Erin Morgenstern And I
My love-hate relationship with the author
Erin Morgenstern is an American author known for her exquisite and ornate writing style. She has published two full-length novels — The Night Circus and The Starless Sea. And today, I am here to dissect what worked for me and what didn’t while reading her stories.
Even though The Night Circus was published in 2011, I came to know of its existence in 2018 and it was mid-2019 when I got my hands on this book. Upon starting the book, I connected to the story and the characters within the first few pages and it took me a mere couple of days to finish the book. I admired almost everything about the book — the concept, the writing style, the narration, and the characters.
So you can imagine my elation when I realized the author was writing another book, The Starless Sea. Although I managed to obtain a copy by early 2020, I came around to reading it much later.
Once I read The Starless Sea, my conflict with Erin Morgenstern’s writing and narrative style began.
Both books had enticing storylines. As the name suggests, “The Night Circus” is about a circus that remains open throughout the night and provides visitors with a magical experience. At its core, the circus also hosts a magical competition between two magicians. The two magicians interact with each other through the circus, and the turmoils they undergo during the competition are one of the main threads of the story.
“The Starless Sea,” on the other hand, is about a young man who discovers that he has been mentioned in a cryptic book. This discovery leads him on a journey through an underground maze where stories and storytellers can take refuge.
The writing is exquisite in both novels. Beautiful allegory has been employed to describe the scenes and narrate the sequences. However, I perceived the remarkable depictions of the world in these books in opposite manners.
The Writing
The writing in The Night Circus bewitched me. The writing painted a vivid image in my head and I loved it for that. Reading it left me in a happy and surreal place. The writing style had me admiring the author’s imagination, and her knack for transforming images into words on the pages.
On the other hand, the writing in The Starless Sea left me somewhere in the middle of befuddled and frustrated. In contrast to the soothing writing style of The Night Circus, the writing in this book felt very jarring. The narration still had a lot of whimsy, but it began to come in the way of story-telling. It stood as a wall between the story’s intent and me.
The writing also started to drag the pace of the narration. Time and again, I found myself wishing the author would get to the point so that I could get on with the story. It felt as if the author had made an intentional effort to make everything look good and this deliberation took away a lot of my enjoyment from the story.
Presence of A Plot
Another point of contention between the two stories was the plot or rather the presence of it. The plot was blatantly absent from The Starless Sea. The story didn’t seem to have any central theme or goal that it wanted to achieve.
Without any goal, the main character’s “adventure” (if one can call it that) appeared futile. At any stage, I could never understand where the story was headed. It felt like getting lost in a maze and staying lost forever. Try as I might, I couldn’t comprehend what I was supposed to get from the story. Was the story about getting lost in the maze, or about getting out of it, or about the maze itself? I didn’t know then, and I don’t know any better now.
Contrarily, The Night Circus had an engaging plot, as most stories with competitions do. Looking forward to how the competition would progress was an immensely memorable experience. The plot was not fast-paced or involved a lot of action, but it did the job it had to do. It kept me turning the pages. The desire to know what happened next kept me hooked on the story.
The Characters
Lastly, let’s discuss the characters in both the stories. I strongly believe that a bond needs to be forged between readers and the characters in the tale for the readers to enjoy the reading experience. If you care for the characters, following them through the pages of the novel becomes a walk in the park irrespective of the story’s pace.
Unfortunately, I struggled to care for the characters in The Starless Sea. Lacking a connection with the characters, I couldn’t see and appreciate their motivations for their choices. Most of the time was spent wondering why a character did or did not take a particular action. I was far removed from the characters, and therefore, miles away from their story. It was utterly opposite to how I felt about the characters of The Night Circus.
The Night Circus had characters I could relate to and thus root for. They were portrayed with such finesse that getting to know the characters and their background seemed effortless. Not only did I admire the characters, but I also enjoyed the interactions between different characters. As I was interested in the characters, I was engrossed in their story.
Even though both books had great storylines and exquisite writing, The Night Circus had a solid cast of characters with an engaging plot. The Starless Sea, on the other hand, lacked on both accounts.
The Night Circus and its reading experience are very close to my heart. I felt that this story had everything — a good story, a great set of characters, and a beautiful narration that kept me glued to the pages. Sadly, I couldn’t give The Starless Sea the same love and admiration. Between the lack of a plot and lackluster characters, I lost my interest in this tale, and reading the novel was exhausting.
Where The Night Circus felt incredibly wholesome, The Starless Sea couldn’t even sum up all its parts. I envy anyone who could relate to this book and came to love it because I genuinely wanted to.
Have you read either or both of these books?
What were your thoughts? How did you find my assessments of both books? Let me know in the comments.
Note: This article was originally published here. Republishing it on Substack with minor edits.