Night Circus

We read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern this month.  Reviews on Wednesday night were mixed with, I would have to say, great variability within the group.  Two of us rather enjoyed the writing about circuses, magic and love and were able to enjoy slipping into a bit of fantasy.  Others found some merit but found the novel a bit of a chore to wade through.  While others arrived armed with the condemningly a negative NY Times review-you know who you are.  One of us had actually read the book the year before and found it so unforgettable that they forgot they read it until we decided on it as our choice this month.

One thing we all agreed on was that the ending was confusing and didn't seem to fit. The resolution of the forbidden love story set in a fantasy world was not well developed and didn't seem to work.  We wondered if the author got a bit stuck with the ending.  Others wondered about a sequel in the works-thus the ending.  We also pondered what the author's inspiration was for the novel.  While we each found some characters who were interesting, we agreed that character development was weak and the plot was lacking.  For some of us the magic was enough-for others that was not the case. 

For next month, we are reading Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus.  Chrysanne had read a novel by her and made the suggestion.  We are meeting at Terry's, hopefully on January 9th at 7PM.