I would say
it again… Jostein Gaarder is the master of storytelling! Not only that he
crafted a puzzling frame story for this book, but he also “deceived” us on the
title. The Ringmaster’s Daughter is NOT at all about the daughter of a circus
owner—which for some years made me mistaking this book as a bit childish. It is
far away from childish. The Ringmaster’s Daughter is about how traumatic childhood
experience can hugely change someone’s life.
Petter “The
Spider” was leaving a book expo in haste because he thought his life was in
danger. So, we know that he is a bookish man, who has done something that makes
other literary people from the expo wanting to kill him. After he arrived safely
at a secluded hotel, he forced himself to write his story—as usual with
Gaarder: story within story.
Little
Petter lived with his mother—his dad has left the house—and he had a unique
ability to create stories from…well…everything! His brain is hyperactive, and
he couldn’t stop it from inventing plots of stories. Connecting that with the
book expo, he should be an over-productive writer, right? But no, Petter doesn’t
like to be famous, and he don’t have patience to write novels. He just created
plots—a lot of them! Later when his mother died, and he was on his own, he
founded Writers Aid, a corporation that helps writers around the world get
brilliant plots for their next novels. Suddenly Norway—where The Spider lives—was
flooded with new novels; not only that, literary world suddenly getting a
booming; all because of this one man, the ghostwriter, Petter. Oh and he got
rich from it. But then... as in all things that are built over falsity, the bubble
is threatening to blow out.
From there I
know there’s something wrong with Petter, but what? And what about the little
man with green hat who at first dwells inside Petter’s head, but then becomes
real although only Petter can see him? And of course there’s Panina Manina the
ringmaster’s daughter who didn’t know his father until it’s too late, which
seems to be Petter’s favorite story. Not until the end though, did I get the
meaning of them all. Here’s a spoiler…. Petter turns out to have traumatic
experience when he’s a kid. Right after that he likes to have those active
thinking. It’s just his mechanism to shut his brain from remembering the
traumatic thing. So I guess the little man with green hat is his consciousness.
At first he’s just a boy with active imagination, and so the little man only
appears inside his imagery world. But when he’s grown up and brings the imagery
world into reality (Writer’s Aid), the little man too must do his job in the
real world. Mystery solved!
As always,
Gaarder crafted the story amazingly. I also loved the plots and stories created
by Petter. Hey, it feels like reading Italo Calvino’s If a Traveler’s…. stories
in a story! Two things that I just realized after reading this are: our
existence in the universe (Gaarder taught philosophy for high school anyway),
and his love of oranges. Yeah… I think I read about oranges in several of
Gaarder’s books; he must love oranges very much! J
For all that….
Four stars for The Ringmaster’s Daughter.
