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The Juggler
Mark did what people aren't supposed to do. He left his home, his job, his wife, his friends, his seven month old baby—everything. He took with him only two things. One was a flyer advertising a nightclub, with an address written on the back in spidery pencil. The other was a small bag containing a large amount of cash. But it is not so easy to start again. Mark must find his way in a new town where no one will talk about their past, and where cell phones don't work. He soon discovers that this is not all that's strange about this nameless town. Friendships turn into a web of deceit and motives are always suspect. Mark's journey, both physical and metaphysical, takes him through layers of reality and toward refuge of an unexpected kind.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 14, 2016
The Juggler left me absolutely gutted. Beamont’s previous book, Thirteen, was so suspenseful and intriguing, filled with unanswered questions and gorgeous enigma.
The Juggler was rubbish.
Mark is handed a case of £40,000 and celebrates by leaving his wife and baby and travelling to an ambiguous place he ambiguously heard of from an ambiguous stranger in a comedy club. As you do. The self-same comedian turns out to be running a hostel there and he sticks around.
Beaumont is trying to rekindle the fire of his previous hit, but enigma and intrigue give way to a literary enema. SB of Thirteen had to deal with bizarre events disrupting his life in a way that was too compelling for him to ignore. Mark just buggers off out of his life to some inbred village on the coast of Backside and worries his clothes don’t look right.
It’s hard to feel much sympathy for a character who has basically nicked forty grand and walks out on his young family. He’s a selfish plonker who doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing and is too young for a midlife crisis. He has no particular affinity to the random location he’d shored up in, and so why would we care what all the strangeness is all about?
His half-hearted generosity towards a debt-ridden stripper falls flat when you remember he’s being generous with someone else’s money, and let’s face it: what stripper ever appeared in a book without some tragic backstory involving debts, drugs or devastation?
It’s a poor effort, made worse when it follows such a fantastic, original predecessor. Prepare to be utterly disappointed.
The Juggler was rubbish.
Mark is handed a case of £40,000 and celebrates by leaving his wife and baby and travelling to an ambiguous place he ambiguously heard of from an ambiguous stranger in a comedy club. As you do. The self-same comedian turns out to be running a hostel there and he sticks around.
Beaumont is trying to rekindle the fire of his previous hit, but enigma and intrigue give way to a literary enema. SB of Thirteen had to deal with bizarre events disrupting his life in a way that was too compelling for him to ignore. Mark just buggers off out of his life to some inbred village on the coast of Backside and worries his clothes don’t look right.
It’s hard to feel much sympathy for a character who has basically nicked forty grand and walks out on his young family. He’s a selfish plonker who doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing and is too young for a midlife crisis. He has no particular affinity to the random location he’d shored up in, and so why would we care what all the strangeness is all about?
His half-hearted generosity towards a debt-ridden stripper falls flat when you remember he’s being generous with someone else’s money, and let’s face it: what stripper ever appeared in a book without some tragic backstory involving debts, drugs or devastation?
It’s a poor effort, made worse when it follows such a fantastic, original predecessor. Prepare to be utterly disappointed.
April 15, 2010
I finished [B:]The Juggler[/B:] by S. Beaumont; this a "leftover" from 2009, one of the books I really had great expectations for (after the author's Thirteen) but somehow did not click with me on arrival (bought it on publication in early 09); it is about a young man who feels trapped in his job, family.. so when at a bar a comedian brings up his problems out of the blue and gives him directions for a seaside town and then a stranger puts a 40000 pound bag in his hands with a cryptic message, the hero just leaves everything and goes to that town...
Some strange people and things are there but all in all, while the style was good and the book kept me guessing till the end, I was not that convinced by the motivations of the hero and the book read to me like "how cool is to be able to leave everything behind including children and go to find our so called destiny" and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way; a B for style and a minor disappointment
Some strange people and things are there but all in all, while the style was good and the book kept me guessing till the end, I was not that convinced by the motivations of the hero and the book read to me like "how cool is to be able to leave everything behind including children and go to find our so called destiny" and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way; a B for style and a minor disappointment
March 1, 2011
Enjoyable yet slightly odd. It has many similarities to the authors previous book "Thirteen", in that the main protagonist (Mark) finds himself in a strange situation and the plot takes several surreal turns, and an ending that is very ambiguous. Although the reasons why Mark suddenly ups and leaves his family at the beginning are a little too far fetched, I loved the initial encounters in the nameless town where he ends up.
The surreal and offbeat nature of the plot lend extra weight to the increasing paranoia that Mark feels during the middle section: you almost feel his reactions are logical, even when they clearly aren't.
I have knocked off one star for the ending, which I suppose is deliberately open ended, but left me feeling frustrated. But then again, I think that was the authors intention: you are never really sure what to believe
The surreal and offbeat nature of the plot lend extra weight to the increasing paranoia that Mark feels during the middle section: you almost feel his reactions are logical, even when they clearly aren't.
I have knocked off one star for the ending, which I suppose is deliberately open ended, but left me feeling frustrated. But then again, I think that was the authors intention: you are never really sure what to believe
August 4, 2013
Not quite sure what to make of this book. It reminds me a little of The Alchemist or Pilgrims Progress in that we have a man who has to make a journey and face many hardships along the way to grow into who he is meant to be. Found it a little disjointed in places but I finished it so it must have held my interest somewhat. Would I recommend it? The verdict is still out on that one!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews