Shelf Indulgence Book Club discussion

Let's discuss part 2 of The Night Circus (pages 117-293! WARNING, if you have not read up to page 293, there may be spoilers down below.
*PLEASE NO SPOILERS PAST PAGE 293*

I am so glad I finally reached the point where Marco and Celia finally meet in person and she figures out who he is! But then it jumped to other characters... :(
I'm not fully finished with part two yet, but I'm excited to see how their relationship develops now that they are actually interacting.

I have more thoughts on part two, but will talk about those when I finish this part.

So these are some thoughts that I had during part two... I feel so alone not being able to talk to Hannah in person about all this because she hasn't started the book yet!! ((Get on it, Hannah! lol))

I'm still disappointed that we don't get more information about the formation of the challenge and the history of the two men that tangled Marco and Celia in it. Why isn't the reader let in on the rules of the game? How many times have the two men orchestrated this before? How do the two men know each other and why are they using pawns between them?
These are things that are actually making me frustrated as I read. I know that sometimes authors will withhold information for it to be revealed later on, and sprinkle in revelations as the story progresses, but I don't feel we are getting enough. :(

By the end of this part when we get to see Celia and Marco interact, I was done! I don't know how the author crafted their moment so perfectly, but I literally felt myself falling in love with how these two feel together. I swoon every time they're together.

I know I'm still craving more from the character building, but it seems as the story progresses that it's getting better. And now that I'm looking back, there does seem to be some character stuff hidden beneath the surface, but I'd like it to be more prominent.

Any one else have similar thoughts?

I honestly am not liking the character development. Maybe if it didn’t jump around so much it would be better. I feel kind of dumb for being confused on some of it. Everyone seems to love this book!

Hahaha I just saw this as I am now getting to this point!

THANK YOU JULIE! I'm so glad I'm not the only one confused when reading this book!

I am loving the characters in this but again I feel like I'm getting snapshots of them versus fully understanding them. I loved Celia and Marcos meeting and how even they don't understand what is fully going on but I wish we knew more still.

So am I getting this correct that they are building the circus and manipulating the people in it?... Is that there game?

I understand having some mystery in it but not to the point where I feel confused about whats going on. I do understand the hype surrounding this book with the beautiful writing however I don't really think it has a strong plot line.

Good question. There is definitely manipulation involved, but after reading the whole thing, I still don’t know who all was involved in the manipulating. If you figure it out let me know lol.

I completely agree with all these comments! We need more information. I understand keeping the characters blind about the game but the reader needs to know something. We are more than half way through the book and I feel like I don't know anything and I'm very confused at times. I have so many tabs in my books with "?" because I have no idea what is going on. Hannah I totally agree with you, that although the book is beautifully written and whimsical, I feel like the plot line is lacking. I want more interactions between the characters and more dialogue. I also want it to stop skipping to multiple POV. I feel like it muddies the story.