when, after some false starts, he finally visits the correct address, but the surprise brings him no closer to solving the disappearance of Magnus.

Soon after Magnus disappears, the narrator begins to receive telephone calls from someone who never speaks. Is it Magnus? Or perhaps the ghost of Magnus? Music sometimes plays in the background, but is it music that Magnus would play? Sometimes the narrator plays music for the silent caller. Near the novel’s end, they carry on a conversation by playing songs to each other, a conversation that gets its content from the song titles.

All of this is strange but intriguing. Those attributes are the signature of a novel by Jonas Karlsson. Thanks to the narrator’s interaction with Jallo, the reader will come to suspect that the truth behind Magnus’ disappearance is quite different than the narrator believes it to be. Yet the ending suggests that even the explanation that Jallo proposes might not be true. Everything in a Karlsson novel is ambiguous because, well, isn’t life?

Reading a Karlsson novel is like taking a break from reality, or at least from the way we are accustomed to perceiving reality. Karlsson’s novels are always grounded in a philosophical view of existence. This one suggests that the world is a circus (or as Shakespeare suggested, a stage) and life is nothing but an attempt to impose order on chaos. Order is an artificial construct, one of our own devising, an unnatural state but perhaps a necessary one if we are to muddle through a life that only has the meaning we assign to it. Whether or not the reader accepts or rejects that philosophy, fiction that tells an absorbing story while inviting the reader to consider life from a different perspective is always worthwhile. And in the case of a Karlsson novel, it is always entertaining.

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Living a quiet life, the narrator enjoys his job working at the bakery and spends his evenings with his extensive vinyl record collection. He loves to rearrange his synth music albums, getting them into just the right order, while he listens to his favorite tracks. He’s not always alone though. He has friends, and sometimes they ask him to join them at the record store or the bar. Or his high school friend Magnus calls him up and invites him to a circus.

He agrees to go with Magnus to the circus, but he’s not entirely comfortable there. And when Magnus volunteers to help the magician with a disappearing trick, his friend is even more concerned. Magnus goes to the stage, and in the middle of the trick, he waves to his friend as if to say goodbye, and then he truly disappears. His friend sits through the rest of the circus, waiting for him to come back, but Magnus never does. Once the circus performance is complete, he still waits for his friend Magnus, but still he doesn’t appear. He finally heads home, not at all happy about how his friend has acted so rudely.

At home, he calls Magnus to tell him how he didn’t appreciate being abandoned at the circus, but Magnus’s phone is busy. He tries again later, and still gets the busy signal. The next day, the line is still busy. When he goes by Magnus’s apartment, no one answers the door. This goes on for several days, and then he gets a late night phone call. No one speaks, but he can hear someone else there. He calls out for Magnus, but there is no answer, no words, just silence and the feeling that someone else is there.

As the weeks go by, he tries to find his friend but cannot. Mutual friends bring up the possibility of suicide. But he doesn’t think his friend would do that. He thinks back through the time he’s known Magnus, starting in school and continuing, off and on, through the years. They would spend hours together, talking about music. And now Magnus is just gone.

Jonas Karlsson’s newest novel, The Circus, is a surreal novel about identity and understanding. Not unlike his novel The Room, this is a beautiful but strange story of what we see when we look in the mirror. It’s short but moving, a study of unhappiness and isolation, camaraderie and healing.

I really like Karlsson’s books. But know that they are mind-bending. It makes me feel like I feel looking at a painting by Magritte. It’s lovely and bright and mostly makes sense, and then there’s the part that makes you look at life upside-down, and you’re never quite the same, but in the best possible way. Give him a try. You won’t be the person at the end of the book that you were when you started it, but you’ll like the person you are a lot more.

Galleys for The Circus were provided by Random House Publishing Group through NetGalley, with many thanks.

The narrator's friend Magnus disappeared after volunteering as a particpant in a circus magic act, and he sets out to find out what happened. Many flashbacks to the history of their friendship, juxtaposed with the narrator's current friendships. Deadpan and quirky, with a slight twist at the end.

I spent half of my effort with The Circus reading and the other half convincing myself I liked it. As the mystery unfolded, I quickly found myself slipping; scanning, not reading, eventually glossing ahead. And then it was over.

It's worth emphasizing that the conceit of this book is a clever one. But whether due to translation or style, the stilted writing does little to add nuance to the story, which itself is little more than a premise. The nameless narrator represents an archetype I've rarely been fond of; a person whose personality is largely substituted with their hobby; an on-the-spectrum combination of wedged in namedrops and reference-filled quirks. So when his friend disappears during a magic trick at a local circus, it was a little arduous to have the narrative drop its focus in and out of an internal monologue, somehow making a novella feel overlong as it writes itself in circles around the twist you'll quickly see coming.

The Circus isn't without its charms. When it jumps to the backstory, it excels: beyond the mystery is an interesting character study. Unfortunately, it's too many disjointed parts together at once. With no room to breathe, it just doesn't work. In the end, it feels more like a pitch or premise than a proper plot.

The Circus (translated from Swedish) is told in first person by a young man who is a bit of a loner and synth music enthusiast.

The narrator reluctantly goes to a circus performance with a friend, Magnus. Magnus volunteers to participate in a magic trick, however he doesn’t return after the performance; he’s disappeared. Through the story, the narrator searches, trying to decipher scraps of information that will lead him to his friend. He attempts to make sense of where Magnus has gone and how his absence affects him.

He begins to receive mysterious phone calls.
The person on the other end of the line never speaks and tension is palpable. However, after a few silent sessions they begin to play music for one another, sending messages back and forth using the words of songs.

Through the majority of The Circus, I thought the story was average. In But when something shifts,
I realized I didn’t comprehend what I’d just read. I’ve never reread a book back-to-back, but that’s exactly what I did. This story unexpectedly hit me in a deeply sad and moving way.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Circus books are usually right up my alley, but this one didn't stay with me. I had a really hard time finishing the book if I am being really honest. I liked the characters, but I feel like I really didn't get to know them personally and I really like knowing the characters I am reading about. The pacing was nice, but I just felt like there was something more that should have been in this book.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and netgalley for this review title.

I’m not sure what to make of this little book. It had some good moments, but overall it was predictable and rather unsatisfying. The blurb was misleading, making the book disappointing. The best thing about it was the narrator’s obsessive knowledge off music, which was reminiscent of High Fidelity.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Description
A real-life vanishing act leaves one man looking for his missing friend in this Kafkaesque new novel from the author of The Room and The Invoice.

The gentle, off-beat narrator of The Circus is perfectly content with his quiet life. By day he works in a bakery, and by night he obsessively organizes and reorganizes his record collection: it’s all just the way he likes it. But when his childhood friend Magnus comes calling out of the blue, the contours of our narrator’s familiar world begin to shift. On a visit to the circus together, Magnus volunteers to participate in the magician’s disappearing act, and midway through the routine he vanishes. Is this part of the act? What’s happened to Magnus? And who is it calling on the phone in the dead of night, breathing into the receiver, but never saying a word?

Smart, sharply unsettling, and with its sleight of hand exquisitely kept, The Circus is a funhouse mirror of a read—one that ingeniously reveals the way we see ourselves and the stories we tell.

This was my first book by Jonas Karlsson. I enjoyed the author's writing style. It was clean and crisp, and flowed effortlessly. I was eagerly excited about the music featured in this Novel as well. However, if you're looking for a good read about a Circus or even a 'whodunit', this isn't the book. which surprisingly saddened me. I went into this read expecting to explore the in/outs of anything related to the Circus. Instead, you get an introspective look into the life of the Narrator and the relationships he has with his childhood friends. The flashbacks were written nicely as well. Personally, for me, this is an average 3 stars only because it really didn't hold my interest, BUT because it was fantastically written, I'm giving it 4.5 stars.

I do love Jonas Karlsson. His book "I am a Thief," where an overzealous security guard's attempt at shaming a shoplifter inadvertently turns into a fashion trend is hilarious. I have also loved his other books, which generally feature a socially inept person trying hard to get by in a puzzling world. That said, "The Circus" was something of a disappointment to me. The main character, who works (unenthusiastically) at a bakery counter is OBSESSED with music. Due to his social akwardness and issues with bullying from his school days, he has learned to use music as a coping mechanism and as a way to shut out the rest of the world. When a situation makes him uncomfortable (nearly all situations), he can put in his earphones and get lost in the music. The story begins when he is asked to go to a visiting circus with a friend, Magnus. During the circus, Magnus volunteers to be in a magician's act, and he is "disappeared." However, he never returns, and our narrator spends most of the book alternately trying to figure out where Magnus has gone and reflecting on how they met. Although they attended different schools, they were both bullied and isolated, so they bonded over their shared suffering. The narrator introduces Magnus to some of his favorite bands and songs. After Magnus disappears, the narrator begins to receive phone calls where no one speaks, but music is playing in the background. He believes it is Magnus on the phone and plays songs for him in return. While I did like the predictably quirky characters and situations, the constant references to bands and songs that I mostly had never heard of was a little tiring. I wasn't sure if the particular songs were supposed to have some sort of deeper meaning in the context of what was happening. When not telling us what he was listening to, the narrator is giving us continuous status updates on his project of rearranging his vinyl record collection -- putting this album next to that one or moving an entire section to another area. It was too much and left me as a reader feeling perplexed since I had no idea what the song references were about. I did enjoy the book . . . just not as much as I had hoped to!

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House for sending me a digital ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

What a quirky and charming novel. I absolutely loved every second of it. The writing is simple and yet sentimental. It definitely tugged on my heartstrings. I didn't want it to end. I was completely enamored with the offbeat plot, and that awesome twist the author threw in towards the end...WOW, I'm speechless. I'm usually pretty good at guessing a twist but this one was unexpected and made me second guess everything. I had to go back after I was finished and re-read certain chapters. It's also the kind of book that is nearly impossible to write a comprehensive review on because you don't want to reveal all the well-placed clues. The only thing I can really say is I enjoyed the overall message. "The Circus" touches on the complexities of friendship, isolation, loneliness, and childhood trauma. I had such a great reading experience. Short and sweet. Reads more like a novella than a traditional novel. Beautifully written and eye-opening. I can't stop thinking about it.

Release date: January 28, 2020

The Circus is a revolutionary new story that makes you rethink everything you thought you knew. The main character’s friend, Magnus, mysteriously goes missing while at the circus. We are then taken on an adventure trying to find Magnus. Where we end up, is a complete surprise. Beautifully written. I will definitely be going back and reading Karlsson’s previous books.

I read and very much enjoyed Jonas Karlsson's THE ROOM and hoped that this would be just as good. Alas, the plot and characters were not as interesting or as well-developed and I felt that it would have made a better short story than a novel. I did not find the characters well-rounded or very interesting though the way the protagonist dealt with loneliness and being bullied was realistic. 2.5 stars from this reader.

A man and his friend Magnus go to the circus together, but when Magnus volunteers to disappear in a magic trick, he never reappears--and his friend can't find out what has happened to him.

I absolutely loved this book. I can't figure out what to say about it that won't give things away--and I don't want to give one single thing away. I want it all to be revealed to you in this perfectly told story. If you like the dark kind of Nordic writing like I do--you must read this captivating book. My only complaint is that it ended too quickly.

The Circus is described as Kafkaesque, but I think it is more of a combo of Franz Kafka+Nick Hornby with a splash of Chuck Palahniuk. The book starts with the question “...is it possible to be friends with someone who listens to “Fix You” by Coldplay?” I was sold. The friend in question is Magnus, whom the narrator goes to the Circus with, but Magnus disappears. The timeline then goes from past to present as he tries to figure out what happened to Magnus. Sparse, strange, sometimes funny, and filled with music references.

So, if you are looking for a novel about a circus, or a good whodunit, this isn't the book for you. However, if you love an introspective novella with a little weird and a lot of information about music, you have come to the right place! While this book wasn't at all what I expected from the description, I really enjoyed Karlsson's writing style and am glad I stuck through with it till the end.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.