Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I just finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. To give you some background, this novel debuted about two years ago, is a #1 national bestseller and MANY people CHERISH, ADORE, PRAISE and LOVE IT. I really expected to feel the same way! However, my love for it is a little bittersweet. I love and adore certain aspects of it, but unfortunately not in total. Let me explain.  

Erin Morgenstern gets an A+ for imagination, fantasy, visualization, details and description.That is her strength and The Night Circus is loaded with it. It's dreamy. It's magical. It's whimsical. It's fantasy. I live for that kind of stuff! Her descriptive imagery makes you feel like you're floating on cloud nine and it can also leave you feeling horrified. She's excellent at doing both. I give her two thumbs UP for that.

While reading the story, you encounter rings that burn into one's skin, a pocket-knife that slits open a character's fingertips, a glass paperweight striking & smashing one's wrist, a dagger plunging into the back of a character's hand, books that fly around a room like birds, fanciful midnight dinners, confectionery cakes & desserts, miniature chocolate leopards and even exotic musicians. Morgenstern's gift for imagery is superb and I think THAT is what captivates SO MANY that read this book! So far, so good right? Craving more? She gives it to you!

Morgenstern does a fantastic job welcoming readers to Le Cirque des Reves! Her description of it is brilliant. It's a circus that opens only at night. Black & white tents are decorated with beautiful twinkling lights. It showcases acts and performers from different countries & continents. Circus concession stands serve chocolate shaped mice, with almond ears and licorice tails. As a dreamer and foodie, I love this!

There's also an enchanting clock in which clouds float across, expanding & contracting like a puzzle, has twinkling stars, flowers, planets and books in which pages turn.

The same clock also boasts a dragon, a distressed princess awaiting her prince, teapots & teacups, presents that open, cats chasing dogs, a game of chess and a juggler that juggles silver balls for whatever hour it is.

OK...THAT'S A LOT OF DESCRIPTION! Even for me. HaHaHa I LOVE details, but as you read this book the details start to become quite excessive. To the point, where it breaks the dreaminess of it. Seriously, I can't picture a clock with ALL of that stuff on it (it literally has everything but the kitchen sink on it! HaHaHa). All of this whimsical awe and wonder hits you in the first one hundred and twenty-eight pages of the book. So up to this point, this is what's FABULOUS about the book.

Where Morgenstern falters, is in the development of the actual story. The beginning of the story is strong. The ending is there. The problem seems to be in the middle, connecting the two. It's choppy, fragmented and seems to be pieced together. It doesn't have a smooth rhythm or flow. To me, a good story should read with ease from beginning to end. I remember Michael Jackson, saying in his 'This Is It' concert, to let a song 'simmer'. Same thing for a writer of a book. Put the proper ingredients together. Let them come together. Let them simmer. Let them cook. This book is a little over five hundred pages and honestly a good two hundred pages could've been cut. There's also a plethora of characters! Morgenstern goes into such detail about each one, that the story often becomes disconnected. I understand each character has a role in the story, but to talk extensively about EACH really doesn't serve a purpose.

Would you like to know the story? A selfish bet is made on two children, Celia and Marco. Their guardians bind them to this bet. They are suppose to compete and duel. It has been decided the circus will be their backdrop, along with MANY other characters. They spend their childhood and adulthood training to the best of their ability. Throughout the book, they constantly ask their guardians what the rules of the competition are. It never seems clear to them, except there are no rules when it comes to LOVE. They discover one another. They fall in love. They decide they don't want to compete. One must win. One must die. They find a loophole and a way to stay together. The End! Simple story that was made way too complex (with a plethora of other characters & situations) in my opinion. 

I found an interview with Morgenstern on the web. She states book agents had her restructure her original story (interestingly enough, it didn't have a plot) and that the competition (duel) part was "added" (source). I think the dueling (competition) was awkward in the book. I blame Morgenstern's book agents for that. There could've been so many more interesting plots for this story. In the future, I hope these agents don't interfere with Morgenstern's work and allow her to come up with her own plot (because everything else was magical about the book...which was ALL HER). After all of my fussing, deciphering and bickering about this book. I reluctantly give it a SWEET rating! It's more on the brink of BITTERSWEET, however that rating seems overall a little too harsh. Morgenstern, your illustrious imagination pulled you to a SWEET rating doll :)

Sweet-Bittersweet-NotSweet

supersweet(run & buy it) sweet(really good,buy it) bittersweet(ok, issues) not sweet(not good,don't buy this stuff)

  The Night Circus is Sweet 

My Final Thoughts: The movie will be better than the book, IF an amazing director is hired AND he or she is given a HUGE BUDGET to make all of these marvelous and magical things happen. I WANT IT TO HAPPEN!!! I want it to be magical! To construct this, the way Morgenstern has laid it out in the book will take MONEY!!! The story is extremely limited, however the imagery is not. So the screenwriter and director will have AMPLE room to add and delete whatever they choose (there's plenty of room for it). The movie (if they ever decide to make it) could be SPECTACULAR. The marketing and promotional items for this could be OUT OF THIS WORLD! I want a chocolate mouse!!! So start putting together your black & white striped attire! Grab a red scarf! I'll have my red scarf ready (i'm a reveur...FAN of the circus and follows it) and fingers & toes crossed when it comes to the big screen that it's SPECTACULAR.
 

*all pictures used in this post were taken from Pinterest. Have a magical day everybody :)