The Night Circus | Book Review

Magic is a concept that as limited beings, we find fascinating. I grew up reading Harry Potter and being totally captivated by the idea of anything being possible via magic. The only real magic I have ever experienced is the cliche idea of being transported to another world through words. I always comment on the power of words and the complex construction process that goes behind writing something magical enough to take you away from your bedroom and carry you into another universe. I have never experienced that magic more literally than I did when reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. 

 This book is a book that followed me for over a year before I got around to reading it. I came across it firstly on Instagram. I follow a lot of accounts that share what they're reading because it's a good way of discovering texts that I wouldn't normally come across. I saw this book and the cover caught my eye immediately. It felt magical. A black cover covered in metallic stars and flashes of red. I almost instantly added it to my 'to be read' list. A few weeks later I was messaging a friend (another book lover) about other books I had enjoyed and without me mentioning it first, she told me about The Night Circus. I felt like it was fate. I ordered the book that night and I remember being so excited to read it. The next day I was in my Creative Writing lesson and my lecturer was telling us about a student who bought him a book for Christmas. She bought him a hardback edition of his favourite book, The Night Circus. It was like this book was chasing me, begging to be read. When it arrived, I added it to my box of books patiently awaiting my attention. It went unread for months. 

 With so much to read for my A Levels and so many books catching my attention, it's hard to get everything I want to read read. The book sat there until about a week before Christmas. I had just finished my first Agatha Christie, Murder On The Orient Express, and I wanted something fun and magical to read that I could really get into. I knew I should probably be re-reading a literature texts or reading something about Communist Russia; but I just couldn't resist the sparkling cover any longer. It was a Saturday night and I got about 50 pages in before I had to go to sleep to wake up and do the breakfast shift. 

 I woke the next morning feeling awful. I had a cold and my head felt stuffed with cotton-wool. I went to work at 8am and served everyone breakfast. The housekeeper arrives at about 8:30 and when she arrived we had a quick chat. I told her I wasn't feeling too well and that I couldn't wait to go home and curl up with my book. When I told her what I was reading she turned to me and said, "No way!" 

 It turns out the day I started reading The Night Circus was the day she finished reading it herself. She said to me, "Chlo, you will love it!" 

 I did. 

 I have never read anything so full of enchantment and colour. Every single page is just laced with imagination. I feel as though this book was written for me. Every aspect of my personality, my imagination, my creativity is just put into a story within these pages. I have never been so happy reading. With every page I turned I just wanted to read it again and again. The story is captivating but it's even more than that. When you read this book, it's genuinely as if there is magic dancing around you, following you to work, begging you to keep reading the book. It interrupts your dreams, telling you to wake up and keep reading the book. I just wanted to live in that world. I didn't want the book to end. Nothing will ever compare to the feeling of this book. 

 What makes it so strikingly magical is the use of second person in between chapters. The intersecting of second person monologues draws you into the world of the circus; it makes you feel involved. It's such a wonderful use of structure and it has really inspired me to do more with my writing. 

 Despite the wonderful use of structure, it isn't at all a complicated book. The plot has the perfect balance of ambiguity and imagery. You know exactly what is going on while at the same time, nothing is really what you think it is! It's such an easy book to read because it grips you from the first page. You're constantly discovering. Morgenstern has a wonderful style of writing. It's the way she draws you in; heartbreak, magic, empathy etc. This book has everything. I have never felt so many emotions from reading one story. 

 You can probably tell by the tone of this post how happy this book makes me. I just want to read it over and over again; it's wonderful! 

If you're looking for a substantial book to really get your teeth into, this is the one. I couldn't recommend it enough. I can't wait for you to read it. If you have read it yourself, let me know what you thought of it in the comment section below! Also, if you have read anything with a similarly magical touch to it, please let me know because nothing I read compares. 

 Thank you for reading!