CIRQUE: A Novel of the Far Future

by Terry Carr ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 22, 1977

The last remaining glory of weary backwater Earth is the radiant city of Cirque, serenely bound together by constant telepathic ""broadcasts"" of important events which the whole population can follow through the day. This particular day begins with nothing more unusual than the arrival of a mild-mannered alien, but, before it is over, Cirque has been reshaped forever by the eruption of an unknown ""beast"" from the Abyss at the city's edge. The day's events and their meaning are mostly crystallized in the minds of four women: the capable, dissatisfied head of the civic guard, the priestess of a local faith, the city's fifteen-year-old telepathic ""monitor,"" and--most crucially--a restless fat girl experimenting with multiple personalities. Carr's people are little more than well-intended cliches, and the tone of the writing often flounders. But there is something intensely arresting about the whole concept--though one sometimes feels that it didn't become clear to the author himself until halfway through this amalgam of large failures and large successes.

Pub Date: April 22, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION