Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Described at the time of the book being proposed to the bookclub as a mixture between Philip Pulman, Harry Potter and Kafka on the Shore - indeed those being the reasons it was proposed - Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern received a largely lukewarm reception from the BBBC’s reading public. The story of two ‘magicians’ using their youthful pupils to fight a battle over their respective approaches to how they use their powers, in the setting of a circus (which isn’t really a circus), and which is essentially a love story, failed to capture the imagination of all bar one of us. Indeed perhaps the most fundamental question (and reason for the 6 v 1 difference of opinion - with one judgement outstanding) was whether there was anything more to Night Circus than it being a love story with some clever imagery (and a bit of disconcerting child abuse). More of that later.

Most found the book difficult to get into, with it taking a substantial number of pages before anything really grabbed attention. Mark T (whose final opinion is still to come) was most extreme in this, having several failed attempts before finally cracking it and (at the time of the meeting) looking forward to finishing the book. Others though, continued to struggle somewhat. It was not that people were finding it a difficult read, but rather that it lacked depth for them. Steve, for example, described it as being as though the book had been started when Morgenstern was in the sixth form but the writing had never really grown up. Chris W. felt there was not enough story to keep him interested whilst Chris B. described it as a triumph of style of substance. 

Nonetheless, there was a consensus that the author had created some vivid images, with mystical descriptions and even Neil (possibly the person most critical of the book) said how “in a weird way it became believable, I became absorbed by the world it created - but the narrative didn’t work”. Few characters other than Bailey got positive reviews. There was the usual difference of opinion about the way the chapters jumped between dates. It irritated some (“It’s just trendy to do it”) but was fine with or even liked by others. Other concepts resonated with some, for example Chris B liked the descriptions of becoming a camp follower and also the gradually falling apart institution - both of which he felt were true to life. Overall, the general view was perhaps summed up by Richard’s damning with faint praise line of "a perfectly nice, very readable book, but certainly not an amazing one".

This takes us into the one dissenting voice from this analysis (i.e. Rob) who had read the book twice because of a suspicion that there was more going on in it than might appear on the surface.  Whilst accepting it may just be no more than a love story, he also suggested that Morgenstern was perhaps trying to make various societal or behavioural points: the two different ‘schools’ of magic representing a battle between the physical/material (Celia) and the psychological/spiritual (Marco); it could be an allegory about two powerful people (Prospero and A.H.) manipulating society and what happens when people try to break free; or a description about what happens when you allow an idea to take you over to the extent that it risks destroying not only you, but also others. He felt the short ‘interludes’ between chapters (set out in different type-set formats) also contained some important and interesting homilies - for example, the importance of story-telling to take knowledge and understanding through society and generations.

On the other hand, as Neil said, it could just be that he was “imbuing more meaning into it than it merits”.

 

The overall score was a middling 6.68.