Welcome to the Maribyrnong Library Book Club

Love to read? Love sharing your ideas about books and writing? Then you've come to the right place.

This blog is an extension of our book groups which we welcome you to attend on the first Tuesday of each month.

Contact Maureen on 9688 0290 for more information.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

Another book 10 years in the writing, The Night Circus is centered around Celia and Marco, two magicians who hide the magical nature of their work as exhibits in Le Cirque des Rêves or Circus of Dreams.  The circus is fantastically imagined and beautifully described by Morgenstern, accounts of various tents and attractions scattered between story chapters as well as the impressions of minor characters’ visits to the circus are always welcome reading.  The chapters are also broken up along the plot’s timeline.  Jumps back and forwards in time are usually easy to distinguish, though I found one towards the end quite confusing.

The Night Circus has been criticized for prioritizing imagery over plot but, while I agree the plot is slow-moving, I’ll be remembering this story for a long time, not for the plot, but for the circus, which is so well imagined.  This gives the plot weight too, because the fate of the circus is directly interwoven with the fate of Celia and Marco.

Michael L.

1 comment:

  1. As someone who is always reading, I purchased this book on a whim and am so glad that I did. While I cannot add more glowing praise for this work then has already been offered in other reviews, I did want to go on record as saying that, out of all the books I've read this year (and beyond), I consider this one of if not "the" best. Ms. Morgenstern's use of the language to describe the settings and surroundings as well as the interactions between the characters made for a highly 'visual' experience in that I found myself feeling as if I could easily 'see' all that she described. I imagine that in time, we will see this masterpiece brought to the big screen but feel that unless great care is taken, doubt that any interpetation will do it justice. To anyone who loves a great story, this is a must read

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