The Night Circus

The Night Circus

By Erin Morgenstern

Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus is a spellbinding fairy tale of a novel.  Jumping back and forth through time, and moving from London to Cairo to Boston to Montreal, The Night Circus makes you feel as though magic is everywhere, if you just know where to look.

Hector Bowen makes his living as a magician.  But unlike other magicians of the 1870s, his performances go beyond the usual sleight of hand.  Hector, or Prospero as he is known, enchants his audience like no other.  

When Hector is presented with his estranged 5-year-old daughter Celia, he realizes that she has the gift of magic as well, and vows to train her.  But Hector is an arrogant man.  He binds Celia to an unbreakable vow; Celia, as an adult, will have to compete in a magical contest she knows little about.  And Hector, as “coach”, wants her to win.

But what will be the venue for this magical showdown?  Enter the Night Circus.  This is a circus the likes of which the world has never seen.  The Night Circus will suddenly appear in random cities during the overnight hours, making residents feel as though it has appeared by magic.  The circus is open each night from dusk to dawn.  Each tent is more mesmerizing than the next, with acts that include the incredible tattooed contortionist, a vertical labyrinth with a trapdoor exit at the top, a room full of bottles containing scents that transport visitors to other lands, and of course, the magic of Celia.

At the Night Circus, Celia meets Marco, and their romantic connection causes the earth to move – literally.  But Marco is revealed to be Celia’s competitor, and the two must navigate an epic romance that seems doomed from the start.  Which one will be the victor?  Can there be a winner in a scenario where the competitors fall in love?

The Night Circus will draw you in just as the fictional Night Circus draws in followers.  Many of the novel’s characters can think of nothing else after they attend.  Erin Morgenstern’s writing is magical realism at its best; you always feel that you’re teetering on the edge of fantasy and reality, but you can never decide which is best.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

the particular sadness of lemon cake

For nine year old Rose, having her mother bake her favourite lemon cake for her birthday is a real treat, until the day she bites into it and can feel all of her mother’s despair and sadness in the otherwise tasty morsel. At first confused, Rose has trouble grasping the incongruence between these feelings and her mother’s outward appearance of a happy can-do woman, but as the story progresses, she learns to deal with what she learns through eating, not only her mother’s cooking, but that of others as well.  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender is at times a fascinating tale of magical realism. Through Rose’s unique talent the reader is reminded that we are not always as we seem on the outside, who knows what feelings lurk beneath the sunny exterior of the coffee barista, or the unhappy cookie baker.

I did enjoy Rose’s storyline, how she discovered what she could feel in different foods, how she learned to process that as a child and how it affected her relationship with her mother. I found I could really imagine how Rose felt every time she ate something, and I would wonder what she would get from the food she was eating, how it would make her feel.

However, I found the storyline of Joseph, Rose’s brother, a little odd and it took some time to sort out what was going on with him. Joseph frequently just disappears and then reappears, without explanation.  Not only does he disappear, but also he is able to morph into the form of an object in the room. It was, in my opinion, farfetched and did not really add anything to Rose’s story or to the book. Perhaps it is just me that found the ability to taste people’s feelings as plausible, but to understand the mysterious disappearances of Joseph took more belief than I could muster. It is possible that the Joseph story was never really developed or fully explained as why he needed to disappear, while the reader delves deeply into Rose, her feelings and her ability. Either way, it did not add anything to my reading experience.

This book is a good read for those who enjoy a bit of surrealism and secrecy mixed with a bit of magic.

For other popular reading suggestions check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks/. 

The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a fantasy novel that covers the journey of Axl and Beatrice, a couple who set off on a journey to find their son, who they have not seen for some time, and actually do not remember very well. As the story moves along with their journey, we discover that there are in fact a lot of things that Axl and Beatrice, and other characters they meet, do not remember. There is a mysterious mist hanging over their post Arthurian England that has caused the inhabitants to lose memories. We feel part of the mist covered tale as the writing penetrates the scenes and the foggy remembrances of Beatrice and Axl.

Along their journey they meet an Arthurian knight, a warrior and a strange boy, all of whom are on a quest to slay a dragon that has supposedly caused the mist that sucks away the memories. As their paths cross and separate, it is sometimes difficult to tell who is on whose side, who can be trusted, and who is up to what. Many side characters that Beatrice and Axl encounter lead them astray and into danger, and even those who appear to lead them to safety may not be whom they at first appear. This all helps to give the feeling of lethargy and mystery that comes with the mist.

This is the first of Ishiguro’s books that I have read, his most famous being The Remains of the Day, and I must say it was an enjoyable read. The writing puts you right in the feelings of the characters, you feel like all is not as it appears and you wonder what is real and what is not, as do the characters. I had an ominous feeling about what the return of the memories would do to Axl and Beatrice, did they need to remember everything, what was it they were really forgetting? 

The Buried Giant will appeal to readers who want to immerse themselves in alternate worlds as well as readers interested in the process of memory and how memories affect our lives.

The Crane Wife - a review by Lee Anne Smith

By Patrick Ness

The Crane Wife is not a re-telling of the Japanese folk tale in the usual sense but Ness’s unique and powerful novel makes me want to read folk tales again.

I loved this book for many reasons: the lyrical, poetic writing, the fully dimensional characters and the meditation on love and truth. But I also loved the book for the fully bits that root the book in the reality of life here and now as well as for the description of the art work that the two main characters are creating throughout the book. There were times that I put down the book and just lingered in the moment created by the author and other times when I reread a passage over and over.

This dedication by The Decemberists also drew me in;

And all the starts were crashing round

As I laid eyes on what I’d found.

Review by Lee Anne Smith