Book 19 - "The circus arrives without warning."

*I must admit: I am always a bit leery of reading books about the circus. Any story containing a circus also contains a great deal of misery (at some point or another). The other night, Jay and I read an article called "The Top 10 Most Horrific Circus Accidents in History," and one story in particular caught my attention. It has to do with the very gruesome execution of an elephant.

"On September 12, 1916, Mary trampled her handler Red Eldridge to death. There are various accounts of what led to the attack—from Eldridge prodding Mary with a stick and infuriating her, to
speculation that she was simply bored.


Mary the elephant

"While Eldridge’s death was tragic and gruesome, Mary’s fate might be even more so. The people of Kingsport, Tennessee demanded retribution for Eldridge’s death, so it was decided that Mary would hang for her crime. On September 13, a crowd of 2,500 people (mostly children) gathered to watch Mary’s execution. Mary was hung from the neck by an industrial crane. However, the chain around her neck snapped and she slammed to the ground, breaking her hip. A heavier-gauge chain was used to hang Mary for a second time, and she swung for half an hour before being dumped in a hastily-dug grave." [listverse.com]

To say the least, this story tore my stomach to pieces, and I was instantly convinced that the circus is definitely not all that it's cracked-up to be (especially in the past when the circus was one of the most magical experiences one could find). Water for Elephants, another novel about the circus, ends with a terrible destruction of a world-famous circus. While the story seemed beautiful, I was left feeling somewhat bored with this author's attempt to present readers with a unique circus experience.

Erin Morgenstern, on the other hand, creates the ultimate world of magic in her novel, The Night Circus. I was extremely impressed with this story and would love for you to pick up a copy for yourself.

Book 19: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

"Magical. Enchanting. Spellbinding. Mesmerizing." - Associated Press

"Haunts and bewitches on every page... A showstopper." - The Boston Globe

"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



The Night Circus
(click here to purchase)

Description: 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. [erinmorgenstern.com]

I believe I should begin by saying that this is one of the best stories I've read all year (in all of my life, really). The Night Circus puts quite the spin on the classic perception of magic. While most magicians work to make their tricks appear realistic, Morgenstern's characters work doubly hard to make theirs seem more unrealistic. Because the characters are able to make the impossible seem ordinary, simple, and real-life, they must convince others that their work is something that does not bend the rules of the universe. In other words, these magicians do NOT want spectators to know that they are, in fact, real workers of magic.

Let's look for a moment at Celia Bowen, a young girl we meet just after her mother commits suicide. She is left on the doorstep of her father, Prospero the Enchanter (Hector Bowen), who takes her on as a student and teaches her how to focus on her work so that she can strengthen her talents, ultimately becoming the best magician in the world. Since she has the ability to put things back together (such as a broken tea cup), her father continuously breaks make of the bones in her body which she is instructed to heal on the spot. But we learn that Celia does not need her father's knowledge and tests - she has a gift of her own.

Let's turn now to her opponent, Marco A. (I am unable to provide you with any details relating to the "competition," so to speak, because I was not given any insight (nor were the characters) into what exactly was going to happen between Celia and Marco once the great battle begins.) Marco, orphaned as a young child, was also put into a home and raised much the same way as Celia - endless test, tortuous lessons, etc.

Ultimately, this is one great big love story - love of magic, love between people, young love, self-love, unrequited love, forbidden love, and love that appears to each of the five senses.

"A love story for adults that feels luxuriously romantic." - The Washington Post

While this is about Le Cirque des Reves (The Circus of Dreams) as a whole, the stories of many of the characters weave in and out of one another's lives. The idea of Le Cirque des Reves is attributed to Chandresh Christophe Lefevre, an entrepreneur who seeks endless possibilities and new adventures. Also among the first performers include: Ana Padva, a retired Romanian prima ballernia and good friend to Chandresh's mother. She also makes some of the most beautiful gowns for the women involved with the circus; Ethan Barris, engineer and architect of individual sights within the circus (though they are anything but ordinary); the Burgess sisters, Tara and Lainie, can do a little bit of everything; Bailey, a young boy who will stop at nothing to save both his love for Poppet and the circus; and Poppet and Widget, twin performers who work to continue on the work that the circus requires to survive.

What I love most about this novel is how I am able to see everything that Morgenstern wants me to see. When Celia's father slits each of her fingertips open with a knife and instructs her to mend them immediately, I can feel that pain and anguish that she experiences, see the open wounds slowly disintegrate to nothing, and hear the tears falling down her cheeks as she quietly sobs. When Celia and Marco make love, I feel as if I am falling in love all over again with my own boyfriend. When Marco mentally takes Celia to the boat made out of books that floats on a sea of ink, I can smell the paper and feel the dry wind blowing all around me. And when Bailey is given a crimson read scarf to wear to the circus, I feel nothing but the safety, security, and warmth that he experiences.

Again, please take some time to read through this book. Morgenstern once said that all of her stories have fairy-tale-like elements. This novel is nothing short of the ultimate bedtime story.

Meet the author:
About Erin. The long, first person version:
I’m a Cancerian with a Leo Moon and Taurus rising and yes, I know what all of that means.
I studied theatre & studio art at Smith College.
I grew up in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Steve Carrell now owns the store where I bought penny candy and blue raspberry Slush Puppies as a child. This both amuses and disturbs me.
I was reading Stephen King at age 12 and J.K. Rowling at age 21. This likely speaks volumes about my literary development.
I currently live in Manhattan, previously I lived in various Massachusetts cities. I would still favor Boston sports teams if I cared about sports, but I heart NY so far.

I write. Fantastical, fairy tale-esque things with magic and mystery and tea.

I started querying literary agents in June of 2009. After working with interested agents and revising my manuscript (twice) I signed with my agent in May of 2010. Then I spent a summer in the Revisionland Hotel, and in September of 2010, THE NIGHT CIRCUS sold to Doubleday. The sound you are hearing is my head spinning, still.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS was released in September 2011 in hardcover, and it’s now available in paperback as well. You can probably get it wherever books are sold, as it is sometimes difficult to buy books in places that don’t sell them.

My fiction tends to be location-driven. Nocturnal circuses, subterranean libraries, townhouses dressed up as pirate ships. I got tired of living in Alice’s Wonderland and decided to build some of my own.

Erin Morgenstern

I write 10-sentence flash fiction pieces inspired by photographs that are posted to the blog every Friday. They are fondly known as flax-golden tales.

I paint, though writing is taking priority at the moment. Mostly acrylic-based mixed-media abstract illustration. Which means painting with acrylic paint and adding anything I can get to stick, and it’d be abstract if it were not so illustrative and illustration were it not so abstract. I paint Wonderland-y things and teacups and pigs with wings.

I spent large amounts of the last few years painting a black & white tarot deck. I finished painting it in early 2010. You can purchase a beautiful limited edition deck of the Major Arcana here. (Well, you could. It’s sold out now, but they might turn up on tarot trading sites.)
The complete deck can be viewed at phantomwise.com. I am in the process of finding a publisher for the full 78-card version. It’s slow going. I promise it will be published eventually. Really. Someday. Today is not that day.
I read a lot. I drink absurd amounts of red wine and even more absurd amounts of tea.
I collect jewelry made from old keys.
I rather like the internet (even Twitter!), so I will be polishing and decorating this corner of it for the foreseeable future.
[erinmorgenstern.com]


To visit Erin, follow these links:

Erin Morgenstern SITE
Facebook

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