I know I’m terribly late to the party with this one considering it was released in 2011, but I couldn’t resist tossing up a review anyway, especially since my buddy Em Shotwell just got her hands on a copy!
So, what to say about THE NIGHT CIRCUS?
This was an odd book in that at first I wasn’t sure what to think of it. I spent probably the early third of the book still trying to figure out how the different POVs/characters/chapters connected. Normally, I am totally a fan of non-linear story-telling, but for some reason this was harder for me to follow than normal. Part of it was likely that I started reading it during my work lunch hours. I’ve discovered that even with a good 30-40 minutes to read, it’s much harder for me to retain what I’m reading in short bursts than if I just sit down and marathon through a book.
That’s actually what I ended up doing with the second half of the book one evening, and honestly, that definitely made falling into the world of the story much, much easier.
That bit of difficulty aside, this is easily one of the loveliest books I’ve read in a very long time. The characters were engaging even when they made choices I couldn’t agree with or that hurt the people around them. The costs of the challenge were fairly clear to me early on, but the lack of surprise almost added to the tension for me. I had guessed what the characters hadn’t, and knowing they were headed towards a destined tragedy made me feel all the more sorrow for them.
And oh the circus itself! There has rarely been a setting to a book that I’ve wanted to visit so much. I can definitely envision myself being one of those who wandered for hours, night after night, and yet never get enough of the wonders around me. The twins’ kitten show would be a likely fave of course, Cat that I am, but really all of the descriptions of the performances intrigued me. Definitely put me in the mood to see Cirque de Soleil again, and made me a little sad that there aren’t any Cirque shows near enough for me to get to right now.
All in all, this is definitely going onto my re-read pile. I think the next time through is going to be even better than the first. At least I’ll know to set aside a day to read it all at once this time!
So what have all of you been reading since the last Bookshelves post? Have you stumbled onto anything that made you wonder away the hours? Tweet me your recommendations @C_L_McCollum - I could always use another book to add to my TBR mountain! :)