Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

My initial inclination is to give this book 4 stars because I really liked it!! But I almost want to give it 5 stars because of what it achieved, namely keeping my attention for a month. For a variety of reasons, I tend to shy away from books that serve as a nightstand all by themselves, but this one kept my attention, in spite of its wandering and meandering path.

At 900+ pages/26 disks, you don't really expect a tight fast paced story. What you get is an exploration of characters, all of them flawed. You get a look life in an alternate history version of England (and Spain and Italy). You get to see how magic and fairy changed things, and a hint of how they might further change things.

And in the end, it isn't tidy. Threads stick out in all sorts of directions, and life goes on. For me, it was worth the month.

This is a masterpiece.  Five stars is not enough.
 
(BTW, I HATE SPOILERS, so you will NOT find any here.)
 
Forget everything you think you know about how a novel should be written.  Ms. Clarke makes her own rules and the result is astounding.  I think it is best to approach Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell without any expectations, and to surrender and be led on its sublime odyssey.

In this brilliantly written epic literary historical fantasy (I suppose that is its sub- sub- sub-genre), we are transported to the early 19th century where we meet some very engaging magicians and follow them on their paths, and we explore English magic and its history.‎

I was swept away by the style in which this is written, which is very much like a British classic,‎ so it flawlessly captures the time in which it takes place.  The prose is magnificent - Ms. Clarke sculpts the language to create a beautiful work of art, with incredible intricacy. 
 
I think the story is phenomenal - the reader has no idea where it may take him/her, and I was delighted with every twist, every turn.  It starts slowly, and‎ the story line builds, ever so gradually, but steadily and teasingly, progressing toward a crescendo - all at a slow pace that's almost maddening, but it's such a tantalizing and exciting experience that I didn't want it to end.  It gives the reader (me, anyway) the sense that something tremendous will happen.  And of course, it does.  
 
I adore the characters, all of whom are brilliantly crafted and every one of them jumps off the page.  I found each of them fascinating and memorable, some venturing into "favorite characters" territory.
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‎Ms. Clarke deftly blends ‎historical figures and events, English folklore, a fascinating background of magic, and amazing characters to form an alternate history that is seamless, richly detailed and uniquely hers. A‎nd she makes it believable.‎
 
There is more elaborate detail in this book than I have probably ever seen, well, anywhere, making the world-building pretty much incomparable.  Copious footnotes educate us about this alternate history and its events, figures and countless other things of interest with magnificent detail.‎
 
It's also hilarious.  The dry and often dark humor fitting naturally into the already fantastic story makes this book soar into the realm of the finest works I've ever read.  It made me laugh out loud, chuckle to myself, and probably sit there with a dorky grin on my face through a lot of scenes.
 
The magic is dazzling and creative, and each spell seems to brilliantly reflect the personality of the person casting it. It's perfect.‎

The story does move slowly, and it took me a little while to really get absorbed - I think I needed to get used to it and adjust myself accordingly.  But once I did, I grew more enthralled with every page.

I knew by about halfway through that this book would be heading to my favorites list, regardless of how it‎ may have ended.  I'm confident it will remain there forever, and that it will be a book I want to reread countless times.

So, Ms. Clarke, about that sequel...‎ :)
 
People seem to either love this book or hate it.  I'd highly recommend it if:
 
- You enjoy reading classics, particularly British ones (or don't mind their style) (otherwise the style might lose you‎)
- You appreciate dry humor (and dark humor)‎ (if you don't see the humor, it will lose a tremendous amount of its charm, maybe most of it)
- You like fantasy, but you're not looking for a fast-paced, action-packed, Hollywood blockbuster-type of book‎ (it's not)
- You don't mind a slow-paced story with an immense amount of detail and you don't mind taking your time with‎ it (this is essential)

It will also help if:
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‎- You appreciate prose and enjoy colorful use of language‎ (that made me savor it)
- You appreciate world building‎ (the amount of detail may otherwise annoy you)
 
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I can't say enough good things about this book. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's one of the best I've ever read.‎

I fear I will never be satisfied by a book about magicians.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell has some great ideas and pleasant prose, but the bones of the story don't hold together enough to make a satisfying book. Granted, it is Susanna's Clarke's first novel so some problems with the construction are to be expected, but what the book is sorely in need of is an aggressive editor. The book is simply too long: it's a rare thing that the book would be better if none of the main plot were changed but 200 pages of extraneous material were removed. It's inexcusable that the book does not begin to cohere until the third act after 600 odd pages of meandering. If the end came more quickly, then the unsatisfying mystique of it could be explained by a lack of development, but shoe horning in a half baked ending after a ream of pages is incredibly frustrating.

Part of the novel's problem is the attempt to fuse two novels in one: J&N attempts to be a story of magic and magicians, but also a period piece in the vein of Austen. And tonally, I think Clarke largely succeeds. The difficulty is the pacing - the presence of the very interesting magicians demands a certain velocity to the plot, some "action," that the comedy of manners dissuades. Every quibbling meeting with Norrell is time that could have been spent advancing the plot. This would almost be excused if the development of the characters were satisfying enough that the action of the plot was secondary, but after so many pages of conversation and development the characters go nowhere. Norrell becomes slightly less crotchety and that's about it. Secondary characters have major developments, but entirely in the last 50 pages of an 800+ page book. The mischievous fairy acting as the primary antagonist is never given any real power until the end of the novel, and is ultimately purposeless. While this illustrates the mischief of the fairy folk, it makes for a terrible antagonist. The magicians aren't even aware of him until nearly the end of the book! In the same vein, the entire subplot of the fairy and Stephen Black is given great significance but for no apparent reason. No apparent reason is the great takeaway of the ending: a lot happens, but for no apparent reason. Reference is made to ancient magicians and cryptic prophecies, but these threads winding through the book are never made explicit or developed enough to explain anything.

For long stretches of the book, Clarke doesn't even seem interested in advancing the plot. Norrell waves away concerns about Lady Pole (the source of later plot development), Arabella neglects to obviously magical problems with her husband (the magician!), and Strange forgets where he saw a lady without a finger. It requires an enormous suspension of disbelief to believe that these characters are simply that stupid as to ignore these signs, and the serial deflections kick the can of meaningful plot development back another 100 pages.

Focusing so much on the negative I don't want to give the impression that my experience with the book was bad - by no means. I liked the book, and would gladly pick up a sophomore effort, but J&N sorely needed an editor to rein in Clarke's excess. I'd say 1 star off for being way too long, and then another star for the poor plot development.


3.5 / 5

Je crois qu'il s'agit de la deuxième ou troisième fois où j'ai commencé à lire ce long roman. J'ai lu plusieurs critiques qui confirmaient l'impression que j'avais gardé de ce livre : c'est lent, il ne se passe grand chose, et les digressions sont nombreuses. Mais cette fois, je suis allé au bout, et je ne le regrette pas. Là où je diverge des critiques que j'ai lues, c'est que je n'ai pas pensé "tout ça pour ça !" à la fin de ma lecture, bien au contraire. Même si le début (et même le milieu !) du roman est lent et qu'on ne comprend pas forcément où cela va nous amener, j'ai adoré la fin et j'ai finalement apprécié que tout cela ait été amené avec subtilité et en décrivant au préalable un univers précis et passionnant. Je ne sais pas si j'aurai le courage de relire ce pavé un jour, mais j'en garderai certainement un très bon souvenir.