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A review by wellworn_soles
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
3.0
As with many books I rate on this site, I really wish I could do half star ratings. I feel like my opinion of this book isn't quite worthy of a 4 star rating, and yet the enjoyment I received from reading it makes a 3 star rating a bit too severe.
Romance isn't really my thing, so I was surprised when two of my good friends and my sister, who is one of my most trusted book recommendees, mentioned this book to me. After receiving a borrowed copy to read from my sister, I decided to go ahead and see what this book was all about. And, overall, I really did enjoy it - but it had some serious issues. But, before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about what I liked.
Morgenstern is a magician in her own right, surrounded by these magical people and events she describes. Her environment description is gripping and all-encompassing; my favorite parts of the book were the quick introductory pages of each segment where the narrative shifted to first person. The circus described is one of the most amazing things to ever leap off the page and into my psyche. I confess that I normally don't get extremely vivid pictures of places or characters in books; more often they're pretty vague and malleable. As such, a writing style that could evoke such crisp and detailed images in my head was very impressive to me. What's more, the idea of the circus and its workings were fascinating to discover and delve into... much more so than the characters, or the plot, which is where I'll switch gears.
Our two star-crossed protagonists were unfortunately easily outshone by the wondrous landscape they inhabited. Both were so archetypal, with their sad childhoods and swift minds, that they felt unworthy, oftentimes, of the circus they created and inhabited. The same went for all the characters introduced; none felt wholly original or with a true life of their own. Instead, they each had some notable characteristics (he's a bumbling architect, they're the inseparable eccentric twins, she's the rich and regal fashion mogul, he's the chosen wonder boy) but never moved outside of their convenient archetypal bubbles. Granted, I still enjoyed some of these archetypes, and they weren't by any means bad characters, they were just disappointing - a fact only further put into focus by the stark contrast between their lack of originality and the circus environment. Normally, I'd say it's a really bad sign when your setting overpowers your characters and plot, but this setting really was just gorgeous. I think it would have been hard for anyone to write characters to rival it in interest or beauty, but the difficulty of the task doesn't excuse the failure of the author.
The plot is nothing to write home about, either. As I said in the beginning, I'm not big on romance by default, and this story did nothing special with the "star-crossed lovers" trope. They love each other, but they can't be together, forbidden love, loving your rival, have to kill them, et cetera et cetera et cetera. I'm sorry Morgenstern, but I don't think I'm being too harsh when I say that these sort of plots have been so overdone that at this point it's almost painfully predictable. The only reason the plot held my interest at all was because the fate of the circus hung in the balance, which was honestly the only thing I really cared about.
In the end, everything was a little too whimsical for me. Everyone that was magical is too perfectly eccentric in all the right ways, with their cute clothes and their magic kitten juggling and their foresight and magic illusions and what have you. Parts of it read a bit like a fanfic. Yet, I do think Morgenstern does have true talent. While the story itself may have been rather contrived, the actual structure of prose and pacing was well executed, and as I said before, the description of the circus was astounding. And, despite all the complaints I had, I still enjoyed the book. At the end of the day, I think the fact that I enjoyed it in spite of its very obvious flaws - which would have made me turn away from another book - speaks well of the author's writing ability. I can only hope that if/when she writes a new book, it will be a little less unoriginal concerning its plot and characters.
Romance isn't really my thing, so I was surprised when two of my good friends and my sister, who is one of my most trusted book recommendees, mentioned this book to me. After receiving a borrowed copy to read from my sister, I decided to go ahead and see what this book was all about. And, overall, I really did enjoy it - but it had some serious issues. But, before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about what I liked.
Morgenstern is a magician in her own right, surrounded by these magical people and events she describes. Her environment description is gripping and all-encompassing; my favorite parts of the book were the quick introductory pages of each segment where the narrative shifted to first person. The circus described is one of the most amazing things to ever leap off the page and into my psyche. I confess that I normally don't get extremely vivid pictures of places or characters in books; more often they're pretty vague and malleable. As such, a writing style that could evoke such crisp and detailed images in my head was very impressive to me. What's more, the idea of the circus and its workings were fascinating to discover and delve into... much more so than the characters, or the plot, which is where I'll switch gears.
Our two star-crossed protagonists were unfortunately easily outshone by the wondrous landscape they inhabited. Both were so archetypal, with their sad childhoods and swift minds, that they felt unworthy, oftentimes, of the circus they created and inhabited. The same went for all the characters introduced; none felt wholly original or with a true life of their own. Instead, they each had some notable characteristics (he's a bumbling architect, they're the inseparable eccentric twins, she's the rich and regal fashion mogul, he's the chosen wonder boy) but never moved outside of their convenient archetypal bubbles. Granted, I still enjoyed some of these archetypes, and they weren't by any means bad characters, they were just disappointing - a fact only further put into focus by the stark contrast between their lack of originality and the circus environment. Normally, I'd say it's a really bad sign when your setting overpowers your characters and plot, but this setting really was just gorgeous. I think it would have been hard for anyone to write characters to rival it in interest or beauty, but the difficulty of the task doesn't excuse the failure of the author.
The plot is nothing to write home about, either. As I said in the beginning, I'm not big on romance by default, and this story did nothing special with the "star-crossed lovers" trope. They love each other, but they can't be together, forbidden love, loving your rival, have to kill them, et cetera et cetera et cetera. I'm sorry Morgenstern, but I don't think I'm being too harsh when I say that these sort of plots have been so overdone that at this point it's almost painfully predictable. The only reason the plot held my interest at all was because the fate of the circus hung in the balance, which was honestly the only thing I really cared about.
In the end, everything was a little too whimsical for me. Everyone that was magical is too perfectly eccentric in all the right ways, with their cute clothes and their magic kitten juggling and their foresight and magic illusions and what have you. Parts of it read a bit like a fanfic. Yet, I do think Morgenstern does have true talent. While the story itself may have been rather contrived, the actual structure of prose and pacing was well executed, and as I said before, the description of the circus was astounding. And, despite all the complaints I had, I still enjoyed the book. At the end of the day, I think the fact that I enjoyed it in spite of its very obvious flaws - which would have made me turn away from another book - speaks well of the author's writing ability. I can only hope that if/when she writes a new book, it will be a little less unoriginal concerning its plot and characters.