Noćni cirkus - Erin Morgenstern (HRV & ENG)

Moja ocjena: 3 / 5

Goodreads ocjena: 4,03 / 5

Izdavač: Fraktura Publika

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"Cirkus stiže bez najave.

Ne prethode mu nikakve objave. Naprosto je tamo, a još jučer nije ga bilo. Crno--bijeli platneni šatori kriju jedinstveno, neponovljivo iskustvo prepuno iznenađenja što oduzimaju dah. Zovu ga Le Cirque des Reves i radi isključivo noću."

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Na ovom svijetu postoje dvije skupine ljudi i knjiga koja ih povezuje. Jednu skupinu čine oni koji ju apsolutno obožavaju i svima preporučuju, dok drugu skupinu čine oni kojima se baš i nije toliko svidjela.

Nevjerojatno mi je, ali istovremeno razumljivo, kako se nekim ljudima određena knjiga svidi, dok drugima baš i ne. Dok jedni na sva zvona šire vijest o svom omiljenom naslovu, drugi za njega ne žele ni čuti. Ali opet... sto ljudi, sto ćudi - i nema šanse da se svima sve svidi.

Što se tiče Noćnog cirkusa, sebe iskreno mogu svrstati u drugu skupinu ljudi. Ne mogu reći da me knjiga oduševila - zapravo se radi o jednoj lijepo ispričanoj priči, ali izostao mi je taj osjećaj oduševljenja i želje da čitam bez prekida sve dok zadnju stranicu ne pročitam.

Mogu čak reći i ovako: Radnja je nestalna poput cirkusa. Likovi su nestalni poput cirkusa. Zapleti i raspleti su poput cirkusa. Kako se on pojavljuje, tako se i oni pojavljuju. A kako on nestaje, nestaju i oni s njime.

Sukobi među likovima rješavaju se kao da se nalazite u nekom polupijanom stanju. U jednom trenutku pratite sukob kako bi u drugom trenutku lik bio sam u prostoriji i razmišljao kako se ondje našao. Tajne izlaze na površinu, ali sa samim su izlaskom jednako brzo zakopane, a još brže zaboravljene. Nadate se da ćete se naći usred neke napete radnje, ali samo što ste ušli, radnja se razrješava na krajnje brz i magičan način, a vi bivate ostavljeni bez odgovora.

Čitavo vam se vrijeme u fokus stavlja činjenica kako se odigrava natjecanje za koje nitko ne zna - osim četvero ljudi. Sudionika i njihovih mentora. Godine prolaze. Natjecatelji bivaju pripremani za natjecanje, ali nije vama, a ni njima rečeno kada se odvija ni na koji način.

Jedino što znate jest lokacija - Noćni cirkus.

Gotovo cijelu radnju pratimo Celiu i Marca, naše glavne protagoniste i natjecatelje, te ljude međusobno povezane s njima. Marco je asistent vlasnika cirkusa i njegov je posao biti što više u toku sa radom cirkusa, na njemu raditi razne preinake i brinuti se kako magija ne bi nestala.

S druge strane pratimo Celiu Bowen, kćerku nekadašnjeg cirkuskog mađioničara - točnije, jednog od najvećih koji su ikad živjeli. Ona ima ulogu mađioničarke u cirkusu i zapravo isti zadatak kao i Marco, a to je kako nadograditi cirkus, pobrinuti se da se kotačići vrte i, u konačnici, kako pokazati da si bolji od protivnika.

Ali... pita se Goga: Koji je cilj toga? Što likovi trebaju raditi? Kakvo je to natjecanje? Koja je nagrada namijenjena pobjedniku? Što ako odluče odustati? Koje su posljedice?

I još mnoga druga pitanja sam si postavljala tokom čitanja, u nadi da će mi knjiga, u jednom trenutku, odlučiti pružiti željene odgovore.

Inače sam svakog jutra čitala po (ni manje ni više) 50 stranica u nadi da će se nešto odviti - da će konačno doći do akcije, do magije, do fakat konkretnog natjecanja ili bilo kakvog trenutka koji će me natjerati da ne ispuštam knjigu do samog kraja. Ali nekako sam dobila dojam kako se sve to izgubilo.

Kao da je autorica imala ograničenje od 430 stranica i morala "zbubati" što je više mogla, a na tom putu je izgubila smisao i ideju što je zapravo htjela prikazati. Možda nije bio fokus u samom natjecanju, ali samim je početkom radnje izravno nametnuto čitatelju na što bi se trebao usmjeriti i što iščekivati. Možda nas je namjerno htjela zavarati? Možda se radi o uvodu u nešto veće?

Jedino što mi je baš, baš slatko u čitavoj priči i što ne bih htjela propustiti spomenuti, su blizanci Murphy. Radi se o djevojčici i dječaku, djeci zaposlenika cirkusa, koji su rođeni u samoj noći prvog otvorenja cirkusa. Dolaskom na ovaj svijet, dječak Widget dobiva sposobnost čitanja prošlosti, dok djevojčica Poppet vidi budućnost.

I njih su dvoje iznimno zreli za svoj mali broj godina, ali s obzirom da imaju otvorena vrata u svijet prošlosti i budućnosti, djeluju sasvim mirno i bezbrižno. Nekako mi je Poppet čak draža od Widgeta, više mi je prirasla srcu i nekako je ugodnije tokom radnje na mene djelovala. Zamišljam sam si djevojčicu vatrene boje kose prepune kovrčica, obučene u slatku bijelu haljinicu, bijele rukavice i još slađe cipelice. Ispod cipelica vide se čipkasti volančići njezinih čarapica, a na glavi nosi bijeli šeširić. Uistinu predivan prizor... :)

A sad si još zamislite kako stojite na ulazu u Cirkus i čekate na red da kupite kartu. Posvuda oko vas nalaze se ljudi koji jedva čekaju svoju ulaznicu kako bi ušli i okusili dio tog magičnog kolača. Podižete glavu jer vam nešto odvraća pažnju. Iznad sebe ugledate ogroman i nadasve veličanstven sat prepun rezbarija i detalja.

Taj sat, sa svakim novim punim otkucajem, ponire u svoju unutrašnjost i iznosi pripadajuću figuru te ju pokazuje svijetu - upravo kako bi se svijet mogao diviti njezinoj ljepoti. Veličanstven je krajnje nezahvalna riječ budući da se radi o radu osobe koja je, dok je stvarala svaki dio tog sata, razmišljala samo o tomu koliko je Cirkus nestvaran i magičan. I koliko se jako želi u njemu izgubiti, uživati u svakoj predstavi i moliti se da taj doživljaj nikad ne nestane. E to je jedan od detalja koje nikad neću zaboraviti.

Kako bih zaključila ovu objavu, željela bih vas ipak nagovoriti da date priliku Noćnom cirkusu - jer ja ne gledam samo kroz svoje oči niti imam kroničnu potrebu silom vam pod nos gurati svoje mišljenje.

Moje mišljenje je da, unatoč tomu što se meni nije svidjela, možda se vama baš svidi... I možda baš vi pronađete tu čaroliju koja je meni izostala.

Kod svake knjige, koje se primim, kakva god ona bila, ipak želim potaknuti da pročitate. Nismo svi isti niti nam se sviđaju iste stvari, ali ako vi vidite nešto što je nekomu moguće promaknulo, tada je to možda upravo taj začin koji nedostaje čitavoj čaroliji da zasja punom snagom. Podijelite ga s drugima i možda nekomu ipak otvorite oči. :)

Do iduće objave,

Voli vas vaša Goga

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My rating: 3/5

Goodreads rating: 4.03 / 5

Publisher: Fraktura Publika

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"The circus is arriving without notice.

No announcements precede it. He's just there, and he wasn't there yesterday. Black and white canvas tents hide a unique, unrepeatable experience full of breathtaking surprises. They call it Le Cirque des Reves and it only works at night. "

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There are two groups of people in this world and a book that connects them. One group consists of those who absolutely adore it and recommend it to everyone, while the other group consists of those who did not like it so much.

It's amazing to me, but at the same time understandable, how some people like a certain book while others don't. While some are spreading the word about their favorite title, others don't even want to hear about it. But again ... a hundred people, a hundred whims - and there's no way everyone will like everything.

As for The Night Circus, I can honestly classify myself as a member of the other group of people. I can't say that the book thrilled me - it's actually a beautiful story, but I lacked that sense of enthusiasm and desire to read without interruption until I read until the last page.

I can even say this: The plot is as volatile as the Circus. The characters are as fickle as the Circus. The plots and unfoldings are like the Circus. As it appears, so do they. And as it disappears, so do those with him.

Conflicts between the characters are resolved as if you were in a semi-drunk state of mind. At one point you follow the conflict so that at another point the character is alone in the room thinking about how he got there. The secrets come to the surface, but with the release they are buried just as quickly, and forgotten even faster. You hope to find yourself in the middle of some tense action, but as soon as you enter, the action is resolved in an extremely fast and magical way, and you are left unanswered.

All the time you are focused on the fact that a competition is taking place that no one knows about - except four people. Participants and their mentors. Years are passing. Competitors are prepared for the competition, but neither you nor they are told when it takes place.

All you know is the location - The Night Circus.

We follow Celia and Marco, our main protagonists and contestants, and the people connected to them, almost the entire plot. Marco is an assistant to the circus owner and his job is to be as up-to-date as possible with the work of the circus, to make various alterations to it and to make sure that the magic does not disappear.

On the other hand, we follow Celia Bowen, the daughter of a former circus magician - more precisely, one of the greatest who have ever lived. She has the role of a magician in the Circus and has actually the same task as Marco, and that is how to upgrade the circus, make sure the wheels are spinning and, ultimately, how to show that you are better than your opponent.

But... Goga wonders: What is the goal of that? What should the competitors do? What kind of competition is that? What prize is intended for the winner? What if they decide to give up? What are the consequences?

And many other questions I asked myself while reading, hoping that the book would, at some point, decide to give me the answers I wanted.

By the way, every morning I read (no less than 50) pages in the hope that something will happen - that there will finally be action, magic, a concrete competition or any moment that will make me not drop the book until the very end. But somehow I got the impression that it was all lost.

It was as if the author had a limit of 430 pages and had to “bubble up” as much as she could, and along the way she lost the meaning and the idea of ​​what she actually wanted to portray. It may not have been the focus of the competition itself, but from the very beginning the plot was directly imposed on the reader on what to focus on and what to expect. Maybe she deliberately wanted to fool us? Maybe it's an introduction to something bigger?

The only thing that’s really, really sweet to me in the whole story and that I wouldn’t want to miss to mention, are the Murphy twins. It is about a girl and a boy, the children of circus employees, who were born on the very night of the first opening of the Circus. Coming to this world, the boy Widget gains the ability to read the past, while the girl Poppet sees the future.

Both of them are extremely mature for their small number of years, but since they have an open door to the world of the past and the future, they act quite calmly and carefree. Somehow Poppet is even dearer to me than Widget. She has grown closer to my heart and somehow she has acted more pleasantly on me during the plot. I imagine a girl with fiery hair full of curls, dressed in a cute white dress, white gloves and even sweeter shoes. The lace ruffles of her socks can be seen under her shoes, and she wears a white hat on her head. Truly a beautiful sight ... :)

And now imagine standing at the entrance to the Circus and waiting in line to buy a ticket. All around you are people who can’t wait for their ticket to come in and taste a piece of that magical cake. You raise your head because something is distracting you. You see a huge and above all magnificent clock full of carvings and details.

That clock, with each new full beat, plunges into its interior and brings out the corresponding figure and shows it to the world - just so that the world can admire its beauty. Magnificent is an extremely ungrateful word since it is the work of a person who, while creating every part of that clock, thought only about how unreal and magical the Circus is. And how much one wants to get lost in it, enjoy every show and pray that this experience never disappears. That is one of the details that I will never forget.

To conclude this post, I would like to persuade you to give The Night Circus a chance - because I'm not just looking through my eyes, nor do I have a chronic need to force my opinion under your nose.

My opinion is that, despite the fact that I didn't like it, maybe you could really like it ... And maybe you will find that magic that I missed.

With every book I take, whatever it is, I still want to encourage you to read it. We’re not all the same nor do we like the same things, but if you see something that someone may have missed, then maybe it’s just that spice that the whole spell lacks to shine with full force. Share it with others and maybe you will open someone’s eyes after all. :)

Until the next post,

Your Goga loves you