Hello friends,
as I write this, I'm sitting up in my
bedroom, the rain pattering softly on the grass and roofs outside.
The window fan is pulling in the cool, sweet rain-air, and it's
delicious.
I recently finished one of the most
imaginative, decadent, magical pieces of fiction I've read in quite
some time. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a feast for the
mind, as well as the senses. The story draws the reader into Les
Cirque de Reves, where dazzling sights abound, mystery waits behind
every corner, and the scent of smoke and caramel always fills the
air. The circus travels from city to city, vanishing and appearing
as if by magic, and, once settled, it opens only at nightfall. Celia
and Marco, the apprentices of two master illusionists, have been sent
to the circus and instructed to engage in a covert battle of magical
skill, the rules of which even they are unsure. When the two young
magicians fall in love, will it bring disaster upon them – and upon
the entire circus?
As much as I loved this novel (it was
definitely one of the best pieces of contemporary fantasy I've read
in a while), I did have a couple of issues with it. (mild spoiler
alert, I suppose...) For one, some parts of the story remained
awfully vague. We never really find out anything about how
the magicians use magic, especially Celia's character. She just does
magic...by using her brain? That's what it seems. At the beginning
of the story, it's implied that she was simply born with this
ability, but it's never explained beyond that. We finish the book
without any understanding of what magic
actually is, or how it works, within the universe of The
Night Circus. Maybe Morgenstern
was going for vague and mysterious in this regard, but I felt as
though it left the story lacking.
The
other thing that left me dissatisfied was, unfortunately, the central
love story. I guess that when I first read the book synopsis, I was
envisioning two young people falling in love for the first time,
complete with all the wonder, awkwardness, adorableness, giddiness,
oh-my-goodness-so-this-is-life euphoria, etc., all against the
backdrop of magic and circuses (quick – someone write that book!!
it will be awesome!!). Instead, we've got a relationship that hinges
heavily upon the characters' physical attraction to one another
(which is fine, but is never the center of a believable romance), and
a LOT of angsty dialogue (mainly regarding the predicament of
simultaneously being in love and being opponents). Speaking of which, for all the
life of me, I couldn't figure out why these two characters were
supposedly “in love”, to begin with. It wasn't apparent at all
to me, aside from their brooding, passionate declarations, and other
characters' assertions that they were “OBVIOUSLY in love”. I
mean, I don't know. When you read a fairytale, and it tells you that
the prince loved the princess, you don't question it; you just accept
it. Maybe that's the kind of approach that Morgenstern wanted us to
take here? The good news: a secondary romance between two of our
other protagonists – which is very understated, but absolutely
perfect – saves the day.
In
other news, check out this trailer for a new movie from the directors of Little Miss Sunshine:
this looks as cute as can be - I'm definitely going to try to go see this one in theaters! the only thing that makes me feel iffy about the premise is the whole free will issue - if he can control her through his writing, then is she really her own person, and can she really love him? hopefully, that's something that the film will address - if so, this could turn out to be quite excellent!
*
I'll
leave you with a few samplings of the gorgeous work of Lisa Hannigan,
an Irish singer-songwriter whom I've recently rediscovered. I absolutely adore her raw-but-gentle; whimsical-yet-mature style. she's absolutely enchanting:
pace e bene! :)
Olivia
(image credit: goodreads.com)
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