HAMLET – Stephanie’s Weekly Book Recommendation: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
To start off my book recommendation column, I thought it only right to recommend my favorite book ever in the history of paper to pen: “The Night Circus.”
The story-line goes like this: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking “amazements.” It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But unbeknownst to the public and other circus performers there is a competition going on in the circus. The circus has become a stage for a battle of sheer will and imagination: a duel between two magicians. They have been training with their respective instructors since childhood and now it is time to fight. The duelers do not realize that only one will be left standing in the end. Who will be the final player in this game created so long ago?
This book was written for NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. This 30 day period runs between November 1st to November 30th. Novelists utilize social media during this time to push each other forward in accomplishing the goal of writing a novel. Novelist are challenged in this time to write a 50,000 word novel. And yes, this amazing book was written in only 30 days.
Long story short, this is a wonderful book. I recommend it to anyone who “just doesn’t know what to read.” It has an ethereal feel to it from beginning to end. The descriptions are vivid and allow the reader to create beautiful visuals in their mind. You, as the reader, get a very deliberate idea that while you are in The Night Circus, you are in a whole different world, a whole other plane of existence all together.
The book does not flow linearly and for a reader that tends to scan this may cause a problem. Chapters bounce from past to present. This allows you to get an idea of who the characters were as well as who they are.
This is a powerful story and a beautifully written novel; if you miss it, you have missed out.
