Review - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Publisher: DoubleDay
Publish Date: Sept 13, 2011
Hardcover 387 pages

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You know when people use the term "dating up," well, this book is reading up. The level of writing is so poetic and beautiful that it really did feel as if I was reading poetry in another language. It was simply artistic. I found myself mystified by the words, the phrases and use of description that amazed even my 4 year old imagination. It would be a travesty if everyone did not take the time to read this book.

There are two main characters in this book, Celia and Marco, though they are really not introduced for a quarter of the book. Their lives start out as simple side stories that eventually twist and turn to interweave together. Then the last quarter of the book introduces side characters as a sort of main character replacement. Without giving too much detail, as the mystery of this book is much of the magic, it feels a little like six degrees of separation and how each person who enters your life may factor in to the development. People who are behind the scene end up being cataclysmal. One of my favorite characters is Bailey, a mere boy who feels out of place in his own life. His parents want him to run the farm, he feels the need to go to Harvard and then this circus arrives and he is drawn to it and the players inside. A seemingly innocent character with much to give.

This is not a blockbuster book, nor a sad drama filled read. It is simply an intricate weaving of people's life's with the magic and dream-like state of perception. Who's perception, depends on the chapter.

I would love to see this turned in to a movie, but would be surprised if anyone could give it the justice as Erin Morgenstern gave it.

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.

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.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.