Book Review – The Night Circus

Book Cover of Night Circus
Image Credit: Amazon.UK

As the name suggests, the story is about a circus – Le Cirque des Rêves – that opens only at night. But it is not an ordinary circus where animals play stunts and jokers humiliate themselves before the audience. It is a circus that is larger than life and every person associated with it is brilliant showcasing their unparalleled craft. While spectators revel in the extraordinary talent show and enjoy the various eats stalls, no one realizes that the circus is actually an arena for a competition.

Two great magicians create the circus to enter into a competition; however, it’s not they who actually fight, but their respective proteges Celia and Marco. The two young magicians have been trained since childhood for this fierce competition, and neither of them knows that in this game, only one can be left standing. It’s not a duel with swords, but a battle of imagination. Everything would have gone brilliantly except that the older instructors hadn’t counted on their proteges falling in love – a spiritual and magical kind of love.

In spite of their love, they remain bonded to the circus because the fate of the circus and of everyone involved with it; from the performers to the patrons hangs precariously on their game. Read the book to find out if Celia and Marco are able to outplay the game and save the circus?

Review

Let me tell you that The Night Circus is not an easy book to review.

The book catches your attention as soon as you read the excerpt –

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.

The author paints a larger than life image of the night circus – there is intrigue, mystery and excitement. The one of its kind black-and-white clock made to order by a German horlogier, each performer hand picked for his or her unique skill and the foods available at the stalls which can be found nowhere in the world; it actually made me long to visit such a circus. The circus neither is just a venue nor it is just a talent show, but it is like a breathing and living person in the book. The story starts and ends with the circus.

All the characters are well sketched especially Celia and Marco, Chandresh – the founder of the Circus, the horlogier who becomes an ardent fan of the circus and the twins. However, I had a feeling that some of the characters were not reasonably dealt with in the end.

The love story between Celia and Marco simmers slowly, takes years to mature and spans over decades. It might test your patience at times.

The detailed description of how the young magicians were trained for the competition is quite entertaining. Also, the description of the circus and its various components is a delight to read. And, the narration is sheer poetry.

Excerpts from the book

The ticket booth clearly visible behind the gates is closed and barred. The tents are still, save for when they ripple ever so slightly in the wind. The only movement within the circus is the clock that ticks by the passing minutes, if such a wonder of sculpture can even be called a clock. The circus looks abandoned and empty. But you think perhaps you can smell caramel wafting through the evening breeze, beneath the crisp scent of the autumn leaves. A subtle sweetness at the edges of the cold. The sun disappears completely beyond the horizon, and the remaining luminosity shifts from dusk to twilight. 

 First, there is a popping sound. It is barely audible over the wind and conversation. A soft noise like a kettle about to boil for tea. Then comes the light. All over the tents, small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. The waiting crowd quiets as it watches this display of illumination. Someone near you gasps. A small child claps his hands with glee at the sight. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.

They stand entwined but not touching, their heads tilted toward each other. Lips frozen in the moment before (or after) the kiss. Though you watch them for some time they do not move. No stirring of fingertips or eyelashes. No indication that they are even breathing. “They cannot be real,” someone nearby remarks.
Many patrons only glance at them before moving on, but the longer you watch, the more you can detect the subtlest of motions. The change in the curve of a hand as it hovers near an arm. The shifting angle of a perfectly balanced leg. Each of them always gravitating toward the other. Yet still they do not touch.

Wait till you read the description of the black-and-white custom clock. It’s a torture to read and fantasize but not be able to see it for yourself.

Verdict

Erin Morgenstern writes beautifully. She has written a book about magicians, illusions and enchantments, love and star-crossed lovers, however, I would have preferred a bit more story. Truthfully, I was disappointed with the end. For a book that started with such a bang, it lost its luster.

However, if you prefer powerful storytelling over the plot, then the Night Circus is definitely your book. Read it for its lyrical and evocative storytelling.

I am taking part in the Write Tribe Reading Challenge and I have opted to read 24 books this year (though I am hoping to read more). There are 24 prompts given, and this book adheres to one of them. Seriously, only one!!

2. A book written by a Female author

19. A book written by an author who is new to you

 

Book Review – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

I am taking part in the Write Tribe Reading Challenge and I have opted to read 24 books this year (though I am hoping to read more). There are 24 prompts given, and this book adheres to three of them:

8. A book with a name in the title

9. A book with orange cover (I finally got it 🙂 )

10. A book set in a country that you visited/want to visit

Image credit: Amazon

I must confess that I finished reading this book in 4 months, though I read 95% of the book only in the last 4 days.

It’s my good fortune that of late, I have been coming across beautiful books. The credit goes to my blogger friends who read and recommend these books.

So, without further ado, let me write about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Plot

One morning, Harold Fry, a former brewery manager recently retired, finds a letter from an acquaintance, Queenie Hennessy, he hadn’t heard for over 20 years. The letter said Queenie was dying of a terminal cancer in a hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Harold Fry was shaken. He wrote her a reply and started out to post the letter. However, when the post box cropped up, he didn’t feel like posting the letter so soon, so he decided to walk till the next box. But he still didn’t post and walked till the next one. He even walked past the post office and didn’t post the letter. A chance meeting with a girl in a garage shop who said how keeping faith and being positive helped her aunt (who had cancer), showed him the light. He decided to walk the length of the United Kingdom (from Kingsbridge at the south of England to Berwick-upon-Tweed, the most northern town in England) to meet Queenie, the woman who had once saved Harold’s life and had got nothing in return.

It didn’t matter to him that he was wearing yachting shoes and not walking shoes, he was not carrying any change of clothes and that he was not even carrying his mobile phone. He didn’t think of much except putting one foot before the other. Even when his feet developed blisters and were bleeding, he continued walking. Initially, Harold was too shy to ask for help. However, he met some very kind people on his journey and started believing in the genuineness of humanity.

Soon, he realized that it was not right on his part to squander his retirement fund on guest houses and daily meals. He decided to reach Berwick upon the largesse of the nature and people. He drank spring water, fruits from the fields and wild mushrooms foraged from the forest. He humbly accepted whatever people offered him and made sure he never took more than required.

Harold’s journey became a sensation in England and people in every city and town that he visited came forward to help Harold. In his journey, joined a motley of characters; all had a different purpose, but they made Harold’s journey their own.

At the end of 87 days after walking 627 miles, Harold reached Berwick to meet Queenie.

Review

If you start reading the book, you will find it very ordinary. A retired old man starting a journey to meet a long-lost friend – what’s so extraordinary about it?

Well, the extraordinary is not in the man – but in the faith of the man that prompts him to make a tediously long journey. The extraordinary is in the humanity that picks up the old man whenever he falters. The extraordinary is in the learning that the man receives during his journey.

The title of the book is apt – it may be journey for some, but for Harold Fry it was a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage he needed to make to atone for his past sins, to be free of the guilt and burden of them and make peace with his present.

I liked Harold Fry for who he is – an honest man who doesn’t like to break his promise. But I also like the other characters in the story who are as lovable as Harold – Rex, who has recently lost his wife and is very helpful to Maureen deal with the absence of Harold and Kate – the only sane person who joins, albeit briefly, Harold in his journey.

I liked the book because of its simple writing, unassuming humor and not-over-the-top emotional drama.

#BookReview of war book - What the day owes the night

Book Review – What the day owes the night

I am taking part in the Write Tribe Reading Challenge and I have opted to read 24 books this year (though I am hoping to read more). There are 24 prompts given, and this book adheres to three of them:

1) A book that is a Translation

3) A book written by someone of a different nationality/color/ethnic group than you

21) A book made into a movie

I will be the first one to admit that I do not enjoy war books. They unsettle me for days on end. And then I reason that wars are a part of our legacy, it has made us what we are. I cannot just turn away from it all. Yes, wars have pain, suffering and loss, but they also have hope, love and courage. And these books show us all. So, taking courage in my hand, I read the English Patient. And I tell you, it was a beautiful book. I found a kind of ethereal beauty in suffering. Emboldened by my read, I picked up What the day owes the night by Yasmina Khadra.

Yasmina Khadra is the female pseudonym of Mohammed Moulessehoul, an Algerian army officer who wanted to avoid submitting his manuscripts to the army for approval. The book was originally written in French “Ce que le jour doit à la nuit” and translated by Frank Wynne.

Plot:

A debt-ridden farmer, Issa moves to a poor neighbourhood of Oran with is wife and two kids, Younes, a 9 year old son and Zahra, a 6 year old daughter. The dirty slum area of Jenane Jato is not for the faint-hearted. While the farmer goes at the break of dawn to search for work and comes home only once the moon is at its peak, young Younes comes across a strange medley of anti-social characters in the neighbourhood. From the orphaned Ouari who catches goldfinches in the scrublands to the war veteran peg-leg who molests young boys and Bliss, the landlord of the slum who later resorts to pimping.

Bad luck doesn’t leave Issa’s side and the obstinately proud farmer decides to give away his son to his brother, Mahi who is a chemist and lives in the affluent European quarter of Oran. The childless couple, Mahi and his French wife, Germaine accepts Younes as their own flesh and blood. Renamed Jonas, the boy gradually loses touch with his old life. Owing to an unfortunate incident involving his uncle, Mahi, the family moves to Rio Salado, a quaint little colonial town just 60 kms away from Oran, known for its vineyards, orange groves and happy boisterous inhabitants. In Rio Salado, Jonas forges a unique friendship with a group of boys that stands the test of time – World War II, love and break ups and the most frightening of them all – the Algerian war for freedom. He meets Emilie, a beautiful girl and falls in love with her, but destiny has something else written for him.

The book is about Younes’s journey from the slum to the countryside, from a young body to an adult, and from past to present and back, which builds his beliefs and reinforces them.

Review:

It is a book about a simple boy who is a hero in his own unassuming way. The book is divided into segments each marking an important milestone in Younes’ life. As you move from one segment into another, you feel the ominous change in the young boy’s life.

The first half of the book talks about the transformation of the young blue-eyed boy from Younes to Jonas, his coming to Rio Salado and finding life-long friendship. In the second half of the book, the story picks up pace. With the internal war as the backdrop, it touches on Jonas finding love, losing friends and his surprising stoicism in face of all odds.

Younes or Jonas is a very well-etched out character. The character is so relatable that it could be you, me or the boy next door. A Muslim bought up by a French catholic mother, Jonas has never paid much importance to religion or race. However, time and again, it is thrown in his face and his loyalty is questioned – whether it is by his own friends, the people of his race or the mother of his only true love, Emilie. A quiet loving person and a loyal friend, Jonas is misunderstood by the people he loves the most. A man of his word, he loses more into the bargain than he thought was possible owing to his silence. You can feel his dilemma when he fails to choose sides between the rebels and the France and you can feel his horror at the mindless violence. Your heart constantly reaches out to the young fellow who gives it all but asks for little in return except acceptance.

The author has a way with words especially when it comes to describing the human suffering. If you find the description of the underbelly of Oran beautiful, you will be moved upon reading the suffering from the aftermath of the war.

In Rio Salado, houses stood empty, shutters banging, windows dark, and great piles of clothes and chattels lay piled up in the street. …People rain about, confused, their eyes glazed, forsaken by their saints, their guardian angels. Madness, fear, grief, ruin, tragedy had but one face : it was theirs.

Families searched for each other in the crowds, children wept, old men slept on their suitcases, praying in their sleep that they might never wake.

It reminds me of this famous line from the poem Barbara by French Poet Jacques Prévert – “Oh Barbara, quelle connerie la guerre” (Oh Barbara, what madness is this war?).

Because be it any war, for right or for wrong – it is the humanity that comes out as the biggest loser each time.

Another thing that appealed to my romantic nerve is the way the author has talked about seasons without being lavish about them.

Winter tiptoed away one night.

The winter of 1960 was so harsh that even our prayers froze, we could almost hear them dropping from heaven and shattering on the hard ground.

If you have read and enjoyed Camus’ insights as an outsider, this book shows you the colonized Algeria of 70 years ago from within. Read this book to know the true meaning of love and friendship, and loyalty and promise.

Finishing a good book is like parting with an old friend. What the day owes the night is one such book.

 

Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019

2018 was a good year in terms of reading. I read a lot, more than I had thought, all thanks to the library that opened near my place with a beautiful collection of books and also because of the wonderful bloggers I met this year who recommended some lovely books of diverse genres.

I want to continue my reading spree and what better way than to enrol myself in a reading challenge. Corinne Rodrigues of Write Tribe came up with this lovely reading challenge and needless to say I hopped on to it.

What is the challenge?

The reading challenge is divided in three parts.

1. Commit to read a minimum of 24 books in 2019. (2 books a month – that’s simply doable!)

2. Read a minimum of 12 books based on the prompts given. (Find the prompts on the below link)

3. Review one book a month. (I know, I know – but if you really put your heart into it, it’s not that tough!)

You need not be a blogger to participate to click on this link and join the party.

And paste this badge in the sidebar of your site to help you motivate and let people know you have taken up this challenge.

Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019