Book Report- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus
                                                            Erin Morgenstern
                                                            Doubleday, 2011

Circus has always been one of my favorite things. If you still could run away with the circus, I would've done so a long, long time ago. So imagine my delight when my next book recommend was for a wonderful new book that was all about doing just that- running away with the circus and never coming back.

Life in the Circus from David Brooks on Vimeo.

Helen Warner

La Boite à Musique (court métrage) from guillaume on Vimeo.

The Night Circus is a phantasmagorical fairy tale set near an ahistorical Victorian London in a wandering magical circus that is open only from sunset to sunrise. Le Cirque des Rêves, the Circus of Dreams, features such wonders and "ethereal enigmas" as a blooming garden made all of ice, acrobats soaring without a net, and a vertical cloud maze where patrons who get lost simply step off and float gently to the floor. The circus has no set schedule, appearing without warning and leaving without notice; they travel in a train disguised as an ordinary coal transport. A network of devoted fans styling themselves "rêveurs" ("dreamers") develops around the circus; they identify to each other by adding a splash of red to garb that otherwise matches the characteristic black and white of the circus tents. The magical nature of the circus is occluded under the guise of legerdemain; the illusionist truly transforms her jacket into a raven and the fortune teller truly reads the uncertain future, and both are applauded for their ingenuity.

The circus serves a darker purpose beyond entertainment and profit. The magicians Prospero the Enchanter and the enigmatic Mr. A.H— groom their young proteges, Celia and Marco, to proxy their rivalry with the exhibits as a stage. Prospero teaches his daughter to hone her innate talents by holding ever larger and more complex magical workings in her mind. Celia takes her position on the game board as the illusionist who makes true transformations, adding tents and maintaining wondrous aspects from the inside. Mr. A.H— trains his orphan ward with books in the ways of glyphs and sympathetic magic and illusory worlds that exist only in the mind of the beholder. Marco takes a position as majordomo to the producer of the circus; he works from the outside in, connected to the circus but not a part of it. The two beguile the circus goers and each other with nightly wonders, soon falling in love despite being magically bound to a deadly competition with rules neither understands; the magical courtship strains the fate laid out for them and endangers the circus that has touched the lives of so many and cannot survive without the talents of both players.



Mario Sorrenti

The imagery in this book was absolutely stunning. Set entirely in black and white, each new chapter revealed more and more about the circus, describing it is such great detail that you couldn't help but fall in love with it. The love story of the two magicians crafting the space was just so beautiful, each making more and more beautiful spaces as a gift to the other contender. 

One of the characters in the novel had hieroglyphs and spells tattooed all over her body, reminding me of the incredible tattoo artistry of Thomas Hooper.



Things That Go Bump In The Night from MicahMonkey on Vimeo.


3 Act Circus from Sherif Mokbel on Vimeo.

These portraits from Matilda Temperley come as close as I found to the style that I felt in the book. Odd, kind of morose, stark black and white, and very beautiful.






And although these photographs from Ashot Gevrokyan aren't black and white, I had to share them anyway. 


Ashot Gevorkyan

Chivaree Circus - fire performers from Chivaree Circus on Vimeo.

And so I have decided that my birthday theme this year will be Night Circus themed. Shall we play this game this weekend friends?

Sett Circus [Trailer] from SETT TV on Vimeo.

Jodi SharpComment