I have been thinking a lot about a book I recently read. It's called The Night Circus. For some reason, I'm just extremely intrigued by circus novels, circus movies and anything circus related. It's not because I have a love for acrobats or elephants. It's the vintage stories that are behind those involved with a circus that are so mysterious and enchanting. My favorite musician, Patty Griffin, said that the circus her parents took her to when she was a child, really left an impression on her, so much that she wrote a song about it...called "Trapeze." Though I don't have any significant memories of attending a circus....there's definitely an impression left in my heart after reading The Night Circus.
The book wasn't at all what I expected it to be. It's an amazingly creative story about two remarkable people who not only fall in love...but the collaboration of their incredible minds create the most amazing circus you could ever imagine. This circus isn't a "big top" type circus. It's more like something that you would only imagine in a complex, but wonderful, dream. The way the author described each tent and every detail involved, is beyond anything I have ever created in my mind.
The author describes everything so well, that you can literally imagine your self inside the black and white striped tents, while smelling caramel corn and hot apple cider. Everything about the circus is black and white...the tents, the costumes and clothing, the props....everything, which I absolutely love. Even with two of the simplest of colors, the author was still able to create such a dazzling picture in your mind of how this amazing circus appeared.
I actually imagined myself at the anniversary party at the mansion where everything was perfect and artistic...and full of color. The bright, vibrant and beautiful colors exploding in my head, while reading that chapter were so much more extreme and real, because of the fact that the circus is always black and white. This chapter was such a delight to read and just took me on a mesmerizing journey of enchantment in my head. It was my favorite chapter.
To be an actual part of the reveurs...now that would be amazing! They were basically circus followers, on a sophisticated scale. They weren't like "panic people," who show up barefoot with dreads desperate to get into the gates. They were respectable, Le Cirque des Reves loving people who followed it by location, through letters and stories. To be a reveur, I imagine, would be to live a lifetime of adventure, excitement, art and beauty. And to be able to share those passions with other people across the world would be wonderful. It makes me want to paint my bedroom walls with black and white stripes and knit myself a crimson scarf.
The relationship between Celia and the twins, Poppet and Widget, was probably my favorite part of the book. Because, while Celia and Marco had "teachers" for the game that they were raised and trained to play....Celia was, in a way, the twins' teacher, with drastically opposite intentions. She looked out for them, and they became one of the biggest reasons why Celia actually loved the "venue" in which she was destined to destroy the one she loved, or be destroyed in.
I think that imagination is really what pulled everything together at the end of this heart wrenching, riveting story. Most people only believe what they know to be true and their imagination will only take them so far, until it becomes too unreal. The collaborative imagination of Celia and Marco not only created this marvelous circus, but the epic love that they have for one another ultimately becomes the circus.
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