Book Review: The Night Circus

I have just finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and my heart is full. Reviews of this book have been sporadic across a vast spectrum of opinion. My review may be differing due to the fact that I listened to the audio version of this book rather than reading the actual pages themselves. I feel that deserves some notice in and of itself, as I have never had high opinion of audiobooks before. I started listening to them at work to relieve some of the mundane activity that I parttake in everyday and to give myself something to improve my mind and entertain me as I work. I am not exaggerating when I say that the day flew by. Hearing this book in  my ear and imagining the beautiful scenery and characters was honestly like some sort of enchantment.

 I would like to go back and actually physically read this novel now - in part to see if my opinion differs due to form/media, and partially due to the fact that I feel as though I may discover more of the nuances in the characters and the circus if I were to attempt this story again. And, I must confess, that part of me just wants to be engulfed in the imagination and wishfulness of the circus again. I have read many reviews in which the reader claims such fascination and enchantment with a novel that they endeavor to immediately re-read the entire thing - and I have never encountered a novel that immediately warranted this response from me until now. I did not want it to end, perhaps ever.

I read a review of the Night Circus in the NY Times that stated that this novel could be the new Harry Potter, citing that when reading Harry Potter you wished desperately that Hogwarts were real and that you could attend, and that feeling is similar with this novel. While I cannot in any way say that this is the "new harry potter" (questionable that a title would ever be percieved of as such), I can assure you that I desperately and whole-heartedly wish that Le Cirque des Reves was real and that I was Celia Bowen, the illusionist (partially due to her talent, but equally due to her love interest and opponant, Marco).

This book is about a circus that appears in different locales and cities across the world without warning, and is only open at night. It appears and vanishes of its own timing and is filled with characters and magic and enchantment, cleverly disguised as simple slight of hand. At the heart of the circus are two young magicians, Celia and Marco, locked in a challenge to be the best - something they have been bound to since they were very young. Of course, over the years at the circus, the two opponants fall in love, which, in my opinion, was only expected of two people who are supernaturally bound to one another for eternity. The characters are bright and glorious, feeling familiar and like home as I learned about them. Widget and Poppet, twins with the ability to read the stars and see the past on people, ended up being some of my favorites although I had my reservations at first. Tsukiko, Chandresh, Tyra and Lainie, Friedrick, Bailey, Isobel, Prospero (perhaps my most hated character), and Alexander, among others, grace the pages and leap out as the story plays.

I particularly enjoyed the way that magic was portrayed in this book - not similar at all to the world of Harry Potter. No wands, no spoken spells, no broomsticks. The magic in this book is manifested in two very different ways - entirely through the mind, as Celia is taught, and through a distanced writing and charming, as Marco efficiently accomplishes. The fact that Marco could have such an impact on the circus from so far away simply by writing and developing models and charms was incredible to me. I also loved the "battle" between them which contained no action at all - merely counteracting moves as they each try to best the other at creating the best tents and bedazzlements in the circus. These moves soon become joint, as they collaborate on many tents in the circus. Marco will begin a new tent, Celia will add to it as her next move.
The amount of imagery and imagination in the different tents in the circus was incredible. It is difficult to decide which tent was my favorite, although I can narrow it down to the Ice Garden, the Pool of Tears, and the Bedtime Stories tent. The idea that each counteracting move slowly shifted from a chance to best the other into a series of love letters manifested in physical and supernatural creations took my breath away.

My only complaints were that the dating was difficult to follow, as every chapter was dated differently. At first this was no issue, as it was increasing in time - however, once Bailey's secondary storyline was introduced, it began to jump between a backwards and forwards time progression. This makes sense when considering the fact that time itself plays a huge part in this novel, almost to the point of calling it some kind of illusive character itself. However, the jumping time frame made it very difficult to catch onto at first as I was listening.

Perhaps it is my romantic and magical nature (I want so desperately for magic to be real), but I loved this book. I don't like to assign a number or star scheme to books or movies, but I would say that it is in my top ten as of now. Beautiful, enchanting, drawing me away from reality and making me think and wonder about it long into the night after I had stopped listening to it - I feel as if I have visted Le Cirque des Reves and perhaps Marco has only just erased my memory of it, leaving me in a fog of reality and grasping at thoughts of magicians and clocks and trees and love.
Long story short: go read it and fall in love.

xo,
Rae