[Review + BBI Secret Santa 2013] The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Title of Book : The Night Circus
Author : Erin Morgenstern
Publisher : Anchor Books

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.

Night Circus is one of the books I featured in my Wishful Wednesday post. So I’m glad that my secret Santa gave me this book. If I have to describe this book in one word, I would say beautiful. I really love the writing style and I also love the magical world that Morgenstern built within the story.

Let’s talk about the characters first. Each character in this book are unique and interesting especially the circus members. Even the characters outside Le Cirque des Reves, such as Friedrick Thiessen. Between Celia and Marco, I think Celia a bit outshines Marco. Probably because Celia get to travel with the circus and since the story revolves around the circus, I could see more side of Celia. For the romance, I totally understand why the connection between Celia and Marco could be considered as deep and magical. I mean, they are technically married to each other since Alexander did the binding. Celia said it herself. But the effect, when they do physical contact, is a bit exaggerated. Still, I root for them.

Le Cirque des Reves is beautiful. Morgenstern describes the place and the events vividly that I felt I was in the book. The attractions which Celia or Marco shows off as a part of the duel add the magnificence of the circus. 

This book has a non-linear sequence which confused me sometimes. The timeline keeps shifting from present to past. Every chapter has information about where and when the event in the chapter takes place but because I’m not good at remembering numbers, I flipped pages back and forth frequently when I was reading.

All in all, The Night Circus is a book that could make me felt the experience of this magical world of Le Cirque des Reves while I was reading it. I wonder if Erin Morgenstern has another book coming out. Oh, and one interesting thing that I notice in this book is Morgenstern sometimes uses words from languages other than English, such as ‘tante’ and ‘gratis’. I was surprised seeing these words because when I translate those words to Bahasa Indonesia, the sentences still make sense. Why would the author use Bahasa Indonesia? I did a little research and found out that ‘tante’ and ‘gratis’ are Dutch language for aunt and free. Dutch! Beside, this book takes place around the world but mostly in Europe. So that’s why.

Lanjut ke tebak secret santa. engg ... riddlenya susaaaah. Cluenya datanglah di tempat yang memiliki fase warna warni + datanglah di hari Senin. Fase warna warni? hmm langsung kepikiran pelangi. Tapi tapi apa yang ada pelangi?atau mungkin blognya punya background warna warni? datanglah di hari Senin. Nah dari clue yang hari Senin ini masi bisa dicari dengan asumsi si santa ngepost tiap hari Senin atau mungkin punya rubrik tetap yang dipost tiap hari Senin. Akhirnya saya ngublek-ublek blog anggota BBI yang ikutan secret santa daaan nay. Nggak nemu blog yang konsisten ngepost tiap Senin. Jadi pencarian berubah arah ke makna dari tempat dengan fase warna warni. Ini juga ... err ... ampun. Tebakan desperate saya tempat ini mungkin hutan (?) jadi mungkin santa saya mbak Sulis peri hutan dari Kubikel Romance.

Dear Santa, benarkah tebakan saya? maaf ya kalo salah >.< I've tried.