Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Susanna Clark's debut novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,
is a big, unwieldy book. It's slow, character driven is the term. The
plot takes forever to show up, and once it does it still seems barely
there. There are 200 hundred footnotes, used to contain exposition or go
off on tangents. The characters are selfish and prickly. And I loved
it.
I loved this book so much, I took several breaks from it so that I wouldn't finish it too soon. Which isn't an experience you often have with a 1000+ page book. It was amazing how short it felt, how long I spent with it and how quickly I ended up reading it, despite myself.
The book mostly deals with the relationship of two magicians in the early 1800s, their attempts to bring magic back to England, their dealings with the government and the Napoleonic Wars, and their ultimate falling out and its consequences. Around the edges of this we get the story of the woman Norrell sacrificed to further is career, of Strange's wife who he doesn't appreciate nearly enough, of a black servant so overlooked that people hardly notice when he vanishes.
The people in the background make up the real story. For all of Norrell and Strange's ambition and power they hardly notice who they're stepping on. They cause all the problems in the book and find none of the solutions, even though they do get all the credit. It's a fantastic look at gender and race and class and the strict lines between these that existed at this point in history.
As much as I loved this book, it's almost hard to recommend it. It's certainly not for everyone. The language is old-fashioned, pulled from Dickens or Austen or some other stuff historical-text. The spelling is equally old-fashioned and occasionally inconsistent. The humor is subtle and the characters are difficult to come to terms with. But it's such a wonderfully researched, complete world filled with horrible people who either learn their lessons or get their comeuppance, even if it takes a while. It's about power and who wants it and who actually has it.
And it's about faeries and magic. I'm starting to think that every piece of historical fiction should include faeries. It makes it easier to spot the truth and the lies.
I loved this book so much, I took several breaks from it so that I wouldn't finish it too soon. Which isn't an experience you often have with a 1000+ page book. It was amazing how short it felt, how long I spent with it and how quickly I ended up reading it, despite myself.
The book mostly deals with the relationship of two magicians in the early 1800s, their attempts to bring magic back to England, their dealings with the government and the Napoleonic Wars, and their ultimate falling out and its consequences. Around the edges of this we get the story of the woman Norrell sacrificed to further is career, of Strange's wife who he doesn't appreciate nearly enough, of a black servant so overlooked that people hardly notice when he vanishes.
The people in the background make up the real story. For all of Norrell and Strange's ambition and power they hardly notice who they're stepping on. They cause all the problems in the book and find none of the solutions, even though they do get all the credit. It's a fantastic look at gender and race and class and the strict lines between these that existed at this point in history.
As much as I loved this book, it's almost hard to recommend it. It's certainly not for everyone. The language is old-fashioned, pulled from Dickens or Austen or some other stuff historical-text. The spelling is equally old-fashioned and occasionally inconsistent. The humor is subtle and the characters are difficult to come to terms with. But it's such a wonderfully researched, complete world filled with horrible people who either learn their lessons or get their comeuppance, even if it takes a while. It's about power and who wants it and who actually has it.
And it's about faeries and magic. I'm starting to think that every piece of historical fiction should include faeries. It makes it easier to spot the truth and the lies.
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