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A review by vivaldi
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Gosh, I don't know where to start bc this is a highly unique & distinctive masterpiece. So when I initially finished reading The Starless Sea last winter words failed me and I didn't think I'd be able to write a review which does this masterpiece justice because there's a lot going on and this a lot going on in the book redeemed itself as one of my favourite reads in 2019.
I probably revisited The Starless Sea in bits and pieces a couple of times since then. Then I decided to carefully go through the book again this month partially for the Book Club and partially because I'm in the mood for something mysterious & meaningful.
The first thing that stood out to me is the comprehensive worldbuilding that revolves around different vantage points of the stories. Not only the worldbuilding is very complete, it's also written in a beautiful proses where I'm prompted to enjoy both the aesthetic elements of the writing as well as the intricate atmospheres painted by all of the stories within the novel.
While it it's a really challenging read and there's a lot of descriptive elements to wrap my head around, it's actually a very cohesive read where everything has its place e.g. how everything clicked together & converged in the end. I think Erin did an excellent job in unfolding the worldbuilding layer by layer as we progress through each "book" within The Starless Sea. The progression through each book also coincided with the accelerating pacing & increasing tension in the novel which I think is very well executed. So yeah, when I stopped fixating on the literal words and focus on reading between the lines the worldbuilding is like a perfect place to get lost into amid this strange time we're in right now.
And speaking of the symbols, I really enjoyed how Erin assigned all of these aesthetic elements within the worldbuilding to the concept of stories & one's journey of self-discovery / pursue of truth. It's really thought provoking to think about what makes something a story, how they're created & also passed down over time, and how we're all more than just merely existing but we all have to carve out a narrative that we deserve to have. The figurative writing is packed with surprisingly substantial meanings behind it for example the different doors alludes to the different choices that we make - that we must choose the paths which leads us to where our desires belong.
Given the highly figurative writing and the subplots, it's a very dense book which isn't something to rush through in a single sitting. When I first read this, I read it as slowly as possible to take in all of the intricacies as well as the things between the lines. And despite this, I found myself noticing stuff that I've missed when I revisited it a couple times and everytime I did it induced realisations related to the following themes - self-knowledge, personal narratives, and existential questions.
While the characters aren't the central component of The Starless Sea, their appearances are carefully woven with the worldbuilding. I really enjoyed how the characters in the stories & characters who featured in real time blended so well together. It feels very seamless and I feel like I'm submerged within their world of stories! I also found how the different characters chose their "paths" really fascinating.
Given the combination of the characters & the aesthetic elements, it felt like as if there's a bit for myself as I'm reading The Starless Sea so I really liked how The Starless Sea is both so cohesive and yet also so open for interpretation. The Starless Sea is certainly one of the few books which I'd come back and revisit without getting tired of it. It's dense and there's a lot going on but it's also a very rewarding read once you dig beneath the words beyond the surface level.
I probably revisited The Starless Sea in bits and pieces a couple of times since then. Then I decided to carefully go through the book again this month partially for the Book Club and partially because I'm in the mood for something mysterious & meaningful.
The first thing that stood out to me is the comprehensive worldbuilding that revolves around different vantage points of the stories. Not only the worldbuilding is very complete, it's also written in a beautiful proses where I'm prompted to enjoy both the aesthetic elements of the writing as well as the intricate atmospheres painted by all of the stories within the novel.
While it it's a really challenging read and there's a lot of descriptive elements to wrap my head around, it's actually a very cohesive read where everything has its place e.g. how everything clicked together & converged in the end. I think Erin did an excellent job in unfolding the worldbuilding layer by layer as we progress through each "book" within The Starless Sea. The progression through each book also coincided with the accelerating pacing & increasing tension in the novel which I think is very well executed. So yeah, when I stopped fixating on the literal words and focus on reading between the lines the worldbuilding is like a perfect place to get lost into amid this strange time we're in right now.
And speaking of the symbols, I really enjoyed how Erin assigned all of these aesthetic elements within the worldbuilding to the concept of stories & one's journey of self-discovery / pursue of truth. It's really thought provoking to think about what makes something a story, how they're created & also passed down over time, and how we're all more than just merely existing but we all have to carve out a narrative that we deserve to have. The figurative writing is packed with surprisingly substantial meanings behind it for example the different doors alludes to the different choices that we make - that we must choose the paths which leads us to where our desires belong.
Given the highly figurative writing and the subplots, it's a very dense book which isn't something to rush through in a single sitting. When I first read this, I read it as slowly as possible to take in all of the intricacies as well as the things between the lines. And despite this, I found myself noticing stuff that I've missed when I revisited it a couple times and everytime I did it induced realisations related to the following themes - self-knowledge, personal narratives, and existential questions.
While the characters aren't the central component of The Starless Sea, their appearances are carefully woven with the worldbuilding. I really enjoyed how the characters in the stories & characters who featured in real time blended so well together. It feels very seamless and I feel like I'm submerged within their world of stories! I also found how the different characters chose their "paths" really fascinating.
Given the combination of the characters & the aesthetic elements, it felt like as if there's a bit for myself as I'm reading The Starless Sea so I really liked how The Starless Sea is both so cohesive and yet also so open for interpretation. The Starless Sea is certainly one of the few books which I'd come back and revisit without getting tired of it. It's dense and there's a lot going on but it's also a very rewarding read once you dig beneath the words beyond the surface level.