The Night Circus

I recently read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. If you’re looking for an otherworldly and unusual type of read The Night Circus won’t disappoint. Morgenstern’s lyrical and intriguing novel showcases her many strengths as a writer: imaginative and unusual premise, wonderful and precise descriptions, fascinating characters, and great dialogue which breaks up scenes that would otherwise verge on normal.

The book opens with a gripping lead and does a good job of keeping your attention throughout. In reading this book, you will find that the few passages of The Night Circus could be considered ordinary and the ones that could are few and far between. Morgenstern also includes passages written in the second person, which describe the circus and help the reader to get a feel of the unique setting the book mainly takes place in. Morgenstern also switches points of view between several characters and because of this, the story takes on the feeling that the story not only revolves around the two main characters but all who are involved. We are allowed glimpses of other characters’ lives, passions, and minds, making the story all the richer.

The story begins with the arrival of a circus, which appears without warning and mysteriously only opens at night. Inside the circus are fantastical performers from acrobats to contortionists to animal charmers and people that move so slowly they appear as statues. Underneath the circus and its heady aroma of caramel, a challenge is underway between two charismatic magicians where only one can survive. Prior to this, we follow the childhood of the two main characters, Celia and Marco, and the conception of the Night Circus.

Though I reveled in The Night Circus, I also had a few dissatisfactions with the book. I think Morgenstern could have improved on her plot development, through all the wonderful curiosities the book had to offer it became a little sticky in the middle. She could also work on the ending and conclusion of The Night Circus, which felt rushed and was not handled with the same amount of finesse that other sections of the book were so obviously written with. Though the ending answered many questions I had, it didn’t really explain in depth or in a way easily understood how it was resolved exactly. Because of this, the ending felt sudden and sloppy.

I still found The Night Circus to be an excellent read and a masterful first book to have published. I hope that Morgenstern chooses to write and publish another novel as ingenious and innovative as The Night Circus.