I just read this book. The prose is absolutely lovely, but I read this whole book feeling like I was missing something. The plot was just… empty? It felt like the author had the while story in their mind, but neglected to actually make the details of it clear to the reader.
There wasn’t any real emotional investment in almost anyone. It felt like the main characters barely had any interaction before they were madly in love, and there’s a scene that I think is supposed to be this awful, heartbreaking scene, but the response of the characters just wasn’t there.
It was definitely not a terrible book, and as I said, the writing style was lovely. It was just one of those books where I finished it, but didn’t want to just… rest? in the world afterwords, and probably won’t read it again.
Did you read it? Did you like it?
by aboxacaraflatafan
7 Comments
I really liked it, but I don’t know if I would if I read it again.
I’ve read it, I liked it! However I had a glaring complaint and it was all Marco. I hated that man. Very much a copy and paste from another book post, but Isobel did not deserve any of the treatment that she got from him. She volunteers herself to help him with his game, an endeavor lasting Years, and gets treated terribly for it. He never officially breaks up with her, so Isobel is justifiably concerned about Marco’s flagrant interest in Celia, yet, Isobel is never mean to Celia about it. She is immediately proven correct in the sense, that Marco gains full intentions of dropping Isobel like some dead dog for Celia, without ever talking to Isobel about his desires at all. Almost immediately after he meets Celia, Marco goes around treating Isobel like TRASH. He goes on multiple times about how she means nothing to him, when she had not done a single wrong thing to him. She had done nothing but attempt to help him in a game that he ended up having no intention in playing. He refuses to engage with her in any form of conversation, and when she tries to press a conversation towards the end of the book, he just constantly cuts her off and refuses to listen to anything she’s saying. Horrendous man! Dead ah I thought for a second that the circus staff were gonna turn on Marco, and that Marco was going to turn into some kind of obsessive, power mad villain by the end, someone who could not be told no.
Yeah. I kept feeling like the author was just describing things. Maybe the author was so certain about the feelings or how compelling the characters were that they felt it was self-evident. But for me I was just waiting for SOMETHING to happen.
As a book to start the year with, this was certainly the wrong choice. There was an element of possibility to it. To the characters, to the plot, to the world, to the concept, that all just went unexplored. Rather, the author chose to portray something common place, something typical. Which wouldn’t have been an issue if I hadn’t had the feeling, while reading, that I was supposed to be impressed by it. >!Genuinely, was I supposed to feel something when Tara and Friedrick died? The only thing I felt was irritation when I realised that their deaths, the aftermath, wasn’t something that was going to be dealt with. It was like dropping an ice cream, really, even to the characters themselves. The Bailey, Poppet, and Widget plotline was the most interesting bit of the story, and even that was kind of limp.!<
That was my reaction to the book as well. I kept expecting to love it, but I just…didn’t. I liked it. it’s a pleasant read, for the prose, as you said. But I just wasn’t deeply engaged. I kept expecting more to happen. The whole thing felt very low stakes.
I did read her next book, The Starless Sea, and I adored it. And it’s funny because I know a lot of people were very disappointed in that one. Many who read it said they adored Night Circus and expected so much from Starless Sea but it didn’t deliver. Maybe try Starless Sea and see if that one works better for you.
I’ve once heard of someone describe Erin Morgenstern like book version of the beaver with cotton candy, and I think that is absolutely true. Very nice in prose, but not much substance.
That said, maybe check out Ocean Vuong if you like the writing/prose?
I’ve read it after one of my friends raved about it and said it was what love was supposed to be like, etc. (in highsight he was in his 40s, and his longest relationship was 6 months, with most of it being long distance)
It really wasn’t the book for me. They seemed to magically be in love at the snap of the fingers, with no real reason as to why, or any character depth. It felt like a child’s idea of love to me. The book main plot point was that they were in love and were fighting for love, which didn’t work for me. Why are you in love? How are you connected?
Realistically, it was an ok book and really needed more development to be great.