Some children are afraid of clowns, I was afraid of magicians.
For me, The Night Circus called up those dark, menacing aspects of magic. I thought I was in for a bit of whimsy—since the book was hyped as “the next Harry Potter”—but I found this book to be much darker than I expected.
From nearly the first page, I had a claustrophobic feeling of being trapped, which I think speaks to Erin Morgenstern’s talents as a writer because that sense of limitation certainly plays into the plot. I don’t want to give away the storyline, because I found it clever and original.
When she wants to, Morgenstern can create wonder with her sentences: “The building is as grey as the pavement below and the sky above, appearing as impermanent as the clouds, as though it could vanish into the air without notice.” But she also has descriptions like, “the air itself is magical,” which jarred and disappointed me because I knew she could do better.
I enjoyed the allusions to Prospero of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which like “Le Cirque des Rêves,” is set in an enchanted realm run by a sort of overlord, puppet master. (Shakespeare scholars, apologies for that simplification.) But, for me, this made for a bait-and-switch because The Tempest is ultimately a comedy.
I confess that I didn’t love this book, because it was so disquieting and put me on edge. (For similar reasons, I did not enjoy Gone Girl, so perhaps that’s not a good barometer.) Again, I’m creeped out by magicians. Many of the book bloggers I follow have gushed about this novel—it is truly beloved.
That, of course, is one of the best kinds of magic.
It’s frustrating when so many other people have loved a book and you don’t. That happens to me sometimes but we can’t all like the same things. I feel like I like thermodynamic The Night Circus, but I’m not sure it’s really my thing.
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It is a bummer. I get envious when I don’t click with a book that others loved. Sigh…
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I happened to love this book, but like anything else, I would only recommend this to certain people. It is very unique and yes, at times slightly disturbing. I was constantly hooked (I did it audio with Jim Daly reading) and half the time in a panic. The back and forth made me even more anxious, but I kept with it. It is definitely not for everyone, so I totally understand your feeling.
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I am a wimp. Haha. But it was intense…
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I really loved this book as well, but I am still confounded by the publisher’s description of the book. Like you said, the text makes it sound like a Harry Potter-ish book, when it is nothing like that.
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I do wonder if I would have liked it if I hadn’t gone into it w/Harry Potter on my mind. I also wonder if I would like it another time? Am a bit under the kosh w/work and slightly stressed … and this was *not* a relaxing read. Maybe I would enjoy if I had a diff mindset … say on vacay in the winter by the fire?
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I didn’t love it either, I only finished it because so many had told me how great it was!
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I didn’t find it so dark at all. Maybe just a little. Rather it was a good mystery
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