About the Book
Off to Join the Circus focuses on an overly enmeshed, neurotic Jewish family in the Washington, D.C., area, and what happens when a relative returns after 64 years. Adele Pinsky ran away as a teenager back in 1954, perhaps to join a circus. The repercussions from her departure reverberated down the generations, affecting her younger brother, Howard, now a 75-year-old retired lawyer; his educator wife, Marilyn; their three daughters; and their two teenaged grandsons. Adele's reappearance in 2018, at a moment when the family is preparing for the younger grandson's bar mitzvah and the birth of the middle daughter's baby, upends the Pinsky family's assumptions about one another in hilarious and poignant ways.
About the Author :
Deborah Kalb is the author of the novel Off to Join the Circus, her debut novel for adults. She has written fiction for kids and nonfiction for adults, and she's the host of the blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, where she interviews an eclectic range of authors. A former longtime D.C.-based journalist covering Congress and politics, she lives in the Washington, D.C., area.
Review :
"Compulsively readable, Off to Join the Circus, Deborah Kalb's foray into adult fiction, is a study in human nature and the bonds we form, and sometimes break, within our own families. In this breezy and brilliant novel, three generations in a close-knit family are forced to examine their relationships with each other when a "legendary" member of the family reappears after a sixty-four-year hiatus. Ms. Kalb infuses her story with wry wit, snappy dialogue, and the universal themes of acceptance, betrayal, resentment, secrets, and redemption in this tale that explores the repercussions of a prodigal's return with characters we can all relate to. Perfect for book club discussions." - Kathleen M. Rodgers, author of The Flying Cutterbucks, a 2021 WILLA Literary Award Finalist in Contemporary Fiction
"In Off to Join the Circus novelist Deborah Kalb makes the difficult feat of engaging the reader with good people look almost easy-just like a circus acrobat. Serious and joyful family matters play out, with the requisite tears and laughter. Smoothly shifting point of view between several members of the three-generation Pinsky clan, Kalb's three-ring circus takes place over a jam-packed fortnight. A prodigal octogenarian sister returns after seventy years, a bar mitzvah boy prepares for his big day, infidelity and new love are discovered, and everyone counts down to the arrival of a baby. Readers who enjoy Anne Tyler's Baltimore families and Laurie Colwin's denizens of Manhattan, step right up and meet the Pinsky family of Bethesda." - Ellen Prentiss Campbell, author of Frieda's Song and The Bowl with Gold Seams
"Deborah Kalb's Off to Join the Circus is exactly what readers want: a warm, insightful family story that you can't put down. Told fluidly from multiple points of view spanning three generations of the Pinsky family, we get to glimpse inside the mind and heart of each member. These are fully realized people, instantly recognizable, yet uniquely individual, with all their loves, misunderstandings, everyday anxieties, and deep connections to each other. Even the elderly sister, who defined the idea of "being circus" for all of the Pinskys by leaving her family sixty-four years earlier, can't escape the profound ties that pull her back into the fold. From now on, because of this novel, "circus" will mean more to me than the big top; it will resonate with the very essence of being alive." - Roselee Blooston, author of IPPY Gold medal winner Trial by Family, and The Chocolate Jar and Other Stories
"A heartwarming portrait of a multigenerational family. Kalb excels at crafting multiple points-of-view, giving strong and distinct voices to each character, while amping up the drama and intrigue to keep the reader wanting more. I enjoyed every page right up to the satisfying finish." - Suzanne Simonetti, author of The Sound of Wings
"With charm, wit, and heart, Deborah Kalb provides an intimate portrait of the Pinskys, a Washington D.C., Jewish, suburban clan who loves maybe a little too hard. On the eve of a bar mitzvah, milestone birthday, and birth, Aunt Adele turns up after a 64-year absence that has created emotional ripples throughout three generations of Pinskys. Off the Join the Circus illuminates how the most estranged relative can both ruin and restore the balance to a family's ecosystem. I devoured the novel in three sittings but reflected on these deeply flawed but loveable characters for days afterwards." - Michelle Brafman, author of Washing the Dead and Bertrand Court
"Readers will meet a charming ensemble cast of characters threaded together in this warm and heartfelt family drama." - Renee Rosen, author of The Social Graces
