The Night Circus

By: Erin Morgenstern

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Telling her tale with all the attention to detail that has led fans to compare her to such literary greats as H. G. Wells, Erin Morgenstern's world is as dark and thrilling as it is monochromatic.

Longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire. Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers, and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs - the dreamers.

At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter’s daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer’s apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love....

A fabulous, fin-de-siècle feast for the senses and a life-affirming love story, The Night Circus is a captivating novel that will make the real world seem fantastical and a fantasy world real.

©2011 Erin Morgenstern (P)2011 Penguin Audio

You'll love the circus as much as its visitors

The Night Circus is incredible. And I'm not talking about the book here, though I enjoyed it a great deal. The circus that is the subject of this story is the most interesting thing about it. It dances the line between magical realism and pure fantasy, and is beautifully described. Every mention of the various tents and acts and the magic behind them is delightful and engrossing.

I wish I could say the same for the characters. I felt for their struggles but their personalities didn't make as much of an impact as their roles in the circus. Their relationships often felt unearned, especially in the romantic moments, and they were only relatable in their love of the circus, because I loved it too.

The plot takes some time to get going and I got the feeling that even past the midpoint most new developments were just foreshadowing. But it picks up momentum towards the end and becomes deeply engrossing as it hurtles towards a genuinely moving conclusion.

All in all the Night Circus is strongest when it deals with magic and the circus and its many wonders. The characters aren't as memorable as the feats they accomplish, but I consider that forgivable, as the feats are very memorable indeed.

If you'd like to immerse yourself in a wondrous and very original world of magic and intrigue, then I'd highly recommend this book. It may not have the strongest characters nor the most gripping plot, but it was a setting I loved losing myself in.

Spellbound

It was like the magic of the pages came alive while reading. It allowed me to disappear into the pages.

I absolutely love ever second, every word and letter.

interesting premise and description, but fails

to land any emotional punches. Beautiful but superficial. Most of the book feels like the introduction to the grand event, but the grand event never happens. Instead there are just a series of smaller events that wind things up without solid answers to many of the questions that I had.

Atmospheric presentation and original storyline

I was not sure what to expect having only read the reveiws of this book. It was a slow start and initially the narrators voice did not seem to suit, but after a while it began to become familiar and by the end I could not imagine an alternative. The story line is unusual and the descriptions are vivid but the plotline is rather convoluted and I would have preferred a more dramatic ending. But all in all very enjoyable.

Magic!!

This book is one of those random titles that you pick up, that turn out to be beyond everything you had hoped for!!

I found Night circus, the story, to be just magical as the circus it is set in.
the writer desribes every sight, smell and sound to the point where you feel like you reach out and touch it. the decriptive passages do how ever drag on a little and tend to break up the stroy where you least want it to. but this takes little away from the over all nature of the book

totally enjoyable to the last word!!

a dream

I loved this story. The story itself catches the magic that I feel like I got to visit the circus and lost something when I reached the end of the visit

Get lost in the circus

A fantastic storyline, with great narration. I loved the concept of two duelling magicians.

All style, no substance. Hours of blah, blah, blah

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narrator (Jim Dale) seems to have the perfect voice for this novel.
Until he tries to do the various accents and female voices. His accents are terrible and his female voices sound like cross dressing lumberjacks. Distracting to say the least.
The story itself is boring and very slow. It's nothing but tone setting and creating images, the plot is almost non exsistant and secondary.

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

Plot first, THEN atmosphere.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jim Dale’s performances?

No. His reading is very good but his character voices and attempts at accents are distracting and embarrassing.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Night Circus?

I never listen to abridged versions, no matter how many filler chapters there are. If you deleted the droning tone setting scenes from this book it would be at least 50% shorter.

Any additional comments?

Strictly for flakes. The blurb for this book is very deceptive, almost nothing happens.