The Night Circus

By Erin Morgenstern

                People ask me frequently, what do you like to do for fun?  Well of course my number one answer is to read!  The typical response I most often get from telling someone that I like to read is, “Umm, I’m not really into reading” or “I love to read I just don’t have time.”  Now I understand both reasons for not reading, but hearing these reasons I just think that the person I’m speaking with has not found the right book for them.  When you do find the right book you make the time to read it and dislike reading a little bit less.   With the right book, you’ll go on adventures and not even notice the time has passed you by!  (Yup, skipped several meals with a good book and not even realized it.)  With the wrong book even the most avid reader can fall asleep…so you are not alone out there if you dislike reading because of choosing the wrong books.   Now my number two activity I like to do for fun, yes it still involves books, is browse through a book store!  Ah that glorious moment when I open the door and step into a book store is like the moment before mass and you take your first step into church!  (You can put any faith and their building of worship in its place…for me it is book stores.)  There are so many different books to choose from and sections to go wondering through. Who needs a passport when you have a book store!   I don’t recall if I’ve looked for a clock in a book store but if the owners were wise they would not put one in, so that way you can just lose all sense of time!  (Wait I always lose track of time in a book store.)

                Well sometime in the last year I had been worshipping, I mean, walking through my local Barnes and Noble (yes I like small chains as well…books are books) and I came across this book with this pronounced black and white cover.  The cover had a man and a woman in turn of the century clothes and the picture of a black and white circus tent behind them.  Flashes of red swirls were the only accent color on the cover, causing the combination to just pop off the shelf.   I would really like to say I don’t judge a book by its cover, but I’m guilty, as great artwork can really hook a girl.  I quickly checked to see if my cash flow would allow me enough money to buy the book I was eying; yes, turned out I did have enough to buy the book that day.  Who cares that I had library books at home waiting for me, or other books to read that were dying to get my attention.  This book had lured me in like a lover winking from across the room and I just had to take it home with me that night. 

                All settled in to read; I opened the book and a flood of nostalgia comes to me as I turn page after page.  The further I get into the book I am reminded of walking up to the circus and buying a ticket, the intoxicating  smell of freshly popped popcorn, billows of cotton candy, candied apples, and the overall childhood enthusiasm engulfing me.  Instead of the air pipes that are normally associated with a circus it was as if I could hear a music box tinkling a way a charm to bring me into its magic.  However unlike the circus of my childhood this circus was slightly different, more like a night at Cirque du Soleil than the Ringling Brothers.  A circus based more on illusions than clowns, more contortionists than bearded ladies, performers rather than caged animals, and the kicker is that it is only open at night!  This mysterious circus travels around the world with its next stop unknown; only to show up in a town overnight by train, have its black and white tents set up by morning with a sign telling the folks of the town that Le Cirque des Rêves would open the following evening. 

                Le Cirque des Rêves is the grandiose black and white back drop to both a love story and a competition that is held by two old funding magicians.   This wager between the old magicians holds the fate of not just of the two young apprentices, Celia and Marco, but every life that is touched by the circus, from the owners, to the performers, and to the patrons.   Neither Celia nor Marco, who were each selected in childhood because of their gifts, know that the other is their opponent in this duel between their teachers.  With not knowing who they are competing against, only that their opponent is a member of the circus, Celia and Marco create tents that defy the laws of physics and are fueled only by the deepest imagination and magic.  As the story progresses each tent or experience they create for the patrons becomes their calling card, and an inadvertent love note to each other.  Put together for events with Le Cirque des Rêves, Celia and Marco are undeniably drawn together, and the spark of love forms.  What will become of the dulling lovers?  What will become of the Le Cirque des Rêves?  Like the high rise tight rope walker whose balance can sway one way or the other while crossing the rope with no net…we the audience, sit with baited breathe to wait and see.

              As a post script I want to add that I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.  The reason for the high rating is because Ms. Morgenstern’s writing brought to life the circus right in my living room.  I often had to go get popcorn or caramel apple to satisfy my cravings that the book brought up.  I do hope you enjoy her magical circus.