Watermark Books and Cafe

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday, ISBN 9780385534635, $26.95) 

Surreal, decadent, hypnotic—such words evoke the canopy Erin Morgenstern has pitched in her novel, “The Night Circus.” Equal parts “Water for Elephants” and “The Prestige,” the plot coils its way into the spectacle of the mysterious world of Le Cirque des Rêves itself, coming to regard with a serpentine gaze the tangle of love and rivalry at the knot’s heart. 

A welcome reprieve from the influx of unflinching, harsh fiction that has been mounting bookshelves lately, this is a transporting story, equal parts magic, mystery, and romance (which is really an amalgam of the former two, no?) that took me by surprise. The mundane elements of day-to-day life take a back seat in “The Night Circus,” giving way to the splendor of a world that feels like a dream. 

In the background of the story, almost like the mooncast shadow of bare tree limbs in autumn, is a wizardly competition between two master magicians. Their protégés, Celia and Marco, have trained their lives through to combat each other in brilliant displays of magic. Our young would-be lovers, Celia and Marco, endure a distant “romance” that is not unlike a dream itself—in fact, the two apprentices hardly meet until the last half of the book. I was reminded, in particular, of the romance between Tamino and Pamina in Mozart’s opera, “Die Zauberflöte.”  In addition, the descriptions of the results of Celia and Marco’s magic (the means by which said magic is created is an idea the author must have mislaid in a dusty cupboard) tends to push character development into the background more than once. But it is Morgenstern’s enchanting sleight of tongue and slip of pen that save the story by making reading it a treat for the senses. 

As an acolyte of Oscar Wilde (“art for art’s sake”) and a lover of Nabokov’s mesmeric verbiage, I found in “The Night Circus” a transporting literary experience. In a way, perhaps, Morgenstern’s descriptive vision is supposed to induce the reader into the dreamlike state the circus’s title evokes: “Le Cirque des Rêves,” of course, translates to “Circus of Dreams.” If anything, “The Night Circus” is beautifully written, and Morgenstern’s elegant style helped me move past my critiques long enough to hold me in its thrall until the last flicker of magic died by the book’s close. 

Review by Cat Connolly

The Night Circus (Hardcover)

By Erin Morgenstern

$26.95

ISBN-13: 9780385534635
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Doubleday, 9/2011

Other Editions of this Title

---