The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply
there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas
tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is
called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. (description from Amazon.com)
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. (description from Amazon.com)
Okay, something you should know about me as a reader... I shy away from any book, and I mean *any* book that has a circus setting. Why? In college, I had this really weird lit class where we read about people on the outskirts of society, including circus "freaks." SO, we read parts of the book Geek Love by Katherine Dunn and it literally creeped me out so bad that I will not consciously pick up a circus book at all now, without some massive prodding.
Well, enter Morgenstern's debut, the toast of 2011, and about 20 people telling me to pick it up, including two very reliable sources (Thanks Geri! Thanks Danielle) and I had enough prodding that I, albeit still reluctantly picked up The Night Circus.
I am so glad that I did! This book definitely lived up to all its hype. Morgenstern literally created a magical masterpiece. Every time I cracked open the cover, I found myself immersed in another layer of seductive imagery... a world that I longed to live in. I wanted to become one of the fanatics that followed the Cirque de Reves from city to city, wrapping a red scarf round my neck, and marveling again and again at its wonders.
Aside from the love story that defied time and fate to find its happy ending, the wonder of this book is that you truly lose yourself in it. The words wrap themselves around you and refuse to let go, taunting you to read *just a little more*... When I closed the book for the final time, I sat there momentarily stunned and immensely disappointed that I had no further excuse to linger. I believe this will be a book that I will read again...
I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! And I definitely think at some point I will have to read this again :)
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