The Night Circus

There’s two books from the last ten years I recommend to everyone looking for a good read. One is 2007’s The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. The other is 2011’s The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Today I’ll be focused on the latter, mostly because Lionel Shriver’s material isn’t quite geeky enough for Dorkadia. (Also her writing, although brilliant, is bleak and depressing as hell.)

The Night Circus was recommended to me by someone whose opinions I highly respect. I was living in Korea at the time, and English-language books were both a bit difficult to come by and hideously expensive. A friend sent me a care package that included this book, and not having any knowledge of what was to happen I devoured it over a week. While my copy was sold several moves ago, I recently picked it up at the library and am happy to say the re-read is just as satisfying.

The main characters of The Night Circus are Celia Bowen and Marco. Celia is the only daughter of Prospero the Enchanter, the greatest living magician of the time (late 1800s). At a young age, Prospero enters Celia into a magician’s duel. Her opponent is unknown to her, chosen at random by Prospero’s advisory, Mr. A. H. As she grows up, Prospero teaches Celia how to be a great magician, in his own, cruel way.

Fast forward a few years to Marco, the assistant to famous philanthropist Christoph Chandresh Lefèvre. Lefèvre desires to open a great circus, and Marco assist him in auditioning acts. When Celia petitions for the illusionist job, Marco is startled, for now he knows. Celia is his adversary; Marco was the one picked by A. H. to battle her. Only neither Marco not Celia know the rules of the game, nor what will determine the winner. All they know is the location of their battle: the Night Circus, Lefèvre’s mysterious circus that only opens from dusk till dawn, where illusions seem more real than anything imaginable.

The Night Circus has the lyrical nature of the debut novel it is. The chapters are interspersed with inner chapters describing a trip through the circus in first person, While the novel jumps back and forth in time, Morgenstern gives the reader enough anchors to keep us following the narrative. Originally a NaNoWriMo project, the finished project is well-paced, filled with interesting characters and unique voices. While some of the elements are a little too twee at times (the deliberately vague and wholly unnecessary chapter titles for example), Morgenstern wraps up the story deftly, with all plot threads explained by the end of the book. I’m looking forward to reading more from her.

But until she publishes her second novel, there’s always re-reads of The Night Circus. Always more tents to explore.

tl;drs

Quick summary: When she was a little girl, Celia’s father, Prosper the Enchanter, pledged her to a wizard’s duel. As she gets older, Celia trains for the battle, although her father refuses to tell her the rules, the win condition, or who her opponent is. The Night Circus is the battleground, although the combatants fight with tents and dreams, neither knowing how the game is supposed to end.

Recommended if you like: Period pieces, the works of Edward Gorey

Better than I expected? Morgenstern puts a great deal of depth into her characters, making it hard not to feel for them.

Worse than I hoped? Designer nitpick: while most of the book is beautifully designed, the accents sometimes get lost in the text. This is most noticeable with Christoph Chandresh Lefèvre. The grave accent on the ‘e’ gets lost in the preceding ‘f.’ Every single time. For a book with wonderful endpapers and attention to detail, the typesetting upsets me.

/esoteric rant

Would it work better in a different medium? The Night Circus would make a wonderful 6-12 episode miniseries and I’m sad it hasn’t been done yet.

Verdict: One of my favorite stories of the last five years, I recommend The Night Circus to everyone.

Related Reading: New York Times book review