The Night Circus

You will rarely hear me start a review with the phrase “I didn’t like this book.”  After years of forcing myself to finish books that I don’t like, recently I have started to be more comfortable stopping mid-read if I am not interested.  There are too many good books out there to struggle through the bad ones.  Now.  That said….

I didn’t like this book.

This was a special case though, so I did read the whole book.  I listened to the first half as an audiobook during a long road trip and I had a hard time concentrating and paying attention; never the mark of a well-written, plot-driven book.  But I didn’t give up after the road trip because I was thinking that maybe this particular book doesn’t lend itself to being read out loud.  So I read the rest myself.

I still didn’t like this book.

Here’s why.  The book jacket lies.  It promises a “fierce competition” going on behind the scenes.  This implies some action, right?  NOPE.  Nothing.  In fact, one of the players of the competition doesn’t even know who the opponent is!  The other one?  Doesn’t DO anything.  That, friends, is a boooooring comptetition, not a fierce one.

Another lie: “a deep, passionate, magical love story”.  You can call me a bitter old spinster, but if this is what passionate love is like, I’ll stay single, thanks.  This “love” story doesn’t start until the end of the book, and even when it does I missed it.  On one page, the two players in the “fierce competition” couldn’t be bothered with one another, and then all of a sudden, they were madly in love.  I read another review that apparently there was a sex scene in the book, but I can’t even remember it.  And let me repeat that I read this book.  All of it.

I do want to add a caveat that a lot of people I know and who’s book opinions I respect really loved this book.  I think it is one of those books that you either love or hate.  I didn’t love it, which means that I…..yeah.