"The Night Circus" {by Erin Morgenstern} Book Review

The Night Circus

Author: Erin Morgenstern

                                                           

# of Pages: 384

Year Published: 2011

Publisher: Doubleday

Genre: Magical Realism Fiction Fiction

Summary:

"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." (Excerpt from Goodreads)

Our Star Rating...

4.10 (22 ratings)

Delicious Reads Book Club Review:

Kitch and Bethany did such a fabulous job decorating and moderating for this book. Everyone came dressed in there "Reveur attire" and brought yummy circus inspired food. The whole night was like a dream...like we were part of the book in our own little book club tent.

To start the evening of, Kitch asked each of us to say what our favorite tent at the circus was and/or our favorite part in the book. Below is a collection of what was said:

Bailey's Tree House, The Cloud Maze, The Ice Garden, The 13th Anniversary Party, The Paper Menagerie, The Clock, The Imagery, The layers of meaning behind everything, The Pool of Tears, The Wishing Tree, The way the book made the reader smile, The uniqueness, When Marco goes to Celia's tent and takes her on the boat of pages, Bailey's first encounter with the circus, The Descriptions, The Bonfire, The Food Descriptions, The Midnight Dinner Parties (wanting to throw one herself), Celia's wardrobe (wanting to wear all her dresses), All the symbolism, Romeo and Juliet parallels, Wanting Marco to take her through the plans of the expansion, To Celia's tent to see the whole show, The Mystery, The Kiss at the Anniversary Party, Her style of writing, The Carousel, She writes like Stephen King, Loving the escape of surreality, The Mirror Tent.

The one thing that many people commented on NOT fulling loving was the ending. Most thought the ending was anticlimactic and I think that we were even confused a little by what the ending meant.

We also discussed and interpreted what Poppet and Widget did through out the story.  One of the things we wished had been fleshed out a little more was Celia and Marco's relationship. We would have loved to see more direct interaction between them since they were in love. We wanted it to play out more than it did. It was hard for us to imagine them a relationship when they hardly saw each other and sometimes not seeing each other for years! But, we did understand that there were major complications over their 16 years of "competition" which kept them distant from one another, but one can wish right?

Summit Entertainment has bought the rights to the book to make it into a movie. We just hope that they can write an amazing screen play to give this book the justice and visual magic it deserves. Not to mention that the special effects will need to be extraordinary in order to bring Les Cirque des Reves (which is main character) to life.

Everyone collectivly agreed that while reading this book they could smell and taste all of the things being described at the circus. The imagery we each experienced reading about each tent was like standing in front of it yourself.

(This book is one of those rare finds that if someone asked me what a good book club book would be, this would make my top five. Although there were about four ratings 3 stars and under in the group the majority gave it a 4 and above. To me that says something good about this book. This book was unique and magical The descriptions were a work of genius. If I could go to this circus I would go in a heart beat and I'm sure the rest of our book club would do the same.)

Favorite Quotes:

• “Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them. Writing them down is worse, because who can tell how many eyes might see them inscribed on paper, no matter how careful you might be with it. So it's really best to keep your secrets when you have them, for their own good, as well as yours.”
      
•  "Marco kissed her as though they are the only two people in the world. The air swirls in a tempest around them, blowing open the glass doors to the garden with a tangle of billowing curtains. Every eye in the ballroom turns in their direction. And then he released her and walks away. By the time Marco leaves the room, almost everyone has forgotten the incident entirely. It is replaced by a momentary confusion that is blamed on the head or the excessive amounts of champagne. Herr Thiessen cannot recall why Celia has suddenly stopped dancing, or when her gown has shifted to its current deep green. “Is something wrong?” he asks, when he realizes that she is trembling.”     (The Kiss at the Anniversary Party)
• “Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case.”    

• “I have been surrounded by love letters you two have built each other for years, encased in tents.”   

Kelly did a fabulous review of this book on Goodreads. If you would like to read it click here.

Robin also did an wonderful review on Goodreads. If you would like to read it click here.

*Content Categories*         *Rating*

Language/Profanity:                                 Mild (one "F" word pg 10) 

Sexuality:                                                  Mild

Violence:                                                  Mild if any

Drug/Alcohol Use:                                   None

Intense Scary Scenes:                               None

P.S. One thing to look forward to is Erin Morgenstern's next book. It is suppose to be like Alice in Wonderland meets Art Deco. I know I will be reading it when it hits the shelves!

Kellie