I absolutely loved this story. It was reminiscent of Kafka in its oddity and story surrounding the human condition. I read it in one sitting, not because I had the time, but because I just couldn't put it down. It was one of those stories where the ending just blew me away and I had to sit and think about the story and let it digest for a few minutes. Really loved it. Simple, yet very complex.

This is a remarkable book. The plot, generally a story about a man whose friend disappears, while hilarious at times and always curious, is less important than the extraordinary writing and layers of mystery within this Circus. While I figured things out before the end, that did not in any way diminish my enjoyment of this book, about which very little can be said without revealing spoilers. Reading The Circus takes one on a journey into what appears bizarre and mysterious, but once the layers are all peeled back, reveals itself, at its core, as a tale about the very circus that is one’s life.

Highly recommended. I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of The Circus.

I was originally drawn in by the cover art, and of course the premise of this novella. I feel like for the length of this story it was a bit of a let down at the end. The narration was great, but the story didn't really me in like I had hoped.

I just could not get into this book. The premise was far fetched and the pacing did not draw me in. I loved the cover art and it looked like an intriguing read. But, I was not able to finish it.

This book had me at Circus. I literally can’t resist a circus story or, it seems, even a story featuring one. And here, circus is just a place where the main event occurs, the vanishing of the protagonist’s best friend, Magnus. This serves as a catalyst for this short novel. Not only does it upend the main character’s plain predictable orderly existence, but it might make him question his very reality. Or not…because there’s something very comfortable about the blanket of deliberate ignorance. So basically this is a very quiet novel about a very quiet person. Not literally quiet, he’s too fond of music for that. In fact, music plays a huge role in this story and a great deal of the book’s fairly minimal page count is dedicated to it. Music is how the main character (unnamed until the end) gets through life, ever since he was in school, he streamlined tunes from his portable music player into his ears and watched the world go by as a series of scenes set to a soundtrack. Not completely divorced from reality, he does have a couple of friends, an apartment and a very unambitious job in a bakery department, but mainly it’s all about music. Creative, but very structured (and probably quite limiting) way of relating to the world. I do the same with books to a great extent. So throughout the novel our music loving protagonist organizes his record collection, ponders his friendships and looks for Magnus. In the night his phone rings (landline, wouldn’t you know it) and there’s silence on the other end. Eventually this communication evolves into a musical connection, a conversation held through songs. It’s especially poignant because of how much it comes to mean to the main character. Which is to say that this is essentially a novel about loneliness and isolation and difficulty of establishing and maintaining personal connections of any significant meaning. About creating your own way of relating to the world. Something a lot of readers I imagine might be able to relate to. I know I did. And that and the book’s writing (succinct matter of factness I’ve come to associate with Scandinavian authors) made for a very enjoyable reading experience. I’d be interested to read more of author’s work. It’s always good to expand one’s international reading range. So even if you’re not crazy about circuses or synth music or completely taken in by the whimsical charm of the cover, give this one a try. It’s such a quick read and it’s well worth the time. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Mostly an interesting read, the “twist” was too obvious for the length of the book. Ending was a bit of a let down. The narration was well done.

Another fantastic book by Jonas Karlsson. His characters are always interesting and there's an element of mystery that seeps through the book but the character development is where the book shines. The friendships that the main character has with other characters were the driving force of the book. The story was interesting and intriguing and I'll be excited to see what comes next from Karlsson.