diff --git a/lib/client.js b/lib/client.js
index e907af060..ae0dc8f38 100644
--- a/lib/client.js
+++ b/lib/client.js
@@ -394,9 +394,18 @@ Response.prototype.setHeaderProperties = function(header){
 
 Response.prototype.parseBody = function(str){
   var parse = request.parse[this.type];
-  return parse && str && (str.length || str instanceof Object)
-    ? parse(str)
-    : null;
+  var result;
+
+  if (parse && str && (str.length || str instanceof Object)) {
+    try{
+      result = parse(str);
+    } catch(e) {
+      result = str;
+    }
+  } else {
+    result = null;
+  }
+  return result;
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/node/index.js b/lib/node/index.js
index b99102b3e..6e417bc88 100644
--- a/lib/node/index.js
+++ b/lib/node/index.js
@@ -1008,11 +1008,11 @@ Request.prototype.end = function(fn){
     if (parse) {
       try {
         parse(res, function(err, obj){
-          if (err && !self._aborted) self.callback(err);
           res.body = obj;
+          if (err && !self._aborted) self.callback(err, res);
         });
       } catch (err) {
-        self.callback(err);
+        self.callback(err, res);
         return;
       }
     }
diff --git a/lib/node/parsers/json.js b/lib/node/parsers/json.js
index 7eb605466..c0e1a24d6 100644
--- a/lib/node/parsers/json.js
+++ b/lib/node/parsers/json.js
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ module.exports = function parseJSON(res, fn){
   res.setEncoding('utf8');
   res.on('data', function(chunk){ res.text += chunk;});
   res.on('end', function(){
+    var body;
     try {
-      var body = res.text && JSON.parse(res.text);
+      body = res.text && JSON.parse(res.text);
     } catch (e) {
       var err = e;
       // issue #675: return the raw response if the response parsing fails
       err.rawResponse = res.text || null;
+      body = res.text;
     } finally {
       fn(err, body);
     }
diff --git a/test/client/request.js b/test/client/request.js
index e718d6ec1..3c6ee5af5 100644
--- a/test/client/request.js
+++ b/test/client/request.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ var assert = require('assert');
 var request = require('../../');
 
 describe('request', function() {
-  this.timeout(10000);
+  this.timeout(15000);
 
 it('request() error object', function(next) {
   request('GET', '/error').end(function(err, res) {
@@ -73,8 +73,8 @@ it('GET invalid json', function(next) {
   request
   .get('/invalid-json')
   .end(function(err, res) {
-    assert(err.parse);
-    assert.deepEqual(err.rawResponse, ")]}', {'header':{'code':200,'text':'OK','version':'1.0'},'data':'some data'}");
+    assert(res);
+    assert.deepEqual(res.body, ")]}', {'header':{'code':200,'text':'OK','version':'1.0'},'data':'some data'}");
     next();
   });
 });
diff --git a/test/json.js b/test/json.js
index 863a6c5ca..48d2901a0 100644
--- a/test/json.js
+++ b/test/json.js
@@ -140,11 +140,12 @@ describe('res.body', function(){
   });
 
   describe('Invalid JSON response', function(){
-    it('should return the raw response', function(done){
+    it('should return the raw response in the request body', function(done){
       request
       .get(uri + '/invalid-json')
       .end(function(err, res){
-        assert.deepEqual(err.rawResponse, ")]}', {'header':{'code':200,'text':'OK','version':'1.0'},'data':'some data'}");
+        assert(res);
+        assert.deepEqual(res.body, ")]}', {'header':{'code':200,'text':'OK','version':'1.0'},'data':'some data'}");
         done();
       });
     });