The Night Circus

    My attempt at channeling a reveur.

Rebel. Trailblazer. Unique. Defiant. I not-so-secretly want to embrace all of these labels. The problem is that this means I have a tendency to automatically reject things that are popular with large segments of the public. We're not talking casual rejection here. This the kind of rejection where the cute guy not only turns you away, but actively convinces others why you aren't dateworthy*. I fully realize how ridiculous this is, so I'm constantly fighting it. I could start a regular feature called things I used to like but eventually pushed away because everyone else started liking it**.

This isn't just a random confession. :-) My stubborn ways almost kept me from picking up The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. My bookstore friends were buzzing about it. The big pubs were buzzing about it. The freaking morning shock jock was talking about it. Thankfully, one of my more finicky friends pressed me on the issue and insisted that I pick the book up.

My heart, it still flutters when I think about this story.

Pacing at the beginning is measured, crossing space and time from chapter to chapter and adding to the air of mystery building throughout the story. Morgenstern builds an elaborate universe and then goes on to create universes within that universe. She builds a lush world where even black and white manage to be vibrant colors. What impresses me is that she does this effortlessly. I really dislike when you can see an author struggling to be descriptive (*cough* me *cough*), but this wasn't an issue here.

Pick this book up for its heart. The love story here is so subtle and selfless. It's beautiful, and you should experience it for yourself.


*God help anyone this has actually happened to.
**I still haven't seen Exit Through the Gift Shop because it suddenly seemed like every person on the planet was waxing poetic on Banksy.