Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2004)

This is one of the most captivating reads I have come across for some time. It is complex and compelling. It is written in the style of a Victorian novel, which I can see could put some readers off. However if, like me, you grew up reading classical literature this feels very comfortable in style.

It tells the story of two magicians and their attempts to resurrect English magic, a process which inevitably leads to dealings with the fairy folk. Needless to say it does not go quite according to plan.

This book is not a light read, or a quick listen for that matter. I would highly recommend it though because it is superbly well written, well researched and immersive. Just allow plenty of time to soak up the world which Susanna Clarke as created. ( )

The attentive reader immediately is presented with a question: two names appear in the title, but the Table of Contents prominently includes three, each serving as a section head for separate parts of the novel. Why include just two in the title, and in reverse sequence from that used to structure the book?

These may seem pedantic questions, and perhaps they are. There are meaningful answers, however, and that this is so, reveals something about both Clarke's care with prose styling and the manner in which certain details in the story are revealed. Much is left to the reader to figure, and not all is revealed to the story's characters.

Overall, an immersive book, as enjoyable upon my second reading as it was originally. Chief reasons for re-reading: its worldbuilding and magic system, its language, the characters (their foibles and their humanity), and to be sure the many inventive scenes and events, whether factual or alt-historical. (Strange's considered efforts to contribute meaningfully in battle against Napoleon's armies encapsulates many of these.) Clarke's alternative history of England and the World are as intriguing as the glimpses she provides into Faery. Perhaps more compelling than all of these, however, is the way Clarke's story embodies the strangeness it tells. It does not proceed along predictable paths, it is slightly odd at many turns, and extremely odd in some few, all the while seeming quite natural, or even necessary, much as Stephen's relationship with the Gentleman With The Thistle-down Hair seemed unable to be any other way, no matter how many queer or frightening happenings were involved.

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Curious how close to the broad outlines of Napoleonic Wars Clarke's version hews: are there recognisable battles in the story? Were the Spanish guerilleros a similar force in our history? Was Wellington in Portugal with The Lines? And many similar questions.

Clarke's regular and extensive footnotes are fun, and yet more than a lark: they regularly foreshadow plot / relationships and provide layered world-building as to England's magic history. A favourite example: "Book-murder was a late edition to English magical law. The wilful destruction of a book of magic merited the same punishment as the murder of a Christian." [314, fn 3] Suggests the question: was Norrell's library at Hurtfew tantamount to kidnapping?

The narrator adopts an easy familiarity with the reader, as though a friend or a chatty lecturer, or a particularly well-informed citizen of the day, yet with opinions the reader would not be expected to hold: " ... and, as everybody knows, no one with red hair can ever truly be said to be handsome." [192] My anticipation that the identity of this narrator would be revealed by the end was, ultimately, unfounded.

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She did not rise at their entrance, nor make any sign that she had noticed them at all. But perhaps she did not hear them. For, though the room was silent, the silence of half a hundred cats is a peculiar thing, like fifty individual silences all piled one on top of another. [581] ( )

Extraordinary. I loved every single aspect of this book. The plotting is beautiful. The characters are relateable. The ideas are inventive, well-thought out, and completely excite my imagination.

I cannot wait for more from Susanna Clarke. ( )

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel by Susanna Clarke (2004)

The (softback) edition I have comes in at just over 1000 pages, and this is one of the reasons that it has been sitting on my bookshelf for a number of years now, occasionally glaring at me and daring me to pick it up and read it.[return][return]I am glad that I have read it, and it is not like any book I have read before. Excellent for a first book, there is humour, romance, history (some of which I hope is made up!), and most importantly of all magic, and lots of it. The footnotes are as important as the main text, and all shows an attention to detail that I dont know if the author will ever achieve again, purely for the amount of time this book must have already taken from her.[return][return]The only book I can realistically compare it to (in terms of length, scope etc) is "The Crimson Petal and the White", which I think is another debut novel. Have to admit that whilst I thought "Crimson" finished too soon, in a way I was glad that "Jonathan" did, although I was satisfied with the openness of the ending and the potential of more. ( )