Very rarely do you find a book you never want to put down, because you want to read it forever. Very rarely do we find a story that consumes us, so much so that it becomes a story we never want to end. A combination of factors makes this feeling possible, and it is difficult to get that combination right. After 8 years of breathless anticipation, Erin Morgenstern has delivered us the perfect combination of fantasy, reality, dream, and fairytale in the form of the novel, The Starless Sea. This, at its core, is a truly beautiful, heartbreaking, breathtaking love story -- to stories. If you call yourself a reader, a lover of stories, then I have this review space to convince you to pick up this book. Erin Morgenstern is the author of The Night Circus and The Starless Sea, and someday hopefully more! She grew up in Massachusetts and studied theatre and studio art at Smith College. She currently lives with her husband Adam and the world's cutest kitten in the middle of the woods in the Berkshires. Morgenstern enjoys collecting bloodmilk jewelry, knitting, and drinking lots of tea. You can find Morgenstern at erinmorgenstern.com.
Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labryinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them. Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable certainty that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library, he begins to read and is entrance by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly, a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood, impossibly written in a book that is older than he is. A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade-party dances and whispered backroom stories to the headquarters of a secret society, where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores, Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place, and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and one another, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is our central protagonist, a graduate student who spends maybe too much time at the library reading by unreliable lightbulbs. It is here that he finds a book with his own story written into it, and this that sparks his curiosity. The book is titled Sweet Sorrows, and I love how it gives us such a magical and fascinating beginning. The short stories contained in Sweet Sorrows are sprinkled in the beginning with Zachary's narrative, so readers understand just how and why he is so enthralled with finding answers. I have read that some readers are "turned-off" per se, by a lack of "character arc" for Zachary's character. We do get to know him really well, as a person -- he's nearsighted, he likes a specific kind of cocktail, his thesis is about video games. There are so many details we learn about Zachary's life -- the interactions in the library, on the bus, on the streets -- all of which help us understand who he is as a person the time this story is being told. My response to this lack of characterization critique is that this story, in essence, is a fairytale. The short stories, the actual story, the entirety of the book reads, feels like, and has the tropes of a fairytale. A fairytale wouldn't be complete without a character with a fatal flaw -- for Zachary, it's his curiosity, which gets him into the fantasy world, and then a bunch of sticky situations. The story isn't about Zachary, not really -- it's about how all the stories are one. Zachary is only one part of it. He, arguably, is the part that most readers will identify and relate to, which is why he's the most "main" of the characters. He's the easiest thread to follow. I never thought that Zachary needed a character arc, and would argue that the story itself would have been distracting if we'd been focused on how Zachary was going to change because of this experience with the Starless Sea. We know he's going to change, but that's not what the story is about. This is why I loved the third person narrative of his story -- it allows us to follow Zachary on his quest to the Starless Sea, but it leaves us distanced enough for the fairytale-type narrative, and the interweaving of the other stories, and we don't have to feel like we need to be attached to him to understand it all.
This book is the Russian nesting doll book of stories. We open up one, and then we find that there are a bunch of other subplots, sub-stories, and other narratives contained within. This is how I would describe the plot of The Starless Sea -- not, as I have seen, as a book without a plot. A book without a plot would not exist, readers would not be able to say "this happened, then this." Because we can say "Zachary found a book with his story in it, so he investigated, and then he found the masquerade party, and then . . . (and go on until the end)," then we can describe this book as having a plot. The reviewers who describe this book as having no plot don't exactly understand fairytales, or the different forms plot can take based on genre. There is a lot of description, yes, but that doesn't mean the book is lacking any element of a good story. In fact, the repetition of imagery and detail in The Starless Sea is important to understanding the plot. As we dive deeper into the world of the Starless Sea, we learn the dynamics of this fantasy world while also learning more about Zachary and his motives (college, family, love of stories). The details allow us to understand why Zachary's fascinated, because we're fascinated ourselves. The detail makes us curious, so we want Zachary to go out and investigate, and thus lead us on the journey (i.e., the plot). There is definitely something more literary to the plot (vs. commercial), meaning that much of the book is spent on description, the winding of the story, and the other stories ("nesting dolls") within Zachary's narrative. If we try to say there's no plot, we exclude all the other sub-stories that do, in fact, have plots. Just because this book is more winding, or "descriptive," doesn't mean there isn't a plot, or a story, or meaning to be found on the journey we take.
Morgenstern's writing is what makes this book what it is, in my opinion. It's not as lush or dense as Anna-Marie McLemore's writing, but it is just as engaging and detail-oriented. To read this book, you have to pay attention to what you're reading, or you're going to miss something. Of course, it's easy to want to pay attention, because as we get drawn into the story, you'll find that this is a story you'll want to know by heart and love forever. Cheesy, yes, but it is a love story to stories. This is the kind of book you can only read for the first time, once. That's why the first read is so important, so that you don't miss any of the details that make the ending so satisfying, or the reveals so surprising (yes believable). Morgenstern truly engineered this novel into something we'll always have in our heads. It's unforgettable. It might look like an easy read (short chapters, short sentences, etc.) but it's dense in the sense that it's precise. Every single word has meaning and purpose, and it's important that each word is read deliberately. That's half the reason this book is so fun to read, and all of why the story becomes so unforgettable by the last page. That being said, you need to commit to reading this story when you're ready for it. You need to be willing to fall down the rabbit hole with Zachary, and to commit to reading every word like the next might reveal something unexpected. If you read this book when you're ready, and then decide to reread it, this book will reward you. You might learn something about yourself, and the world around you, if you're willing to sit down and spend time with it.
Some of my last comments will be on Morgenstern's effortless use of synesthesia, the art of blending the senses in writing, and the act of writing about stories themselves. The Starless Sea and the Harbors and the worlds encapsulated in this novel feel real to us because of this device. Synesthesia is hard to master without feeling like you're overwhelming the readers, and their senses. Morgenstern masterfully blends all the senses (not just sight, but smell, taste, feel, and touch) to create a world that can envelope any (willing) reader whole. We are drawn into New York, because it smells and tastes exactly like New York, and it feels like a college campus, because it feels and looks like a college campus. Morgenstern uses these two places (New York and college) that are familiar to most readers, in one way or another. It's like a trust exercise -- she describes these places using synesthesia, so that when we fall head-over-heels into the Starless Sea, we can see it the same way we see New York and a college campus. And finally, I wanted to address the idea of writing a love story to stories. Sometimes, it can be done and it feels really meta, and kind of cheesy. Morgenstern strays away from those feelings by embracing the fairytale tropes, and then twisting them for her own purposes. Rather than take a bird's eye view of stories, and write about it like that, she immerses herself into stories. That's another reason we get taken so deep into this story, following books of fairytales and the stories of characters we thought we'd forgotten. This love story to stories is not basic, or meta, in the least. If you decide to dedicate your time and energy to reading this masterpiece, it will teach you something: about writing, about stories, and maybe even about yourself.
Erin Morgenstern hasn't recently articulated any plans for the future, but if you loved The Starless Sea, you should check out The Night Circus (2011) for more of her imaginative worlds and fantastic writing! In the meantime, if you love stories that are, in essence, love stories to stories, make sure to check out Alix E. Harrow's beautiful novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January -- find my review of it here!
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