THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS by Jennifer Egan

Finished Sa 3/3/12

My post on GoodReads-

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 demonstrate how some 'carefree hippies' of the 60's mutated into 'neo-marxist terrorists' of the early 70's, and, I think that Egan aptly shows how Faith O'Connor embraced, and became ensnared in this strange and intoxicating riptide of history, and how her adoring younger sister, Phoebe, finally comes to accept the fallout of her actions.

Set 1978 San Francisco and Europe
Phoebe O'Connor is 18 years old
Faith O'Connor- sister, suicide in 1970
Novel opens when Phoebe meets Kyle Marion who was a friend of Wolf and Faith. Kyle gives Phoebe a joint to take to Steven Lake when she goes to Europe. This is how Phoebe runs into Wolf. Wolf lives in this apartment in Munich.

Mom, Dad, Barry O'Connor
Father went to work with IBM instead of becoming an artist. We learn that he really was not that much of an artist, and he was only a 'follower' in the beat world.
He gave each of his children five thousand dollars when they graduated high school, and wanted them to use the money to see the world before they attended college. Barry took his money and invested it in 'dot.com' ventures and is now a millionaire. Faith is Dad's absolute favorite, yet he dies of cancer just before Faith leaves for Europe. Mom has pretty much remained celibate, and keeps the house just as it was. She has the secret that Dad and Faith's relationship was wrong, and that the corporate world really did not keep him from becoming an artist. He just didn't have it.

'The Invisible Circus' was a real theater experience created by The Diggers, and came from one of the churches in the San Francisco area.

Corniglia, Italy is where Faith jumped into the sea. Wolf had maintained that he was not even there, but finally he admits to Phoebe that he was there, and describes exactly what happened. She demanded that he walk away from her when she dangerously stood on a wall overlooking the sea. He blames himself for walking away. The reason that she is suicidal is that she mistakenly killed a janitor when she was placing a bomb for a radical group. She seemed to be on the mend from this when Wolf and her traveled to Italy, but not really. Or maybe, she just finally accepted that she must sacrifice her life for the life that she took.