Book Review: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The magic of this book is that it is simultaneously nebulous and unequivocal. While you're never quite sure what's going on, you know exactly what it all looks like. And smells like. And feels like.

The magic of this book is that it doesn't over-explain itself. It just immerses you and expects you to figure out a way to get it. To see magic where you were unaware magic existed.

The magic of this book is that it makes you pine for a place like the Night Circus even as you know that such a place cannot possibly exist.

The magic of this book is feeling the guilt of wanting the Night Circus to survive even while knowing that, to do so, characters have to be in peril and make sacrifices. Do you care more about the characters or about the circus?

The magic of this book is lines like, "He was seeking immortality, which is a terrible thing to seek. It is not seeking anything, but rather avoiding the unavoidable."

And lines like, "The past stays with you the way powdered sugar stays on your fingers. Some people can get rid of it but it's still there, the events and things that pushed you to where you are now."


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