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The very last page of Erin Morgenstern's stunning debut novel,
The Night Circus, (don't worry--I'm not revealing any secrets) is a list of acknowledgments in which she thanks "a number of associates and conspirators behind this book," people without whom the book would not have taken the shape that it did. Although many authors have such acknowledgments pages, in this case I truly believe her. It's not that I think the story is not hers, nor that she could not have written it without help, it's just that the entire novel has a collaborative feel, as though many voices have been heard, many eyes have given their perspective, before the author crafted the perfect, winding narrative.
And that's part of the magic of this book. It is one of those rare delights in which the
manner of the story telling is the exact compliment to the story itself. The story winds around the narrative, with each small chapter taking place in a different time or place or from a different perspective, yet all leading to the larger picture--the larger
experience--of the Circus of Dreams. The subject of the novel--a magical circus that is only open at night and which has many small circular tents arranged in winding circular patterns within a single circular gate--is described perfectly by the non-linear arrangement and fairy tale tone of the book.
