Erin Morgenstern "Night Circus" Reviews of the book "Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern Download the book "Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern for free

Erin Morgenstern

Night Circus

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Anticipation

The circus appears unexpectedly.

No posters posted around the city, no notes or announcements in local newspapers. It’s just that one fine day he appears where there was no trace of him just yesterday.

A pile of black and white striped tents. Not a hint of gold or purple. Nothing colorful at all, except for the trees growing nearby and the grass in the surrounding fields. Black and white stripes against a gray sky; countless tents of all shapes and sizes - a colorless kingdom, fenced off from the rest of the world by an intricate wrought-iron fence. Even the ground, as far as one can judge from those pitiful scraps that can be seen from behind the bars, is either painted or powdered with black and white sand, or maybe this is some other circus trick. For now, the circus is closed to visitors. The time has not yet come.

A couple of hours later, the whole city knows about the appearance of the circus. By noon, the news reaches neighboring cities. Word of mouth is much more effective than the printed word and the abundance of exclamation marks on advertising leaflets and posters. The sudden appearance of a mysterious circus is a rare and significant event. Onlookers admiringly look at the high domes of the tents, gawk at the strange, indescribable clock right outside the gates.

A sign on the gate in white letters on a black background reads: “Open after sunset, close at dawn.”

What kind of circus is this that only works at night? – the townspeople ask themselves. Nobody knows the answer, but by evening an impressive crowd of spectators gathers at the gates.

Of course you are here too. Curiosity, as it should, got the better of you. In the gathering dusk, you tuck your chin into your scarf, hoping to shelter yourself from the cool night breeze. You want to see with your own eyes what this circus is like, opening only after sunset.

The ticket office, which can be seen behind the gate, is still locked, the bars are lowered over the window. The circus is motionless, except that the panels of the tents sway slightly in the wind, and the clock hands describe circles, counting down the minutes, although this sculptural masterpiece can hardly be called a clock at all.

The circus seems abandoned and deserted. However, in the evening wind, filled with the freshness of autumn leaves, you smell a subtle aroma of caramel. The coming coolness has a sweetish aftertaste.

The sun finally disappears behind the horizon, and the last rays of sunset fade under the pressure of the deepening twilight. Tired of waiting, people in the crowd shift from foot to foot and grumble in a low voice that instead of this dubious entertainment they should look for a warmer place where they can while away the evening. You yourself are just about to go home, when suddenly something happens.

At first, a quiet sound reaches you, almost indistinguishable through the rustle of the wind and the roar of the crowd. This is how the kettle starts to make noise before it boils. Then the light comes on.

Here and there, thousands of sparks flash above the tents, as if a swarm of unusually bright fireflies is descending on the circus. The crowd, as soon as they see the light, freezes in anticipation. An enthusiastic sigh is heard nearby. The child claps his hands joyfully.

When the light illuminates all the tents, the inscription lights up against the background of the night sky.

Hidden until then in the bends of the bars, new fireflies flash above on the gate. As they flare up more and more, some release sheaves of white sparks and wisps of smoke into the air. The people in the front rows hastily retreat a few steps.

At first, the lights seem to flash randomly, but the more of them there are, the more confidently they form the familiar letter outlines. Here it appears WITH, then other letters: for some reason q and several e. Finally, the last light bulb flashes, the sparks and smoke dissipate, and the luminous inscription can already be distinguished. Leaning slightly to the left to see better, you read: Le Cirque des Rêves.

Some of the faces in the crowd light up with knowing smiles, the rest look around questioningly in confusion. The little girl next to you pulls her mother's sleeve to read to her what is written in the sky.

“Circus of Dreams,” comes the answer, and the child’s face lights up with delight.

The forged gates, as if of their own accord, shudder, clank the bolts and swing open, inviting spectators inside.

The circus is open.

Now you can enter.

Part one

Origins

Everything you see in the Circus of Dreams is subject to the principle of the circle. Perhaps the organizers wanted to pay tribute to the word “circus”, which comes from the Greek kirkos, which means circle or ring. And although there are a great many such nods to the circus - in the historical sense - this circus cannot be called traditional. Instead of one traditional tent with an arena surrounded by rows of spectator seats, it consists of a sea of tents of various sizes, from small to large. The tents are enclosed in rings of winding paths, the entire circus is enclosed in a ring of fences. Circle and infinity in everything.

Friedrich Thyssen, 1892

A dreamer is one who finds his path only by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before everyone else.

Oscar Wilde. The Critic as Artist, 1888

An unexpected letter

New York, February 1873

The theater receives many letters addressed to the sorcerer Prospero, but this is the first time he receives an envelope containing a posthumous note, and, moreover, neatly pinned to the collar of a five-year-old girl’s coat.

The attorney, accompanied by whom she appears on the threshold of the theater, refuses to give any explanation. In response to the director's protests, he only shrugs and hurriedly leaves, touching his hat as a sign of farewell.

Even without reading the addressee's name on the envelope, the director immediately understands who the girl has come to see. Her eyes, sparkling from under a shock of unruly curls, are a smaller copy of the eyes of the wizard himself.

When he takes her hand, her small fingers fall limply into his palm. It’s warm in the theater, but the girl doesn’t want to take off her coat and only stubbornly shakes her head when he asks about the reasons for her refusal.

Not knowing what else he could do for her, the director takes her to his office. She sits down and freezes in an uncomfortable chair near a wall covered with old posters, surrounded by boxes of receipts and tickets. The director brings tea with an extra lump of sugar, but it, untouched, remains cold on the table.

The girl does not move, does not fidget in her chair. She sits motionless, with her hands folded on her knees. Her gaze is directed down at her own shoes, which barely reach the floor. One sock is slightly scratched, the laces are tied with neat bows.

The sealed envelope is still hanging on her coat, level with the second button from the top, when Prospero appears.

Even before the door swings open, she hears his heavy footsteps in the corridor, so unlike the measured tread of the director, who has already briefly entered the room several times - quietly, like a cat.

“Sir, there is... um... a package waiting for you,” says the director, opening the door to let him into the cramped office, and runs away under the pretext of various matters relating to the theater, without the slightest desire to witness what the upcoming meeting may promise.

The wizard looks around the room. A stack of letters is clutched in his hand, and a black velvet cloak trimmed with snow-white silk flows from his shoulders. He expects to see a paper parcel or a postal box, and only after the girl looks up at him with eyes that are like two drops of water like his own, he understands what the director meant.

The first reaction of the sorcerer Prospero to meeting his daughter is expressed in a short exclamation: “Oh, the devil!”

The girl looks down at her shoes again.

The wizard closes the door behind him and, throwing a stack of letters on the table near the untouched tea, looks at the girl attentively.

He tears off the envelope pinned to her coat without breaking the pin.

The envelope contains his stage name and theater address, but the letter found inside begins with his birth name: Hector Bowen.

He skims the letter. His face remains completely impenetrable, finally and irrevocably destroying the author’s hopes for at least some kind of expression of emotion. Only one thing seems significant to him: this girl is his own daughter, her name is Celia, and now she is in his care.

All good things must continue, and therefore, my research into new products for 2011 also continues as usual.

To be honest, I took on Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel with caution - it was praised too often, which reminded me of the situation with “Among Others” by Jo Walton. I was afraid that in the end the book would not live up to the level of its PR. Fortunately, the book turned out to be excellent, as many reviews said.

Which is really weird. Because, having read and analyzed the book, I understand that I was obliged to dislike it. In almost all respects.

But first things first. The plot is one of the main reasons why the book should have disappointed me. In principle, it exists, but it unravels very slowly (which is not a bad thing in itself), and is often clogged with descriptions and forgotten by the author. The novel's synopsis also does a disservice by making us expect something like Christopher Priest's The Prestige. Two illusionist magicians (here the emphasis is on the first word, as opposed to “Prestige”), rivalry, only one can remain - all this gives false guidelines. Although during the first 40 pages it seems as if the author will go this route, she changes her direction quite abruptly.

So, two magicians decide to compete with each other (not for the first time), but are not going to fight against each other (their dispute is not about who is stronger, but about whose teaching methods are more correct). Accordingly, they find students and begin to train them. Let's take a break and look at our main characters.

They are another reason why I had to dislike the book. They are mostly boring and cardboard (this will change), only the secondary characters are truly interesting.

Let's start with the “fathers” (by the way, they are more interesting than the “children”).

The spellcaster Prospero (real name Hector Bowen) is one of the most disgusting characters in the book. To train his daughter, he breaks her favorite dolls and then makes them fix them. Cuts off fingerprints and breaks bones in her hands so she can heal herself. Calmly puts her life on the line in the game. He probably went to children's matinees and told the children that Santa Claus was a fiction.

His old rival Alexander is also far from a saint. Despite the fact that he becomes attached to his student (even though he is not his father), and his lessons do not carry the cruelty inherent in Prospero, it becomes obvious quite early on that he will do anything to ensure that the competition does not fail. If that means killing people who know too much, then so be it.

Let's take a break again and talk about the best thing in the book - the title circus.

Le Cirque des Reves – “Circus of Dreams”. And everything connected with it makes the book special and magical. The circus was created as an arena for competition between two wizards (which very few know about), and in many ways owes its well-being to magic. Our heroes do not fight openly with each other, they just constantly improve the circus and support its existence.

Numerous descriptions of a variety of entertainment, an emphasis on mystery (you never know what awaits you in the next tent), an absolute style (a circus in which there are only two colors - black and white), a Victorian atmosphere. A premonition of danger, a feeling of distant threat, and at the same moment - the joy of a child who finds himself in a circus. The author did a great job on the circus, without it this book would not have made sense. Despite the plot and characters, it is the setting and its atmosphere that are the alpha and omega of this novel.

But, still, let's return to our heroes.

Celia Bowen is an illusionist at the circus. As the author herself says in an interview, this is Celia’s story, and without her nothing would have happened. It seems to me that he is a little disingenuous, given the obvious primacy of the circus, but you can’t get into the author’s head. Celia is a very pleasant and kind person, which is especially surprising when remembering her father.

Marco Allsdair is Alexander's student. He works at the circus as an assistant to the owner, Chandresh Christophe Levefr. Considering that the owner does not travel around the world with the circus, Marco usually does not have much time to make his move in the game.

Bailey Clark is one of the circus visitors, a young guy. Although he does not appear immediately in the story, and at first his line seems a little unnecessary, although cute. But he will play a very important role in the fate of the circus.

There is a love tension between the two main characters and I must say, the relationship is written very well. And this despite the fact that most love lines, if they don’t irritate me, then simply leave me indifferent. Everything is completely different here. The love of Marco and Celia is strange, absurd (after all, they are supposed to be enemies), tender, absolutely not vulgar.

And to top it all off, there’s one more plus – the author’s style is absolutely beautiful. This is the case when many descriptions of dinner parties and circus entertainments do not get boring - because everything is written in a magnificent, rich language. The book is divided into several (two, in fact) time periods that are presented to us intermixed. One of the periods takes us from 1873 (Celia is six years old, Marco is nine) forward, telling the story of the formation of the circus. The second period is 1902 and centers on Bailey. The author managed not to get lost in this chaotic construction; everything that happens looks logical and is linked to events that have already happened.

Rating: 9

Circus of mysteries, circus of illusions. “Circus of Dreams”, in which reality smoothly flows into dreams, hidden dreams take on flesh, and everyday worries recede into the background, that’s what this novel is like. The story of the competition between two young wizards, Celia and Marco, is practically devoid of action. The story flows slowly, easily distracted by the swirls of seemingly random scenes or sketches.

The author avoids acute emotions for a long time, as if maintaining a clear white and black palette of the circus. And so a competition with unclear rules turns into a game that is in many ways akin to life. Here the rivals are inspired to create more and more wonderful and incredible things, come up with numbers and tents, striking the imagination of the audience. So, little by little, the circus itself becomes an arena, and even more than an arena. He becomes an integral part of the life of any of the heroes. But in addition to wizards, ordinary people are involved in what is happening. Acrobats, illusionists, trainers and fortune tellers. Their fates also become details in the game. A game that must come to an end.

But what should you do if fragile petals of love have sprouted out of mutual respect and admiration? What to do if the players are bound by bonds that even death cannot break? What lengths will two incredible magicians go to, having started the competition and not wanting to stop their charges? The story turned out to be calm and measured. Sometimes cruel, sometimes fabulous. Just like life itself. But due to the slow pace, sometimes interest is maintained only by psychological sketches.

The result: a performance full of contrasts and miracles, telling about the power of love.

Rating: 8

“Circus of Dreams” is the most beautiful place you will ever visit. Miracles await you in every tent. We can say that each of them contains a whole world that surprises, delights and does not leave you indifferent. The atmosphere of the book is simply magical. It is this magical atmosphere that primarily stays with the reader after the last page is turned. Erin Morgenstern managed to create a place where you would like to be yourself. I just want to become a “dreamer” and put on a red scarf.

The Night Circus has several subplots that may seem disjointed at first, but tie together wonderfully by the end.

The line of confrontation and subsequent love, the students of two famous sorcerers. It was well-made, but still seemed a little predictable to me.

Another, which I liked even much more, is the story of the growing up of a simple boy named Bailey. Yes, at first it seems just an interesting addition to the main story, an opportunity to look at the circus through the eyes of an ordinary teenager from a small town, but its true significance will appear closer to the end of the novel.

A few words about the characters, they turned out to be very interesting. This especially applies, in my opinion, to minor characters: Herr Thyssen, who will make a magical (purely technical!) clock for the circus and who became the first dreamer, a true fan of Le Cirque des Reves; Ethan Barris, who helped develop the circus from its inception, even Bailey's mischievous sister Caroline.

The main characters are also quite “alive” (Celia, Bailey, Poppet and Widget), but I can’t say the same about Marco, perhaps because he almost never appears in the circus and influences him “from the outside.”

Well, yes, everyone has already noted this, but the language in which the book is written is excellent. I believe the quality of the translation is also extremely high.

P.S: That's it, I went to look for a red scarf. :)

Rating: 9

I have long noticed that the impression of a book depends on what age you are and what mood you are in. And apparently, “the current” me just doesn’t fall into the club of lovers of this story. But there are so many enthusiastic exclamations about it that I don’t even feel comfortable writing something bad, but nevertheless it turns out that I can’t say anything positive about this novel.

Tell me, are we all creators in our own way? When do we receive moral satisfaction from what we have done?

In my understanding, any creation is part of a person, part of his emotions and vitality, which means when creating something, be it a story, a drawing, a costume or a balance sheet, we invest and what we get as a result is the one and only, This is probably the meaning of self-expression. So I don’t understand what kind of satisfaction a person gets from what he has created, who, for example, stole someone else’s idea or, after reading many, many books, took and collected everything he liked together and wrote a “stunning” novel.

“Night Circus” is just such okroshka. It seems to me that if the author went the route of collecting all the best from the literature about the circus, then she still had to bring something of her own. That magic that everyone talks about in their reviews is not the author’s find! Magic, airiness, richness with extravagant characters - this is generally a distinctive feature of all circus stories.

In addition, there is really no action in the book, complete stagnation from beginning to end. There is no intrigue at all; everything is clear in it from the first ten pages. I won’t say anything about the love story at all.

I wanted to write something good, but I can’t write it. I will not rate the novel, because... Maybe I’ll come back to him after all, when there’s peace all over the world, and I’ll be wearing rose-colored glasses, with a bow on the top of my head and a teddy bear under my arm.

Rating: no

The circus always appears unexpectedly...

A very unusual novel - unusual, first of all, in its composition. It seems to consist of shreds, like a colorful blanket. They repeat, connect, flow into one another. It is also unusual stylistically - written in a very unique author's manner. Details and detailed descriptions recreate in the reader's imagination the image of an amazing circus and its unusual inhabitants. Details are intertwined with understatement, giving free rein to imagination, forcing you to speculate after the author. The entire narrative seems to be permeated with magic - the magic of words.

The atmosphere of a miracle is in the air of the circus, the expectation of wonders and amazing illusions. Everything about the circus is amazing: from the black and white color scheme to the miracles presented in the tents. And ordinary visitors do not even suspect that a struggle between two magicians is unfolding before their eyes, a competition conceived by their fathers as... Like what? What is the point of this competition? It seems pointless, just the desire of two older men to stroke their egos. But is it their merit that Celia and Marco have become so skilled in magic? What did they give to their children, other than obviously broken destinies, dooming one of them to inevitable death in a duel that lasted for years? And what is a circus - is it just an arena for a duel, a background, a by-product? At first yes, but then it becomes alive, it breathes, it grows and changes, it becomes home to hundreds of artists, and for some even the whole universe, giving away part of its magic.

The novel, alas, is not without its shortcomings. If the images and scenery are written well and brightly, the characters leave much to be desired. the motivation for the characters' actions is vague, the essence of their personalities is vague, relationships and feelings are weak and superficial. In general, the characters are flat and faceless, black and white, no, even downright gray. You don’t believe in them, they don’t evoke sympathy or rejection. Perhaps the essence of the book is not in the depiction of the heroes and the reversals of their destinies; perhaps the author set himself the task of showing the reader a magical circus, a center of amazing wonders, the embodiment of a childhood dream of the unusual and amazing; perhaps the scenery came to the fore because that is what the author intended , but I think that this is still not the case. A circus without people is faceless and empty, like tents flapping in the wind. People give it shape and meaning, revive and animate it. But here’s the paradox: here the circus looks much livelier and brighter than its inhabitants.

This is not a novel about destinies, this is an album of watercolor sketches, sketches, colorful pictures: here before us is the circus in all its glory, here is a new tent with miracles, here is a midnight meal and the clink of glasses, here is a small apartment full of books, here is a rainy afternoon in London, but here is a fireplace, blazing with heat, and a watchmaker's workshop... It is not the heroes that are remembered, but the images that make up the background of the work. The atmosphere is remembered, the expectation of a miracle is remembered. Love? No, just a faint hint of it. All relationships and feelings are drowned in a stream of details and images, as if the author cannot keep up with his own pen. Although there should not be a banal love story and the pangs of separation, because Celia and Marco were raised from childhood as magicians whose lives were predetermined by a duel. This is their purpose and the meaning of everything. So the fragile feeling that has arisen between them, although inevitable in the plot, will not necessarily end in an eternal rainbow surrounded by pink ponies.

Bottom line. In this novel, everything is not as clear as it might seem. This is an interweaving of destinies, images, metaphors and meanings, seasoned with a bit of magic and mystery. It is difficult to fight the temptation to touch this secret. I want to get to the bottom of it, to understand the true nature of the circus, the essence of the fight, the purpose of the heroes. And based on this expectation, the ending is somewhat disappointing, because it does not give direct answers, does not connect the scattered pieces together - the mosaic does not add up, there are inappropriate parts. But maybe that's the point? After all, this is magic...

Rating: 7

There are books after which you want to talk about their characters, plot, ideas, but this novel is that rare case when the atmosphere leaves the strongest impression.

A strange, very beautiful, even exquisite thing. Reading this novel is reminiscent of a leisurely and detailed examination of an unusual drawing, very beautiful, multi-colored, filled with many details and not entirely clear, as if written in blurry watercolors.

The narrative style is very unusual - everything is described in the present tense, episodes change like fragments of dreams, jumping forward through years and returning back. This enhances the feeling of fragility, airiness and mystery. Objects filled with mysterious meaning flash like balls in the hands of a juggler - Tarot cards, books with incomprehensible writing, a white glove, a watch, doves, a torch with a white flame, scarlet scarves, daggers and broken cups... Flashes of light and gusts of wind; black and white circus colors and explosions of color.

The plot can be summed up in three words. A duel between two magicians. Or rather, those who stand behind them - their cruel and ruthless teachers, who have been competing with each other for centuries, using their students as tools. The circus is chosen as the arena for the fight. Not quite an ordinary, one-of-a-kind Circus of Dreams. Often the skill of illusionists seems like a miracle, but here the situation is the opposite: true magic is disguised as skillfully performed tricks. But the rivals are in love with each other, and they work miracles not to show their superiority, but to please and surprise the other.

The characters seem ethereal, but they are emotionally very expressive - both the wizards themselves and those people who, voluntarily or unwittingly, are involved in what is happening. Only one winner can emerge from the duel, and the completion of the duel will bring death to the loser and the destruction of the Circus itself. The wizards themselves and all the people associated with the circus are doomed. Will love be able to find a way out of this situation?

The plot is interesting and easy to read, but this novel is not one of those that keeps the reader in suspense, but one that fascinates.

Rating: 9

A madcap, dizzying journey into the depths of the circus and dark magic? Rather, a vanilla love story with many details designed to immerse you in the atmosphere of a sublime and divorced from reality struggle in the arena of a magic circus. I was hoping to chew on a pebble of pain and anger, but the only cruelty in the book is when

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

Dad cuts his daughter's fingers.

This scene is apparently intended to help the reader create an image of the heroine as a strong and independent lady, capable of enduring many trials without breaking. The theme of manipulating other people’s destinies is also widely replicated; all the heroes engage in this to one degree or another, except that each has their own audience. Well, the central action called “love” generally makes my inner impressionable young lady swoon, it is so ragged and scattered along the long-term confrontation. Even a gray-eyed boy with an attentive gaze cannot save the situation. In constant jumps several months (or even years) forward, the sense of time is lost, although it seemed that in the matter of falling in love this indicator should play an important role. In the context of the genre, the book satisfied the middle ground, the novel of “impossibilities” blossomed in all its glory and is beautiful as a given, but there are too few encounters blazing with supernatural attraction.

But the magic of “The Night Circus,” characterized by the absence of boundaries, is perhaps the most interesting component of the book. Lately I’ve been very depressed by the framework in which they are trying to squeeze a natural gift (my mana is only enough for one lightning bolt and two fireballs), so I perceive any hint of permissiveness more than favorably :-P

As a result, the book turned out to be prohibitively heavy. On the way to the central love story, it managed to acquire uninteresting side lines and a heap of hat boxes with details, the abundance of which makes your head spin. And the love story itself suggests that it is not the main thing here at all. But if you don’t take it into account, then you’ll just be left with a beautiful wrapper.

Rating: 5

It seems that the topic is interesting, and the struggle of magicians against the backdrop of the eternal circus is beautiful, but somehow all this is extremely secondary, forced and frankly excessive. A completely artificial book, reaching out to China Mieuville and Ray Bradbury, but far behind both - by an entire infinity. Well, yes, there is a boy and a girl who must fight each other on the field of magic, and so they build this circus, and build it, and the circus is so magical, and so they love each other (this was clear from the first page, although Erin gives it’s like an amazing plot twist), and that’s it, thank God, it’s a comedy, everyone is fine, the circus is immortal. Dry, boring, cardboard.

Rating: 4

In short: nothing, but great.

I won’t say that the NC has a lot of depth, that global problems are touched upon and that brilliant thoughts are expressed - but it’s a terribly enjoyable read! Just a beautiful story in a beautiful setting, beautifully told, with beautiful characters - sometimes that's enough.

Atmospheric. Magical, fabulous even. And with the effect of presence, in which the narration in the present tense also played an important role. The language of the narration is generally very good, it’s so easy. And, although you might think while reading about the topic “how much tinsel is there!..”, it’s nice to read this very tinsel as well.

I was glad that the book did not devolve into a story about love and nothing more. The relationship between the two main characters is just one of the stories of the circus, which does not overshadow it, running parallel, unobtrusive. But there is a “but” here: the psychology and motivation of the characters seemed very unclear to me. Almost at their first meeting, they confess their love for each other to the grave, and this is how it really turns out. The transition from bad acquaintances to a couple head over heels in love turned out to be too abrupt. However, I said too much about love. The circus itself is much more attractive: its pavilions, its actors and organizers, its spectators - everything is fused into one big block, which is difficult (and, above all, you don’t want to) divide into separate parts.

For me, Le Cirque des Reves is a separate universe that has no end or edge. It is impossible to go around it all, new tents are constantly appearing in it, and some corners are completely hidden from prying eyes...

I believe that you cannot rely on other people’s opinions regarding “Night Circus”, neither positive nor negative. It seems to me that “Night Circus” is a world that you have to visit to understand whether it’s for you or not...

This book is one of those that should not be taken apart and analyzed, but which should be felt with all the senses... After reading, you are left with light sadness and incredible joy, lightness in your heart, as if you are about to soar in the air...

My attitude to the book is encapsulated in this quote: “One flawless diamond is worth much more than a whole handful of dubious stones.”

I think dreamers will appreciate the brilliance of this book...

But in the end, we still get a fascinating work about confrontation, growing up, love and, of course, the circus.

Rating: 8

The beginning was interesting. This is probably 40 pages, maximum 50. Then the author's style began to tire - the narration is in the present tense from the third person, like voice-over narrators in films, for example: Stanley leaves the house and discovers that it is raining. Stanley immediately takes his folding umbrella out of his bag and, opening it, heads to work. On the way, he notices the wonderful singing of small birds sitting on the branches of flowering cherry trees. Stanley smiles and whistles a happy song. And everything like that. It is, of course, easy to read, but how primitive this narrative language is. Then the plot suddenly plunges into some cotton wool of romance, chewing gum, lengthy descriptions of the environment, and it becomes impossible to detect at all. Somehow I made it to the end to find out what was in store for the finale. And there is still the same vanilla that envelops the entire book. The circus lived, the circus lives, the circus will live. This book is not so much about people as it is about the circus, about its magic and the joy-giving magic and charm. Apparently the author has, or had experienced as a child, very reverent feelings towards the circus and wanted to share her passion with readers, but the audience turns out to be a very narrow circle.

Night Circus Erin Morgenstern

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Title: Night Circus

About the book “Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern

The book "The Night Circus" is a world bestseller written by American writer Erin Morgenstein. The famous novel has been translated into twenty languages of the world.

The unexpected appearance of a circus in the city without advertising or posters will shock the residents a little. It consists of several tents, and each, in turn, captivates the viewer in its own way. Erin Morgenstein very cleverly conveys to the reader moments of illusion, it seems that everything is happening in reality. The Circus of Dreams operates only at night, which attracts the interest of visitors even more. There is a certain mystery in it that no one knows about. And you will find out what really lies in the circus when you read the book.

And so, in the circus you will see many tents, each of them is special and hides its secrets. Let's walk through some of them and see what's inside. The first tent is called “Ice Garden”; it greets guests with cold piercing air, icy whiteness, frozen figures - it’s easy to get lost in it. Here all the details are presented in white.

The “hall of mirrors” consists entirely of mirrors of various shapes, each framed in a frame, but for some reason the image is unclear, here you cannot see yourself completely in one mirror, each part of the body is reflected in a separate one.

“The Tent of the Fortuneteller” is a mesmerizing room of a witch who can guess even the most secret desires. When you get to her, you forget that for decency you need to at least get to know her. Erin Morgenstein managed to captivate the reader with the mystery of magic in this episode.

“The Pool of Tears” will help the visitor get rid of his sorrows and losses, free his soul from torment, but one must dare to enter it, since its appearance frightens people.

From the book “Night Circus” you will learn about the “Labyrinth”, but not a simple one, but a magical one. You will be greeted by a large number of rooms, the interior of each is filled in its own way, all the doors seem to lead to nowhere, but when a person rushes to one of them in despair, he ends up back in the circus.

“Drawing room”, what is it? After all the previous tents, it is difficult to imagine what is here. Let's go inside, and... in front of you there are only black walls, buckets of white chalk, dare, create, write about what comes to mind.

You have not yet passed even a small fraction of the tents, but the night is ending and you need to leave the circus. And then the “Wish Tree” appears in front of the visitor, the only clarifying point; it is seen only by those who really need it. Whoever is lucky enough to meet this tree on his way will definitely have his wish come true.

You can tell a lot more and for a long time, it’s better to sit down and read the book yourself, so you will get real pleasure from the reading process rather than from the stories.

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The creation of Erin Morgenstern is the next chapter of an endless story called “Tony, when you’ve already read, oh, as much as you can, sit down and read!”, which is now check and left behind. Dividing this book into paints, selecting music and lighting, shots and construction, and based on this making a trailer for the film adaptation is as easy as blowing the weightless blades off a dandelion, when it has long lost its strong yellowness and is ready to learn to fly. Because " Night Circus"is woven from atmosphere, mood and colors, and the action itself, the plot and the course of events - this is no longer so important and is not at all about where you look.

It’s been a long time since I’ve come across a book that I like, but if you read it at night, you immediately lose sleep, although everything is nice and normal. And this is all apparently because, from the point of view of the plot, “Night Circus” seems to be made of lumps of mashed potatoes: just when you think that you have found the idea, direction, etc., the author immediately makes a feint with his ears, drags him into the next description, mood or episode, so the impression from trying to walk in a straight line turns out to be somewhat indistinct. And at night, after work, my brains are already lost. But it’s worth noting that it was the episodes that I remember most about this novel. Not so much in episodes as in bursts of action. Pull towards you. Splash silk ink over the dress. Turn around when you hear the clock knock. Cutting your fingers on endless sheets of notepads and books. Train. Tent. Glove. Armchair. Ladder. The rustle of skirts. Smile. Sigh. Speaking of sighs.

The romantic line (crossed out), the confrontation, which, along with the atmosphere and mood, is the basis of the narrative in the novel, to be honest, was successful, but precisely from the point of view of emotions and background. Because if you think seriously for at least five minutes about who does what and when they don’t know what, you will whistle, saying, what did the author even want to say and why did he even embody his idea this way (if the idea was there in the first place) . But this is actually nitpicking. If you set yourself the goal of sitting down to read it and not resist the style and construction of moods, then “The Night Circus” will turn out to be an excellent way to get into a strange, but in its own way beautiful story, even if the author sometimes gets carried away beyond measure not by the action, but by the description.

As a result, an unusual fairy tale (a fable? a bedtime story? an old belief?), which can be praised (and there will be reason for it), you can scold it (and there will also be reason for it), it is so unique. Recommended reading for lovers of black and white, vivid descriptions, a basic cast of characters, a circus atmosphere and romance, when by default you hear the strings of the orchestra, which will continue to play in elevated tones for him and her. It is not recommended for reading if you are more a fan of clear action rather than wandering around in circles, and are not eager to communicate with funny characters. I definitely won’t re-read it, but I really wanted to buy it for my collection.