The carnival at Bray vs The Invisible Circus: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Teenage Girls, Bildungsromans, Fiction
The carnival at Bray
his promising debut, set in the heyday of grunge, tells the story of Maggie Lynch, a displaced Chicagoan and grunge music fan, living in a quiet town (Bray) on the Irish Sea. Maggie was uprooted from her friends, her…
vs
The Invisible Circus
“She'd missed it, Phoebe knew by the silence.”
In Jennifer Egan’s highly acclaimed first novel, set in 1978, the political drama and familial tensions of the 1960s form a backdrop for the world of Phoebe O’Connor, age eighteen. Phoebe is obsessed with the memory and…
The verdict
- Readers rate The carnival at Bray highest: The carnival at Bray 3.9 · The Invisible Circus 3.6.
- The Invisible Circus has the widest readership — 7603 ratings behind its score.
- The carnival at Bray runs the darker storyline; The Invisible Circus stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Just want the better-reviewed one?
The carnival at Bray
3.9 vs 3.6 from readers
New to the genre?
The carnival at Bray
Light vs Moderate for The Invisible Circus
In the mood for something dark?
The carnival at Bray
a darker storyline than The Invisible Circus
Want something lighter?
The Invisible Circus
an easier tone than The carnival at Bray
Scores by source
| The carnival at Bray | The Invisible Circus | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (3080) | 3.5 (7603) |
| Hardcover | 4.8 (6) | 3.6 (11) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (57) |
Reception
| The carnival at Bray | The Invisible Circus | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 3080 | 7603 |
| Editions | 9 | 18 |
| Citations | — | 6 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 6114 | — |
| Reading it now | 74 | — |
| Written reviews | 574 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 72 | 19 |
| Pages | 254 | 338 |