The Night Circus

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Published: September 13, 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Seriously, what is with the hype of some books? With some books we get amped and amped and amped for their release and finally when we are able to get our sticky fingers on them.... BOOM... the energy of the new shiny toy has worn off.

Cuz seriously folks.... While the title is cool, the cover is rockin, and the idea of the plot is out of this world... I DID NOT DIG THIS BOOK!

First of all... I thought this was going to be a YA book. Why did I think that? Well, the cover led me to believe that. Plus, I didn't think that a story that sounded like Cirque Du Freak without vampires and monsters would be for adults. But I guess this one is. I think it would have been so much better if it had been meant for kids... cuz honestly... I don't have the attentionspan for this.

Another thing is the way it is told. As a fan of the short story I found this book giving me a freaking headache and making me want to take a nap after every 15 pages. Everyone gets a point of view and the times jump around like Pulp Fiction. I'm sure it would be great as a movie and maybe we could all get Royale with Cheeses but honestly, my little ferret brain is set on simple and I rather hated going back to every freaking previous chapter just to see how much time had passed.

Also, for the first 80 pages you have no clue what is going on. Everything bounces around while you are introduced to what seems like 10 different characters and not to the back story of really anything you're just WHAMO put in that time and pretty much expected to know what's going on.

I kind of wonder if this is meant to be a Gothic Novel? I've never been able to digest those. I absolutely hate them. They make me roll my eyes and want to read something else. While this book kept my interest to keep going to the end, it still wasn't something that I was looking forward to reading.

Now, I must admit that the imagery was absolutely amazing. Also, the author has a very creative imagination. But that doesn't just make a story. It all has to link up. And yet, I guess it did... but if you draw it out over like a billion pages (I'm exaggerating) you start to forget that this thing or that event or even that person was introduced a million or so pages ago. I'm sure since this is a hype book it will become a movie and maybe I'll enjoy that better because they'll have to squeeze it all in within 2.5 hours... but in book form it was just a little too much.

But, with that being said, I do feel that one day this will be mandatory reading in some schools. There is just so much going on and so many characters you could dissect that I'm certain this is the perfect modern day 11th grade ENGLISH CLASS book. I had such trouble with books like that... I still do... Which might be another reason I did not like this book. If you like to say, "OMG! That character was just so deep and well thought out and his intentions were just so inept." Then this book is for you... cuz honestly.... I don't have the patience. Which is kind of sad.. but at least I'm honest.

So kids, my overall view of this book is just one big Raspberry. I didn't dig it but I wanted to. I wanted to soo badly so I could hang out with the cool kids. I guess I'm still not one but at least I tried. That won't stop me from buying a movie ticket (Tim Burton this is your wet dream!!) but it doesn't make me want to tell my friends about it.