Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
by Susanna Clarke
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Book Reviews of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
Book Review: Wild Magic in Civil England
Summary: 5 Stars
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is precisely the book that might have come out of a response to Bronte's faulting of Austen (all shut up in drawing rooms and privet hedges, with no wild moor or tumbling becks in sight, to paraphrase only slightly).
Wild, wild England bookending very British (quintessential age of Britain Britishness) characters and laughing at the magic men have held onto in it's pale weakness no man would accept in his tea.
I never read this book before because all the descriptions started in the wrong place. They start with the MacGuffin or Maguffin--Napoleon--if only in reference to the period. Much more to the point is that this is almost to the Regency era, which frames a sense of magic that feels like that of DeLint's Little Country more than that of Harry Potter.
And Strange is the "bright, rebellious pupil". No, that is the wrong start, too. Strange is already a man when he comes into this book (not the child "pupil" made me assume). While I was thinking he was of the make of Nathaniel in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, instead, he's merely a genius under a scholarly Casaubon type (yet not Casaubon, to my utter relief also, and yet the similarity to a character in one of my other favorite classics drew me to trust this book's voice). He is married by his second appearance, and he has a patience and kindness that I was not expecting. Certainly he's a bit careless, but his contrariness comes of being too bright among the dull. It's not a main feature.
The length of this book is essential. It's not drawn out in any sense of the word. It's paced exactly its style and subject demand. I've enjoyed it every page and actually bewildered how fast the end comes.
For someone as fond of Austen and Tolkien as I am, this book is like a return to a golden age. I'm so encouraged to think books like this can still be published for classics lovers wishing for new things in that familiar style of wit and subtlety. However, it's not a retrogression by any means.
Book Review: Have you a pair of scissors?
Summary: 4 Stars
I started out being completely delighted and enchanted by Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Author Susanna Clarke has perfected a narrative voice that is thoroughly 19th century yet has a modern dry sense of humor. Likewise, her use of copious footnotes to give the reader background on magical history (making the book feel more like a historical novel than a work of fiction) are initially charming. After several hundred pages, however, things start to drag. The essential plot line concerns Mr. Norrell, a fearful, secretive magician who wants to return magic to England but be its only magician. He makes his name by restoring the beautiful young bride of Sir Walter Poole to life. However, no one knows that he has done so by enlisting the assistance of a fairy, known as the gentleman with thistle down hair or just "the gentleman," who takes his payment for aiding Norrel by enchanting the Lady Poole and essentially keeping her a slave in the balls he throws every night in Faerie land.
Enter Jonathan Strange, a young man who, rather than choosing magic, has had magic thrust upon. He becomes Norrell's pupil and, as is only fitting, soon surpasses his master. There are a number of intertwining story lines and characters, but the main thrust is the the rivalry between the two magicians and the increasingly malicious doings of the gentleman with thistle down hair. I found that the pace picked up in the last two hundred or so pages, when the plot becomes driven by higher stakes. Clarke and her editor should have stepped back and done some judicious cutting of the text. They could have done so without doing damage to the narrative voice or the plot, and it would have prevented more than one reader from wanting the throw the book across the room on occasion.
Clarke is a fabulous writer just, apparently, not so fabulous a re-writer/editor. This is a book that definitely requires some patience. The pay-off was not entirely satisfying to this reader, hence four stars instead of five.
Book Review: Best Book I have ever read...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is quite simply the best work of fiction I've ever read. Ok, yes, I admit, Harry Potter is a very close second and yes, I do think that the widely used "Harry Potter for Adults" is accurate enough.
This is a book that the reader may have to put a bit of work into - it is very long, heavily footnoted, and quite complex. The footnotes are a great enrichment to the world of the story, but they could be skipped I suppose. I personally enjoyed them. The payoff for the investment in time and attention is an immersion in a world that is at once historically accurate, but with an open door through which magic and the fairy world flows out to merge and change the nature of reality.
I also enjoy the 'nonfiction' occult genre. I think this book will appeal to readers of that genre as well. It draws upon such a wealth of mythos and folklore that an occultist will recognize that Ms. Clarke is obviously well acquainted with magical practice, folklore, and history...could she at times be modeling some of the book after Doreen Valiente's Magickal Battle of Britain (an account of a real magickal battle) and could it be that her stuffy magical societies reflect a bit the Golden Dawn with A. Crowley coming in saying I don't want sit around and talk, talk, talk about it, I want to DO IT? Oh yes, I DO think so. :) So, if you have been studying the history of the occult, I really, really think you will enjoy this book even more with that knowledge.
This lady has really done her research well. I look forward to the movie, which I understand is in pre-production now.
I do recommend you get the hardback. It is a beautiful book and to me enhanced the read, as it is a treasure for me as I love the look and feel of this particular book. I'm not sure if a paperback could hold up, my experience with books this thick is that they do not for me.
I'm on my second copy now. My first copy was borrowed, loved, and never returned.
Book Review: A novel of extraordinary proportions! But with a warning....
Summary: 3 Stars
When you begin a novel that spans more than 800 pages and you start noticing footnotes (shriek!!), it should serve as a warning. One the good side, Ms. Clarke's writing is quite good, and very consistent considering it is done in an "Old English" style.
She is extremely detail oriented; leaving no stone unturned. Her development of a "history within a work of historical fiction" would not be matched by many authors. Even the footnotes are so well thought out, I began wondering if I was reading history, imagined or real? I would also have to say that the writing, in some spots, is quite witty and humorous! Do yourself a favor, give it at least 100 pages before deciding this book is not for you. The pace is slow and it definitely takes a while to start making some sense of character and plotline.
I think it's best to say that if JK Rowling and Jane Austen were to co-produce a novel, this would be it. A little Harry Potter, a little drawing room comedy, a little swashbuckling thrown in for good measure.
Now, for the bad news. It is just too darned long! There are way too many plot lines with secondary characters; some of which are revisited after several hundred pages! At this point, you've forgotten what the plot line was or you simply do not care. It's apparent that Ms. Clarke had a great many ideas roaming around in her head. It's unfortunate she felt the need to include all of them into one book. Imagine, Rowling trying to squeeze everthying she had in mind for Harry into one or two books!
Personally, I think one book with a tight plot and without an excess of characters would have been more effective. Alternately, I think she could have (with a shorter novel) have begun to build up steam for successive novels and make it a series.
But, hey, let's be honest here, too. I did finish the entire book and there was certainly enough to keep me wanting to find out what happens.
Book Review: Truly Curious and Unusual
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the strangest, longest, most unusual novels I've ever read. Since I like unusual things, and since I've read a lot of books, I found this book to be very interesting. The plot is different, the style of writing is rather arcane and obsolete, and the whole effect is eccentric, to say the least.
The setting is the early 19th Century, during the British war against Napoleon's France. When Mr. Norrell is approached by a group of men who study magic, he demonstrates his skill with the arcane and forgotten talents of magic. The idea soon occurs to people: he can utilize his talents to help defeat the French usurper on the continent. Soon, a second man who's learned magic on his own, separately from Norrell, comes forward. His name is Jonathan Strange. Strange and Norrell soon collaborate, and Strange goes to Spain to help fight Bonaparte in the employ of the Duke of Wellington.
The whole of this book is so fun that it's hard to explain. The author includes various footnotes, as if this was a history book, and there are a few historical characters and incidents. Events have some relation to reality, though of course the author includes "English magic" in the history of the world, and there are strange events in the country's past, notably a monarch known as the "Raven King" who has no real name, as far as anyone knows. One amusing note: Napoleonic fans will be amused to see how D'Erlon's Corps gets lost between Quatre Bras and Ligny here.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. There have been many references to the writing style and invocations of Rowling, Patrick O'Brian, and Austen. Frankly they're all appropriate, but in some ways this book is unique. None of those people wrote a 1000-page book, for instance, and none of their stories have quite the weird aura of authenticity that this one has. I enjoyed it a great deal, and would recommend it.