- Paperback: 169 pages
- Publisher: Bison Books (April 1 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0803269072
- ISBN-13: 978-0803269071
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.5 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #481,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“The Circus of Dr. Lao is a fascinating work: a labyrinth of meanings and images that sucks in the imagination, teases it and impishly plays with it. It gives nothing away, but offers much sustenance to those willing to take the risk of stepping into the tents housing its bizarre attractions.”—Locus Online
(Locus Online )
Product Description
Abalone, Arizona, is a sleepy southwestern town whose chief concerns are boredom and surviving the Great Depression. That is, until the circus of Dr. Lao arrives and immensely and irrevocably changes the lives of everyone drawn to its tents.
Expecting a sideshow spectacle, the citizens of Abalone instead confront and learn profound lessons from the mythical made real--a chimera, a Medusa, a talking sphinx, a sea serpent, witches, the Hound of the Hedges, a werewolf, a mermaid, an ancient god, and the elusive, ever-changing Dr. Lao. The circus unfolds, spinning magical, dark strands that ensnare the town's populace: the sea serpent's tale shatters love's illusions; the fortune-teller's shocking pronouncements toll the tedium and secret dread of every person's life; sensual undercurrents pour forth for men and women alike; and the dead walk again.
Dazzling and macabre, literary and philosophical, The Circus of Dr. Lao has been acclaimed as a masterpiece of speculative fiction and influenced such writers as Ray Bradbury. This Bison Frontiers of Imagination edition features a new introduction by noted fantasy writer John Marco and striking illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff from the first edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book to fire the imagination,
By Jack Purcell (Placitas, NM USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Circus of Dr. Lao (Hardcover)
When I first read this book in my youth I was completely taken with it. When I rediscovered it as a 40 year old it captured me again. A decade later someone loaned me a copy and I again submerged myself in it. I'm ecstatic to know it's available here and I can now experience this circus again.Maybe the book isn't for everyone, as some have suggested. If not the loss belongs to the part of 'everyone' it's not for, not within the portion of everyone it is 'for', where it will simmer to be tasted and savored in flashes of memory and thought long after the meal. If you've already eaten take this one for dessert.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. Lao and the Dance of Life,
By
This review is from: V617 CIRCUS OF DR. LAO (Paperback)
It came as a surprise to me to find that one of my favorite films as a boy was actually based on a novel. It was even more of a surprise to find that the novel was written in 1935. It was a further surprise to find that it was written by a newspaperman that had served as an enlisted man in the old 15th Infantry in China back before WWII. Finally, it was a surprise that I actually liked this little book even more than the film.The story centers around the most unusual circus of Dr. Lao. The good doctor's circus is his own personal world- and seems to obey no laws of man or nature but his own (and that of his junior partner, Apollonius of Tyana.) This is an appropriate partnership, for Apollonius was perhaps the wisest man of the classical West, while Lao, if I am not mistaken, is patterned on Lao Tzu, wisest man of the classical East. Between them, they have assembled a remarkable collection of creatures from all places and times for their little show: a Chimera, a Unicorn, a Sphinx, a Sea Serpent, a mermaid, a werewolf, a hedge hound, the Golden Ass, a medusa, a satyr, a faun, nymphs, a Roc, and much, much more. All of this for the edification of the inhabitants of the sleepy, ordinary, little town of Abalone, Arizona during one hot, dusty August during the Great Depression. Everything is intended to wake the little town from its slumber, for everything reflects the great dance of life in all its appetite and lust, its wonder and terror. Yet, above it all, and in control of it all, are the two great sages. Many of the inhabitants of Abalone are left in wonder or in denial. Either way, most of them will never be the same again....
5.0 out of 5 stars
so very lovely!!,
By
This review is from: The Circus of Dr. Lao (Paperback)
the seven faces of doctor Lao was a favorite movie of mine as a child and i was very happy to see that the book far outshone the movie. it was a beautifully rendered snapshot of the most unusual circus on earth. Finney creates for us a place we would like to visit while giving us local characters who manage to be both satiric and realistic. I was sad to see that a few readers found the book to be inadequate....but it's bound to happen...due to the media of the day people can no longer understand anything that isn't spelled out for them and then cleanly ended, people don't want to have to think about what they've read or make even the smallest attempt at pondering it.and a note on the derogatory or racist terms used in the book for anyone who was upset by them....notice that they are not often used by the author but by the inhabitants of the town during a time when many people were very much against foreigners of any kind....they speak in a racist manner because a lot of people were that racist....we can't pretend they were all well bred and politically correct . it would be a lie.
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