I LOVED Poppet and Widget. Their red hair, their trained kittens, their attitudes – loved them as characters because I think I would adore them as people. 
The rest of the book – well, is it okay if I just say I liked it? I know people are raving fans of Erin Morgenstern’sThe Night Circus, but I’m not just. I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t bowl me over. I really wanted it to.
I enjoyed the premise of the story; I enjoyed some of other characters, too, particularly Herr Thiessen and Bailey. But I could really take or leave Celia and Marco, and while I would love to visit The Cirque de Reve myself, I wished Morgenstern had spent more time there.
I can’t really pinpoint what didn’t work for me. Maybe it was that the build was too slow or that I was listening to it on audio (although I did read the first 100 or so pages on paper and almost abandoned the book altogether.) Or maybe it was that I was hoping for some more of the magic that wasn’t magic woven throughout.
I did really enjoy the ending (which I won’t give away), not so much because of how the plot wrapped but because of the way the story wraps back on itself and becomes rather meta-narrative with it’s comments on storytelling and reality. That, that I enjoyed.
I think I was expecting more magical realism, something like Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude or Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and I certainly got that flavor. But as fine a writer as Morgenstern is, I just don’t think she’s in the same league as these giants. Maybe she’ll get there. I hope so.
Have you read The Night Circus? If so, what did you think?
This review by Jeff Alford captures pretty well my feelings about the book, too.
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July 29, 2012 at 10:02 am
I felt the same way! I think because Celia and Marco were the least realized of the characters for me, especially Marco. He just kind of seemed like a creepy stalker
And I get that they were in love, but I didn’t think that they really had nearly as intense a love as they seemed to think they did. I dunno. It was an interesting story with an awesome cover, but I didn’t love it, much like I didn’t love The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
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July 30, 2012 at 9:36 am
Aarti, I completely agree. I honestly just didn’t care very much about the love story at all. I really wanted to; I wanted to be wrapped up in it . . . but I wasn’t.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
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July 29, 2012 at 11:57 am
I’m one of those who loved the book. But as always, I know that that might be just me. Although I agree that some characters, including Marco could’ve been more developed, I think that the whimsical world that Morgenstern described is what captured me in the end, even more than the love story behind. Also, the fact that my 16 year old cousin took the book and loved it and gave us something else in common to talk about
July 30, 2012 at 9:37 am
Oh, anytime I can talk about books with teenagers I definitely love them more. I totally get that.
I did love the world of the circus. I just wanted more of that. I think that’s why I loved Poppet and Widget so much – they were all whimsy.
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July 29, 2012 at 11:58 am
For some reason in the last comment it didn’t link my blog :S
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July 29, 2012 at 5:21 pm
I felt the same way about the book and actually I was a little disappointed with the book.
Melissa W. recently posted..The Turning of Anne Merrick – Christine Blevins
July 30, 2012 at 9:38 am
Yeah, I so wanted to be blown away by it, Melissa. I get it.
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July 29, 2012 at 10:50 pm
An American writer of adult magical realism has, by definition, stepped into an abyss. There is no culturally acquired acceptance of the unusual/inexplicable/magical; and there is an assumption that such silliness belongs only to children. Morgenstern (THE NIGHT CIRCUS) and others are bravely hacking out a new path in the thicket of Western rationality. These first steps are hybrids, often drawing from Victorian models and too frequently waffling into “psychological” justifications at the end, only because Western, rationalist readers demand it. Nonetheless, these writers are singlehandedly creating an open field in which a healthy American magical realism may take root and flourish. It won’t look like Kafka and it won’t look like Allende. It will look like us!
July 30, 2012 at 9:39 am
I totally agree, Abigail. I’m eager for us to step into this world completely. It’s a hard sell for Americans especially though, I think, because we are so grounded in the realist tradition. People like Morgenstern are absolutely hacking a new trail. I’m eager to see how her writing changes as she maps this terrain.
Thanks for this thoughtful comment.
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