Book Review: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Age Group/Genre: (Young) Adult/Fiction Publication date: May 24th, 2012 (hardcover, first edition, 400 pages, published September

13th, 2011 by Doubleday) Publisher: Vintage Publishing Pages: 512 Format: Paperback

Add to Goodreads | Buy from The Book Depository

How I rate it: ★★★★★ (5/5)

Synopsis

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.

(via Goodreads)

My thoughts

I always enjoyed magic and illusion related stuff, so when I found out that there was a book with both of this things, I thought: "I have to read it!".

It all starts with the profound rivalry between Prospero the Enchanter (Hector Bowen) and "the man in the grey suit" or "Mr. A. H.". In the late 19th century each of them elect two pupils: Prospero elects his six year old daughter Celia Bowen, while Mr. A. H. elects a nine year old orphan that he named Marco Alisdair. Without knowing for years that they're adversaries, Marco and Celia are bound into a lifelong challenge that is supposed to end in a certain way.

The Night Circus or Le Cirque des Rêves is the creation of Chandresh Christophe Lefèvre, but, at the same time, it is also the creation of Celia and Marco taking into account that they had to overcome each other through various creations inside the circus itself. The circus is their fight arena.

Contrary to what their mentors had in mind, Celia and Marco fall in love and their competition becomes a mutual test to prove their love for each other. Whether they will kill each other and doom the circus, or whether they will escape their fate is the novel's central question.

Morgenstern created such a beautiful world with such an intriguing cast, including Tsukiko, the contortionist; Herr Friedrick Thiesse, the clockmaker; Poppet and Widget, the red-haired twins; Hector Bowen, the enchanter; and others. Inside and outside The Night Circus, we follow a narrative intensely visual that explores the relation between collaboration and competition, love and fate.

Instead of forcing us to be prisoners inside Morgenstern's imagination, she allowed and invited us to explore her imaginary circus.

If you liked Harry Potter, you'll most certainly like this book. But in case you didn't like Harry Potter, I believe you'll like this anyway.

Excert

Leaning to your left to gain a better view, you can see that it reads:

Le Cirque des Rêves

Some in the crowd smile knowingly, while others frown and look questioningly at their neighbors. A child near you tugs on her mother’s sleeve, begging to know what it says.

“The Circus of Dreams,” comes the reply. The girl smiles delightedly.

Then the iron gates shudder and unlock, seemingly by their own volition. They swing outward,inviting the crowd inside.

Now the circus is open.

Now you may enter

(Morgenstern, E., 2011, page 6).