club favorite books

The Night Circus

Review

Praise for THE NIGHT CIRCUS:

"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

“Erin Morgenstern's debut novel, The Night Circus, is quietly, enchantingly perfect…reading this novel is like having a marvelous dream, in which you are asleep enough to believe everything that is happening, but awake enough to relish the experience and understand that it is magical.”
--Newsday

“[A] dark and extravagantly imagined debut…The plot follows the separate and then intertwining lives of Celia and Marco, both forced to spend their lives pitting their unusual talents against each other in a cruel competition. But their world is Morgenstern’s most vivid creation, a fantastical circus featuring illusionists whose powers transcend mere sleight of hand; like those performers, the author entices her audience to suspend disbelief and rewards its members with captivating pleasure.”
--People magazine

"Morgenstern’s Circus is the stuff that dreams are made of, and nothing short of a wild ride."
--Elle magazine
"[A] few pages into this story of a mysterious circus and its two stars, a young man and a woman who are both capable of real magic, and you know you are in the presence of an extraordinary storyteller."
--The Daily Beast
“Morgenstern’s novel feels crafted from the fabric of a dream, and the circus itself never fails to astound. For me, the only real disappointment was that I couldn’t buy a ticket.”
--The Christian Science Monitor

"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, starred review
"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, starred review
“To enter the black-and-white-striped tents of Le Cirque des Rêves is to enter a world where objects really do turn into birds and people really do disappear…Debut novelist Morgenstern has written a 19th-century flight of fancy that is, nevertheless, completely believable. The smells, textures, sounds, and sights are almost palpable. A literary Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, this read is completely magical.”
—Library Journal, starred review
"This big and compelling first novel ushers in a menacing tone with its first sentence: "The circus arrives without warning."...With appeal for readers not particularly geared to fantasy but who plainly enjoy an unusual and well-drawn story, this one will make a good crossover suggestion."
--Booklist, starred review
“‘Dark as soot and bright as sparks,’ The Night Circus still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty. This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read.”
—Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader

“A riveting debut. The Night Circus pulls you into a world as dark as it is dazzling, fully-realized but still something out of a dream. You will not want to leave it.”
—Téa Obreht, author of The Tiger’s Wife

"Every once in awhile you find a novel so magical that there is no escaping its spell. The Night Circus is one of these rarities -- engrossing, beautifully written and utterly enchanting. If you choose to read just one novel this year, this is it."
—Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology

"Pure pleasure...Erin Morgenstern is a gifted, classic storyteller, a tale-teller, a spinner of the charmed and mesmerizing -- I had many other things I was supposed to be doing, but the book kept drawing me back in and I tore through it. You can be certain this riveting debut will create a group of rêveurs all its own."
—Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
 
“The Night Circus is a gorgeously imagined fable poised in the high latitudes of Hans Christian Anderson and Oscar Wilde, with a few degrees toward Hesse’s “Steppenwolf” for dangerous spice. The tale is masterfully written and invites allegorical interpretations even as its leisurely but persistent suspense gives it compelling charm. An enchanting read.”
—Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love
"Puts me in mind of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes lightened up by Harry Potter. This will be big."
--Library Journal

"This dueling-sorcerers premise brings to mind Susanna Clarke's magnificent 2004 novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell...[Morgenstern] employs her supple prose to conjure up a series of wonders: A maze made of clouds, a ship of books floating on a sea of ink, a tent that seems to contain a vast desert."
--Salon.com