Picks of the Week

Erin Morgenstern captures magic and love in her beautifully written novel, The Night Circus. Suspenseful and romantic, The Night Circus tells the love story of a young pair of magicians who are engaged in a lengthy battle of illusion and deceit.

What I liked: I really liked this novel because it was well written. It was easy to appreciate Morgernstern’s craft and literature. If you’re attracted to metaphor and poetic literature, this an excellent read. In fact, the literature was what I appreciated most about this novel. Morgenstern has a way of engaging an audience with her  manipulation of language — it’s quite like magic. There were some elements of mystery, and the concept of magic in this novel was interesting. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, it also helped that Marco Alisdair was a BAMF.

What I didn’t like: The battle dragged. Thirteen years was way too long, and it wasn’t really interesting. The magic that drew me in lasted about seven years or so. The plot was… shrouded in mystery would be the best way to put it. Morgenstern creates a lot of tension, but I feel it was never really resolved in a way that satisfied me.

 

 

I actually just watched The Amazing Spider-Man last night. I have only three words to say: it was alright. The director, Marc Webb, also directed the very lovely 500 Days of Summer, so I was really looking forward to seeing this piece of work.

What I liked: Cinematography, I think, is Webb’s greatest strength in this film. That was his strength in 500 Days of Summer too. The angles at which the scenes were shot were effective in capturing each moment, and drew me in. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone was believable (they are dating after all), and I appreciated that this movie followed the comics more closely.

What I didn’t like: Corny dialogue. Period.