The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:
Opens at Nightfall,
Closes at Dawn.
As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.
Le Cirque des Reves.
The Circus of Dreams.
Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.
Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Publisher: Vintage Books, Random House
Date: September 2011
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism
Are there any books that you’ve had on your TBR for ages, and when you read them, you wonder where the book has been all your life?
The Night Circus was this kind of book. I’ll cut to the chase: I loved it so much and I have absolutely no idea why I haven’t read it before! It’s so good!!! It’s been one of my sister’s favourite books for years, and I still hadn’t really thought about reading it until this year. Why??!
That being said, I’m glad I read it when I did. This year, my reading has changed a heck of a lot. For years, I’ve mostly wanted to read contemporary YA, but this year my reading horizons have been expanded and I’ve really started loving magical realism. The book that started my love of this new genre? That’s right, THE NIGHT CIRCUS. So it’s been a pretty important book for me to read this year.
Expectations
The reason I finally decided to read The Night Circus after all this time is because we chose it for a book club I belong to at my local Waterstones. I finally had a reason to prioritise it over the rest of my TBR, finally, after years of owning it!
However, the problem with having a book on my shelf for so long and also having it so hyped up by other people, I hoped it wouldn’t fall short of me actually enjoying it when I read it myself. I worried there would be pressure to like it because of how much I was anticipating it.
I don’t think I needed to worry.
My Thoughts
I find it so hard to review books I loved without screaming about how much I loved it and not actually saying anything of value. So I will try!
One of the things that was unusual to me, compared to the books I’ve read in the past, was the lyrical prose. Flowery prose isn’t something that really exists in contemporary YA, so it was very new and took a little while to get used to. But once I got used to it, I really loved it!
Morgenstern’s intricately crafted descriptions of the magical circus setting jumped right off the page and I had vivid pictures in my head of how the scenery and the characters looked. I love how each tent within the circus has its own quirks and purposes, and it makes you believe that absolutely anything is possible.
Something I’ve seen some other reviewers commenting negatively on is the concept of the duel between two of the characters, which sets the basis for the story. However, I really liked this – it was interesting, and the build-up of the duel, from the characters being complete strangers to meeting each other and becoming a lot more than strangers, was intriguing.
Later on in the story we learn about the history of the duel, and it adds a whole layer of mystery and suspense, because you wonder if our two main characters will suffer the same devastating twist of fate.
The ending—probably the last 100 pages or so—were crazy, full of twists that I absolutely didn’t anticipate or predict, and I couldn’t guess how it would end AT ALL. I loved it and couldn’t put the book down. I read it all morning of book club, at the bus stop, on the bus… I literally couldn’t put it down, like it was glued to my hands and my eyes were sellotaped to every page. (Ew. I’m sorry for that image.)
(It may also have been because I didn’t finish it on time and was desperately trying to finish it before the book club meeting, but luckily, it turned out that no one had finished it so I didn’t spoil the ending. Thank god, because it’s definitely NOT an ending you want spoiled!
Why you should read this book
This is the book for you if…
- You love magic and fantasy but rooted within a story that feels realistic and contemporary
- You love intricate, lyrical prose that forms flawless images in your mind and make you read the book almost as if it’s a film playing in your head
- You love complex characters and stories, and an ending that grabs hold of you and don’t let go until you turn the last page and have to put the book down to comprehend what you just read
The Night Circus has played a big part in my reading in 2019 because it was one of a few special books that completely changed my perception of what I like to read. The magical realism aspects of The Night Circus really captivated my imagination and had me looking for similar books the second I finished it.
(It also opened my mind to how much I really love books about circuses. Seriously, why are books about circuses so intriguing?!)
Finding a book in a genre that wouldn’t usually be your first choice and absolutely loving it feels so good, and it opened my eyes to reading many more books that I would usually shy away from. So, Erin Morgenstern—thank you for that!
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(I recently finished The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, which I also adored, so look out for my review of that very soon!)
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