Review: The Night Circus
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: [rating=3]
Summary:
In this mesmerizing debut, a competition between two magicians becomes a star-crossed love story.
The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic.
Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway–a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in “a game,” in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.
Review:
This is one of those curious cases where I find lots of faults with the book, yet still end up liking it.
The world of the circus depicted here fascinated me. I’m usually not up for lots of long descriptions, but the author’s writing flows so smoothly that I couldn’t help but being entranced, and find everything delightfully enchanting. Strong visual imagery of the circus, its tents, the characters, their clothes… kept on invading my mind, especially as the dominant colour scheme was all in black, white and grey, with a touch of purple, which are colours that speak to me like no others can (perhaps because of the whole ‘polar colours’ symbolism). Erin Morgenstern created a place full of eerie yet pleasant visions, and I couldn’t help but coming back to her book and read more about those.
The second reason why I liked it is something that a lot of people find fault with, but that I personally appreciate: shifting timelines. I’m quite good at navigating such narratives, and I’m fond of the foreshadowing (or the ‘aha, so THAT was it!’) aspects made possible through it.
On the other hand, the plot itself and the characters were the novel’s weak points for me. Mostly the characters are interesting because of their quirks, but I’m convinced the author could have done more with them, make her readers closer to them. And the plot wasn’t what the cover blurb advertised: intriguing, with a certain amount of suspense, yet not the daring, somewhat dangerous and active ‘competition’ I had been led to expect. It’s a shame, for I guess it wouldn’t have been a bother if from the start I had known that I was going to read something that was slower-paced, and different in many ways. Also, the love story may have been stronger, with more impact, if the two characters had been aware earlier on of who they were to each other, and if they had been able to compete really face to face, and have more time ‘together’. I understand that they got to know each other through their creations; still, it wasn’t exactly as palatable this way.
I liked how everything tied up in the end, though, and I may read the novel again later on, to see if this changes my perception of the whole story.