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A review by emilyinlibraryland
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
2.0
I had been hearing about this book everywhere and was really excited to have to read it for my book club, but for me it just did not live up to the hype.
My main problem with it was that nothing really happens. The romance is kind of haphazardly thrown in towards the end, without much tension or build-up. The "competition" that is the main plotline driving the story also felt pretty pointless. The only reason the reader even knows it is happening is because the characters keep telling us about it, not actually doing competition-y things. I think it was supposed to be mysterious and keep the reader guessing, but I honestly didn't care and once I found out what the rules/end goal of the competition were, I cared even less because it was just pointless.
I'd also heard a lot about how beautiful the writing was, and how great the descriptions of the circus were, but I wasn't super impressed there either. It felt a little forced to me, and I found the jumps between third- and second-person narrative jarring and unnecessary. The main narrative also jumps around in time, which I found confusing and again, unnecessary.
**edit: I did learn one new thing from reading this book! I was reading other bad reviews and that led me to look up the meaning of the term "purple prose." This is that! Yay, learning!**
Overall, I just found the story really boring and I honestly don't understand why this book has been so huge. Maybe it's just me?? **edit 2: per other reviews, it's not just me!**
My main problem with it was that nothing really happens. The romance is kind of haphazardly thrown in towards the end, without much tension or build-up. The "competition" that is the main plotline driving the story also felt pretty pointless. The only reason the reader even knows it is happening is because the characters keep telling us about it, not actually doing competition-y things. I think it was supposed to be mysterious and keep the reader guessing, but I honestly didn't care and once I found out what the rules/end goal of the competition were, I cared even less because it was just pointless.
I'd also heard a lot about how beautiful the writing was, and how great the descriptions of the circus were, but I wasn't super impressed there either. It felt a little forced to me, and I found the jumps between third- and second-person narrative jarring and unnecessary. The main narrative also jumps around in time, which I found confusing and again, unnecessary.
**edit: I did learn one new thing from reading this book! I was reading other bad reviews and that led me to look up the meaning of the term "purple prose." This is that! Yay, learning!**
Overall, I just found the story really boring and I honestly don't understand why this book has been so huge. Maybe it's just me?? **edit 2: per other reviews, it's not just me!**