Stories within Stories within Starless Sea

Two days ago, I finished reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and this lucid dream-like experience that I had while reading, needs to be recorded somewhere. Thus, I decided to write about it.

It was my first time reading Erin Morgenstern, and after a really long time I turned towards fiction for reading. The book was briefly reviewed in ‘Magazine’ issued by The Hindu newspaper on Sundays, and, unlike other books the mere theme of this novel caught my eye. Seldom one reads about ‘a different world of stories’ that exists deep within the depths of Earth. In brief, I was ‘awe-struck’!

The central story revolves around a guy named ‘Zachary’ who is pursuing masters in ‘emerging media’ who happens to find a mysterious book called ‘Sweet Sorrows’ in the library which somehow leads him to a secret doorway to enter the world of stories (an underground library kind of). Thus, he begins his adventure to fulfill his heroic destiny. (The downright brevity of the words I just wrote spoils this brilliant piece of imaginative writing.)

Anyway, you can read the summary or the plot-line of this book anywhere online. I planned to write down my experience of reading this book, my reflections or my interpretation of it. Beyond any doubt, the book is highly imaginative. It paints a picture of a world so abstract but real enough to be experienced while reading. One impressive thing about it is its eloquent use of metaphors. The concept of Time and Fate personified as two lovers beautifully. They weave their stories together by being apart. In this book, stories breathe; they are alive and some are dead too. They are like memories of people or memories of stories of these people. Sometimes, there aren’t any people, just the story, existing in wholesome, just like that. They move around ruffling your senses with a sudden breeze or just refreshing your gullet through some old champagne.

For someone like me a place like this, where you solely exist to read or write, where time is different (it’s always waiting) and where you breathe stories, is closer to heaven. Erin Morgenstern led me to fantastical place straight out of my dream and for a few days I lived that dream of hers which felt just like mine.

My favorite line from the book is when Fate (personified as Mirabel, a woman) remarks about the weather to Zachary. She says, “It’s so poetry today.” She further explains, “The weather. It’s like a poem. Where each word is more than one thing at once and everything’s a metaphor. The meaning condensed into rhythm and sound and the spaces between sentences. It’s all intense and sharp, like the cold and the wind.”

Starless Sea is the most recent work of Erin Morgenstern and now I plan to read her previous bestselling novel ‘The Night Circus’.  On a happier note, the doors to the starless sea can exist anywhere on the planet and they only appear to those who truly seek it. In her novel, she mentions that one such door exists in Mumbai, India. Coincidentally, I’ve got to travel to Mumbai for some work.

Wish me luck!