Book Reviews

I mentioned quite a while ago that I would write reviews for the two books I recently read.  ANd then I forgot.  And then I would remember as I read another book before bed.  But I don't want to write reviews then.  So finally, here are the promised reviews.  In a slightly more condensed version now that it's been months to weeks since I've finished them.

The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern

I had high hopes for this one.  I got it as a gift for Christmas and read it a couple months later.  It's about two magicians'  apprentices battling in the late 1800- early 1900s while they work in a circus that is only open at night.  Awesome premise right?

The first half is very good.  The descriptions of the circus are fantastic, flowery confections.  The characters are interesting as they interact, since only one of the two battling apprentices (Celia and Marco) knows who his adversary is.

The book cover promises a love affair between Celia and Marco which does not get underway until probably 3/4 of the way through the book.  Since I was waiting since page one, I found this annoying.

Also, the nature of the battle is not as climactic or straightforward as I was expecting. They are just supposed to create better, more intricate, more difficult tents within the circus.  (For example, one is the cloud tent, where it appears that you are walking through clouds as you wind your way up the tent.)  And then when the weaker apprentice cannot handle the strain of managing so many tents, it's over.  Because that one dies.  There's not really any dueling or anything fun like that.

Also, about 2/3 through the book some random character from the future (not our future, just the future of the book, like 1900 as opposed to 1887 or whatever).  Then this character, Bailey, winds his way into the main narrative and


(SPOILER ALERT)
ends up saving the circus or whatever.  I'm still not clear on how that worked, since he didn't start out magical.  But whatever.
(end of SPOILER ALERT)


There was a distinct problem with pacing too.  I don't know if it was because each chapter is preceded by the date it takes place and this spans a number of decades.  Things take a long time to get rolling (number of years as well as pages).  Or if the stately and descriptive cadence set by the first half of the book doesn't match up with the quicker pace of the end.  I felt like a lot was crammed into the end of this book, and not everything seemed as well-explained or built up to as it should have been.  It's kind of hard to explain this one, but I hope you got it.

Lastly, the characters of Celia and Marco still didn't seem fleshed out enough.  They fall in love too quickly.  Or kind of randomly?  I don't know, I felt their relationship wasn't built up enough when it finally happened.  And Marco is a little flat for being a main character.  He just doesn't do much, and how he becomes a magician's apprentice is weird.  But what's weirder is that he doesn't think getting picked up out of a boarding school by this random guy and then left alone in his own room and then apartment is very strange.  I think part of the problem might have been that Marco's thoughts were not  known enough by the reader.

I was kind of expecting a lot out of this book and it let me down.  As awesome as the premise is and how lovely the descriptions are, there are some pacing, character and plot issues.  Not to mention the obnoxiously placed email address at the very end of the book.  The events that transpired were meant to take place over a century ago, and you finish with an email?  Let me explain, throughout the book there are page-long descriptive scenes that let you "walk through the circus".  They are in 2nd person and the book closes with one of these scenes.  Where you get a business card for the owner of the circus.  With his damn email on the back.  Am I supposed to email this yatz?  Are you kidding me, Erin Morgenstern?  But anyway, the last quarter of the book really fell flat to me, and that is why I'm left wanting a visit to a better circus.


Heidegger's Glasses
by Thaisa Frank

Did you know the Nazis were incredibly suspicious?  So suspicious and fascinated by the occult that they thought that letters sent to the dead should be answered so that the ghosts would be satisfied and wouldn't bother psychics and mediums for answers, inadvertently revealing the Final Solution?  This is the premise of Heidegger's Glasses.

It's a work of fiction, but it describes some of the horrors of the Holocaust from a strange perspective: Jewish letter writers in an underground complex that were saved from being sent to Auschwitz by their abilities to speak various languages.  One of my favorite parts of the book that is also quite chilling is when we learn how each of the scribes came to be in the compound, what language they spoke, shouted or whispered that saved them from being sent to a concentration camp.

Between each chapter is a letter.  The original language above with an English translation below it.  They are from people in the concentration camps.  Some are obviously written under coercion from a Nazi, since they say how great it is where they are and that the person they are writing to should come meet them.  Understandably, the scribes in the compound don't answer very many letters a day, since just reading them is difficult.

Elie, the main character, works in the compound for the Germans while secretly sneaking as many people across the border and getting as much food and supplies that she can for the compound.  She is in love with Lodenstein, the German soldier assigned to the compound who sympathizes with the Jews and throughout the course of the story does his share of rescuing.

The characters are compelling and are clearly pushed to their limits as they deal with uncompromising circumstances of life and death as WWII come to a close.

One problem I had was the wrapping up of the ending.  Elie and Lodenstien are separated as the war ends.  The reader read about them looking for each other then we switch gears and follow around the child of two of the inhabitants of the compound.  Wait a minute.  What the hell happens between them?

(SPOILER ALERT)
I think I know the answer, they never see each other again.  Elie and Lodenstein are forced to live out their days terribly alone and unhappy.  So much for surviving the goddamn war.  But really?  I have to infer this?
(end SPOILER ALERT)

I didn't like how book was ended with the thoughts of a character we just met a few pages ago. Otherwise, it was a solid novel, though like all Holocaust-centered stories, quite sad.