Thursday 10 July 2014

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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.

Reading Format: Paperback
Year Read: 2013
Star Rating: 5 stars

I'm not going to go in to a description of what the book is about as I do not want to give anything away plus any synopsis that I could write of the book would simply not do it justice. Even the description of the book above which was listed on the Goodreads site doesn't give much away about what the book is about. I like to see this book as a big circus tent, you know it's going to be fun and there will be surprises and enjoyment but you don't know exactly what it will entail until you go inside.

This is the first book I have read which I have wanted to start again immediately after I finished it. I didn't want it to end. It firmly made it on to my favourite books of all time shelf!

The book is beautifully written and really sucks you in to the magical world of Le Cirque des Rêves. I particularly liked the sections which addressed the reader directly, getting you to see, hear and feel the circus around you and drawing you in deeper.

When I took a break from reading the book and returned to real life, I felt a little sad and I missed the Night Circus. I would so be a Rêveur (a member of a group called the Rêveurs who are an unofficial fan club of the Night Circus who follow the circus from town to town)! And on many occasions I wished it were a real place so that I could visit and experience its wonderment! And as the book approached the end, I kept wishing that my visit at the Circus didn't have to end. But then my outlook changed once I read the beautiful words of Friedrick Thiessen at the beginning of Part V - Divination
"I find I think of myself not as a writer so much as someone who provides a gateway, a tangential route for readers to reach the circus. To visit the circus again, if only in their minds, when they are unable to attend it physically. I relay it through printed words on crumpled newsprint, words that they can read again and again, regardless of time of day or physical location. Transporting them at will. When put that way, it sounds rather like magic, doesn't it?"
Yes it does! So the Night Circus may not exist in reality but this book has allowed me to visit it, if only in my own mind, and I can do so again and again by reading this book whenever I want to. This book is truly magical!

There were many quotes in the book which I made a note of in addition to the one already mentioned. Two of my favourites are:
“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”
“You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus. You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.”
The book I read was a library book but as I loved it so much and will definitely be re-reading it in the future (something I don't tend to do very often), I am going to buy myself my own copy.

The Night Circus: View on Amazon || View on Goodreads

No comments:

Post a Comment