The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

[nightingalereads]

The writing was gorgeous, but I was just so...bored? The Night Circus is like an exquisitely wrapped present with nothing inside. If you love beautiful imagery and lush descriptions - just for the sake of their beauty and lushness - then you'll probably like this book. The writing is certainly a work of art, but I found the actual story itself to be incredibly lacking. The characters were like people you watch through a window - flat and always kept at a distance. Consequently, I never truly cared about them.

It also didn't help that the plot was mind-numbingly slow. While reading, I would pick up this book, only to set it down 20 minutes later after I realized that nothing really was happening. The story was all description. Don't get me wrong - I love slower-paced books. In fact, it's one of my buzzwords that actually gets me interested in a novel. But there's a difference between "slower-paced" and "literally nothing of note is happening". Usually, slow-paced books concentrate on character development. In the case of The Night Circus, slow-paced means: 10 pages of sensory description -> characters go on walk/eat dinner -> 10 more pages of sensory description. Which may be some readers' cup of tea; it's just not mine.

If this book hadn't been so hyped, I may not feel as let-down as I do. And I certainly recognize that, objectively, The Night Circus is a masterful piece of work. It just wasn't the type of novel that worked for me.