The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Amy       
Lynnie    

fantasy

NOTE: We originally read The Night Circus in 2011, before we had this blog. But since Amy just re-read it for a book club discussion, we're finally blogging our reviews.

The circus arrives without warning. Within the black- and white-striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements, only open at night. But, behind the scenes, there is a magical competition taking place of which very few people are aware.

Amy's Review

What an intriguing novel! I liked it! I think I would really prefer to give it 3-1/2 stars, but will let it have 4. There were several things I didn't love about this novel but the creativity of the setting, the circus attractions and designs, and the story itself won me over. It was sometimes slow-paced but bounced back up every time without too much delay. I didn't like that I had to make an effort to keep up with the timeframe changes. I also didn't like that the one character whose prominence I had been questioning--why was he given such a feature in this novel?--seemed to only be inserted so that Erin Morgenstern could kill him off. That particular storyline felt manufactured and cheapened the otherwise interestingly woven relationships among the characters. Morgenstern's sense of style, mystique, art, and design astounded me...especially since her words were clear enough for me to visualize everything without becoming boring. I bet she gives great parties like Chandresh with new decorations every time. 

2021 reread comment: I enjoyed it again and agree with my basic sentiments from 10 years ago, although, I wasn't so bothered by the presence of the character who was killed off. I also enjoyed finding some seeds of Morgenstern's future novel, The Starless Sea, which is one of my favorite novels EVER! Morgenstern is truly so creative and visually atmospheric.

Lynnie's Review

There are some parts of this book and some characters (Bailey and the twins, for example) I absolutely adored. Others, I merely tolerated in hopes that I could get to the parts I liked better. I really enjoyed the idea of the circus and, generally, when the story focused on that, I was eager to continue. However, when the story moved away I found myself putting the book down and caring less and less about what was going on. I was also annoyed by Morgenstern's jumping around from time period to time period. Overall, a very interesting read, and sometimes a very entertaining one, but when the story lost focus, so did I.