Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
by Susanna Clarke
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.71 You Save: $5.28 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.03 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
Book Review: Jane Austin meets J.K. Rowling
Summary: 5 Stars
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is founded on the same principle as the Harry Potter series - magic really exists, it is simply hidden from the experiences of the normal person. There is little else that is similar in tone or style between this book and the Potter series (except that both are thoroughly English in nature). Instead, the book is most like Jane Austin in both content and tone - it is sometimes very funny, is firmly rooted in the stratified English social structure, and its plot is simply a skeleton upon which to build a dense and enjoyable world. We grow to love the characters and take an almost personal stake in their trials and tribulations.
The plot: Mr. Norrell is the first person in 400 years to successfully perform a magic spell. Unfortunately, he is bookish and extremely jealous; for example, he buys every copy of every magical book written in English and hoards them to himself. Along comes the prodigy Jonathan Strange, who becomes the second practicing magician. Instead of trying to destroy him like all his previous rivals, Mr. Norrell actually takes him under his wing to teach him magic. The collaboration is extremely beneficial for England and for the two magicians. Strange accompanies Wellington to Spain and later Waterloo to fight Napoleon. Norrell sets up a magic coastal zone into which no enemy ships can pass (and moderates the weather within it for English ships). But the two have a falling out - used to the independence granted him by Wellington, Strange chafes at what he sees as artificial restraints put on him by Norrell. The central issue: the magical world of Faerie and its magical Fairy inhabitants. Strange wants to call forth Fairy servants and helpers like the old Magicians of England. Norrell knows they cannot be trusted (based on a personal experience that he must keep hidden from the world).
To give any more of the plot away would be a disservice to the book (besides what I've said already covers about 500 pages of this 1000-page paperback edition). Besides, the plot is not the point. Instead we are treated to a rich and colourful world of alternate-Napoleonic Europe. Real characters are seamlessly interwoven into the story, including the Duke of Wellington, King George III, and the poet Byron. We have people of low birth, servants, free gentlemen, and nobility all trapped by their training and upbringings. Ultimately, this is the genius of Clarke's novel - everyone acts exactly as they should, and the trials suffered by the main characters are exactly what they deserve because of their particular personal foibles. Shakespeare himself would be pleased, no doubt.
It is not a fast-reading book. It is not an action-packed book. Neither is the Lord of the Rings series, but that hasn't stopped millions from reading it, nor should it stop you from reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It is a fun and well-crafted book from beginning to end.
Book Review: The Magical Achievements of a Noviate
Summary: 4 Stars
Susanna Clarke's achievement in this, her first book, is quite remarkable: not only in this maiden effort does she master the diction and style we would sooner associate with Jane Austen and W. M. Thackeray (the two most famous chroniclers of the Regency setting of her novel), but she also creates an entire alternate fantasy history for England that presumes both a practical and theoretical tradition for magicians stretching all the way back to the first King Henry. What's more, the book becomes something of a page-turner after the first few chapters (more on those below), with long sequences that effectively evoke genuine suspense, horror, and pathos. And she is an absolutely marvelous scene-painter, particularly when it comes to the description of the magic her central characters effect (both for parlor tricks and for practical purposes). This is the sort of book in which you can pleasurably get lost for quite a few evenings: it's its own little world. To be able to do this with a first novel is extraordinary, and mirrors the achievement of Clarke's own hero Jonathan Strange.
With this in mind, it is important to point out too (as Mr. Norrell himself would) that a noviate is always apt to make errors, and Clarke, like Strange, does commit quite a number. The opening chapters move very slowly, though things pick up by the early chapter in York Minster (where Mr. Norrell first works his magic), and even further in the chapter entitled "Brest" (where Mr. Norrell first works it for practical purposes). Quite a bit of editing might have helped Clarke sharpen some of the novel's longeurs considerably, and there are some characters that don't seem to go much of anywhere, and not all the there are any number of loose ends at the end of the book (some of which are clearly intentional, but several others which just seem forgotten after they've been dropped). Nonetheless, I would happily read any other fiction by this writer, and hope (as she's promised) she returns to this world of her own making in her subsequent novels. There's so much here, including not only an alternate history for England but also Wellington, Byron, Lord Liverpool, Napoleon and (best of all) George III in all his kingly madness, that it's hard to be patient for her next full-length effort.
I would have awarded this a full five stars (even with my few exceptions to Clarke's novice's errors) had Tor Paperbacks issued this in a less miserably inconvenient format. Be aware that this novel is much too long to fit coveniently in a mass-market paperback form, and that the type is particularly hard to read. They should have issued it in three trade paperback volumes, as did the novel's British publisher, Bloomsbury Books.
Book Review: What if Magic Were Real?
Summary: 5 Stars
What if magic was real, and enjoyed a long tradition? And what if magicians only studied magical history and not magical practice? Then, what if someone discovered the practice of magic again, and brought it back?
This hefty tome by Susanna Clarke explores those ideas, as well as the arrogance and failings of hubris. It's not a classic good vs. evil story, which is really what I expected when I bought this book at an airport (for the 800 pages of light reading). It's conflict of the establishment against progress, of innovation versus convention, of the young and the old both grasping for a valid place in the world.
It takes place in early 19th century England, primarily in London although there are forays to the countryside as well as to the French battlefield when Napoleon becomes a nuisance. The author wrote in what she deemed the period style, but it was much more easily readable than, say, even Victorian (shudder) literature. She was quite liberal with commas, which certainly lent a degree of credulity to the period writing style. She also used footnotes throughout the book, and if I were the sort of person annoyed by footnotes, I suppose they would have annoyed me. But since I'm the sort of person who uses a second bookmark to keep up with even endnotes, and I kind of enjoy flipping back and forth (it burns more calories)I found the footnotes to be a humorous way to give the reader "background" without sacrificing the pace of the story.
The pace of any story that takes 800 pages to tell will occasionally drag. I really didn't find that to be the case with this book, though, until very near the end, when poor Jonathan Strange spent entirely too much time in Italy and not nearly enough time arguing with Mr. Norrell. I liked their conflicts.
I gave the book to my mom to read. I figured with her science fiction/fantasy inclinations she'd really enjoy it. Shows how much I know! She struggled through it to please me, but the last 100 pages never got read. How she could have left the story before it was resolved, I will never understand! But she got bogged down in Venice and just had to extricate herself before she suffocated, I think. Oh, well. Thankls, Mom, for trying. Now I really wish I knew someone else who had read the book so I could talk about it without giving away the many significant plot twists!
Book Review: Enormous fun!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was a find for me. I stumbled on it out of the blue, having never heard of it before. I only noticed it because it was on a table at the bookstore labeled "Humorous, Helpful, and Odd". Who could resist??!!
It is indeed everything everyone else says about it - beautifully written, civilized, and long - but it is also VERY funny! Clarks takes her time with her setups, and delivers deliciously ironic bits of commentary. I don't believe I managed to get through any 3 consecutive pages without a good laugh.
Her portrayal of the fussy, dry, timid, yet driven Mr. Norrel is absolutely hilarious. This old stick of a scholar is propelled by his conviction that he is responsible for the restoral of English Magic. And this drives him to perform acts of magic that seem totally dissonant with his character.
And his two sycophants - Drawlight and Lascelles - are hilariously fruity and delicious! His interactions with these 2 tulips of fashion (Norrell is totally social inept, and is effortlessly manipulated by these shameless coattail riders) are endlessly amusing.
Next to Mr. Norrell, Jonathan Strange is nearly a straight man. But his capability for single-mindedness (or absent-mindedness), and interaction with his constantly gentle and ironically affectionate wife brings lightness to him as well.
Clarke's book is filled with well-realized and memorable characters, from the practical and impatient Lord Wellington and the gently mad King, to Sir Pole and his capable butler Stephen Black - all so well introduced into the story that the reader never feels that there are too many characters or sub-plots running, though there certainly are plenty!
Despite its length, and the many footnotes, every scrap of it is readable and enjoyable. It is impossible to declare this book belongs to any particular genre. It has elements of the historical novel - and, to my mind, some of the best elements; the day-to-day concerns, furnishings of the houses, clothing and parties and conversations and surroundings of the times and places - elements of mystery, fantasy (of course), and comedy. Indeed, it "belongs" to no genre at all, which is in this case the highest of compliments.
Book Review: ...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've sat and wondered for a good time about this very strange novel, and really there is nothing like it that I can reasonably compare it to. Though I admire Ms Rowling, I find the comparison made of her and Ms Clarke slightly disappointing. Harry Potter is imaginative; but "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" redefines the imagination. In Rowling's books readers are possibly awestruck; in Ms Clarke's novel I cannot help but feel, all at once, horrified, enchanted, outraged and ecstatic. Perhaps the comparison meant merely that, what Potter did for children, Clarke shall do for grown-ups. I find this, too, highly misleading, however.
A friend of mine once told me that he found Ms Clarke's book enjoyable but "...terribly odd," and then admitted that he only read it because "Neil Gaiman spoke so highly of it." The book certainly is very odd, as he said, but I found it (after reading it) better than anything Mr Gaiman has offered the world. Ms Clarke talks about Lewis' "The Magician's Nephew" as the book that got her interested in the idea of magicians, and, though its inspiration is distinguishable, her magicians, her magic, is something much more remarkable. This novel stretches to the original definition of a novel: i.e., it is both unique and commonplace. This novel, it will be argued by the modern day critic, seems anything but "commonplace" - but that is the glory and wonder of Ms Clarke. She makes Magic so real that one believes it to be as true as anything else. The statues may speak at York; yet they are most remarkable strictly because they are statues. Fairies may seem unearthly; but it is only because in eight-hundred or so pages, our author proves the Earth so unearthly. The Magic, like all good Magic, merely "awakens" - it revives what really IS magical in our seemingly humdrum world. We are all under an enchantment; it takes a spell equally strong, a dose of reality equally bombastic, to shake us from our bewitchment, our slumber. Like Mr Honeyfoot, we all are very perturbed about there being no Magic left in the world, and we demand (some in an uproar) why this is the case. Ms Clarke proves that there is such a thing as Magic; for she herself is quite a practical magician, in the only way all true writers prove themselves to be.