The Night Circus -- 9780385534635

I thought that the world Erin Morgenstern created with the Night Circus was highly enjoyable and it's pretty impressive that I was able to suspend disbelief throughout. The characters were interesting, the plot was interesting, and I kind of breezed through the entire novel. The circus experience must have been so much more amazing in the late 1800s. I spent a large portion of the novel fantasizing about a time I never experienced. There's already a movie deal in the works for the book, I hope they don't butcher it.

It got a little mushy once the main characters were able to entertain the idea of a plausible romance. I thought that things were more interesting with the tension and frustration when they thought they could never be together. Of course, then the book never would have ended. I thought the middle was a little longer than it needed to be -- but that may have been due to character development -- but not enough that there was any time i didn't want to keep reading (I missed a bus stop the first day). I'm not sure what purpose the italics describing the circus served. They were nice, but they didn't reveal anything deeper about the story. The description could have just as easily been inserted into Bailey's storyline and been more effective.

The fact that the Night Circus is Morgenstern's first published novel is incredible though. I'm leaving all of my criticism to fall flat with that as my standard reply. It's an enjoyable book, first novel or not, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a little escapism.