MowryJournal.com   Life's Passions

One advantage of having an English teacher in the family is that MrsMowry reads everything, and I can follow her recommendations.

This particular recommendation, however, was echoed by the engineer, making it a very strong recommendation, indeed. Since he’s only recently begun to read, I had no idea he had actually finished a book, much less formed an opinion of one.

The Night Circus is the debut novel of Erin Morgenstern. The book began as a project for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, and has proven to be a worthy effort, indeed. The book was published in 2011, and spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, peaking at # 2. Film rights have been sold, and a project is currently in development.

The circus arrives without warning.

The tale of a circus that is open from Nightfall to Dawn proves to be more than an amusement. More than a mystery. And the characters find that it’s more than they bargained for in Le Cirque des Reves (the circus of dreams).

Generally, I don’t like books about magic & fantasy. I’ve always felt that if reality can be altered to fit any of the author’s flights of fancy, then the result is always less than satisfying. I didn’t like Euripides when he used deus ex machina, and I don’t like books about magic. The Night Circus, however, proved to be a different kind of tale.

The book was more romance than magic, more mystery than fantasy. Set at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century (and do pay close attention to the dates that are cited at the beginning of every chapter!), the book follows the growth of two star-crossed young magicians who have been bound together by their mentors. What that binding means – and who it involves – is the mystery that propels the book forward.

One of my favorite revelations is in a discussion  about why magical secrets are not revealed. The magician wisely reports that the magic will dissipate in the telling, and I believe truer words were never spoken!

If you haven’t read The Night Circus, you need to find a copy. You won’t regret it!