The Night Circus

A Novel

By: Erin Morgenstern

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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 behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

©2011 Erin Morgenstern (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

" The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for, and she has populated it with dueling love-struck magicians, precocious kittens, hyper-elegant displays of beauty, and complicated clocks. This is a marvelous book." (Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife)

"Self-assured, entertaining debut that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic…. Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"Debut author Morgenstern doesn't miss a beat in this smashing tale of greed, fate, and love... a giant, magical story destined for bestsellerdom. This is an electric debut on par with Special Topics in Calamity Physics." ( Publishers Weekly)

Wowza!

I really love this narrator, but my kudos for this marvelous experience go squarely to the author. The Starless Sea was a pretty big act to follow. but I like this one even more, and that's saying something. Magical, mystical, funny, adventurous, romantic- it's got it all. I'm a fan.

Great setting, terrible everything else.

Firstly the narration is great. I feel like narrators can be really hit or miss but this one knows what he's doing. The setting is beautiful, and you can almost feel like you're there with the characters. Everything else, though... there's little to no character development, the half baked romance doesn't really gain traction, the constant time jumps can be a little disorienting, and nothing really...happens. I can't remember the last time I've read a book so long with essentially no plot and no character development. I really wanted to like it because her descriptions are top tier but for me, it was overall pretty terrible.

My Favorite Book

I love this book so much. It’s atmospheric and magical and just beautifully written. I’ve read it 6 times and just listened to the audiobook for the first time, and it’s even more magical. Jim Dale is the perfect narrator.

Sadly Overrated

The advance hype drowned out the experience. It was weak story with little character developoment. It turned out to be just an average book read by a brilliant narrator.

Not that great

This book was a little boring. It went back and forth too much and could not keep me interested. It was very hard to get through this audiobook.

Ehhh...

I read all of the reviews before listening to this book. They all claimed it to be the "next big thing". I do not agree. Probably the only reason why I made it through the whole book was the excellent narrator, Jim Dale. I found the storyline to be tedious and boring with too many loose ends never resolved. Hopefully, my next book to listen to will be another narrated by Mr. Dale.

Wow!

When this book came out the reviews were good, but it was because Jim Dale narrated it that made me buy it. I bought it and let it "sit" until now. I'm not a huge fan of period books, that's my only excuse for why I let it sit for so long (Diana Gabaldon being the exception). I'm kicking myself for not listening to it until now. It is awesome! It's very well written. Morgenstern does such an amazing job of describing everything in such a way that it is not tedious and also makes you feel like you're there. At times I swear I could smell popcorn and caramel. I didn't catch on that it was going back and forth in time right away, but I caught on fairly quickly. The narration only makes the book that much more amazing, as I think Jim Dale would be magic reading the yellow pages. An excellent book.

If it weren't for Jim Dale, I wouldn't have finish

What did you like best about The Night Circus? What did you like least?

The narrator, Jim Dale, who breathed some life into an otherwise dull and convoluted story.

What could Erin Morgenstern have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Make it a little less complicated, jumping back and forth between the dates. Introduce fewer characters. Having so many characters without confusing a reader is a rare feat.

Have you listened to any of Jim Dale’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Of course the whole Harry Potter series. I suppose nothing compares to that one.

A Magical Circus

Would you consider the audio edition of The Night Circus to be better than the print version?

I found the audio version to be as wonderful as the printed version. As this is one of my favorite books, I found the audio an enhanced version of the book.

What did you like best about this story?

The fact that Jim Dale was the reader of the story made it even more exciting. He has a splendid voice and I could see each character individually as they were introduced. What's more the different tones Mr. Dale used made me feel there were several people speaking not just himself.

Which character – as performed by Jim Dale – was your favorite?

Marco is my favorite character that Mr. Dale performed. In my opinion, he displayed Marco's deep, passionate and magical love for Celia.

If you could take any character from The Night Circus out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I would love to take them all out to dinner, a party actually, for the chance to speak to each and everyone of them.

Any additional comments?

As I stated before, this is one of my favorite books and now one of my favorite audios. I hope someday a movie might be in the works. I have never read or heard such a heartwarming tale or one that touched me as deeply as this one. The mystery, magic and romance had me from page one.

Great performance, but story is pretentious and wordy

I avoided getting this book because the description did not interest me. However, it was on sale, and I got it. As I started the book, I found the story and characters more interesting than expected. However, this book should have been about 2/3 as long as it is. There is too much description and mannered prose. I am sure some will find it lyrical, but I got tired of it about halfway through. The use of present tense is very difficult to execute properly and it gets in the way here.

However, there are some narrators who could keep listeners interested even if they were reading the phone book. Jim Dale is one of the best narrators in the business. He saved this book for me, and kept me going until the end.

The best characters in this book were actually the ancillary ones. I found it hard to sympathise with the main characters very much. So overall, between the narrator and some interesting characters, it was worth listening to. But I can't recommend a very highly.