http://www.jonathanstrange.com/
I received Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for Christmas. It’s a hefty book by any measure. 800 or so pages long it fits better on my reference book shelf than with the puny fiction stories it belongs with. Given an unfortunate lack of time I was not sure if I was all that keen on sloging through, yet one more oversized fantasy tome.
You could argue I finished the book out of good luck, free time became more available than expected, but really the credit belongs Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell alone. I would describe the writing as a cross between Harry Potter and Dickens. It’s a legitimate enough comparison, but not necessarily fair. Harry Potter, despite a number of adult readers, is still young adult fiction from any marketing position. Dickens, while well deserving of his reputation, tends to be slow-paced and stuffy. Susanna Clark managed to take the best of both and avoid the weaknesses.
As a book concerning magic in England, it’s as good as any non-magician could come to capturing the true events regarding the thistle-haired gentleman and the two most famous english magicians of our age. With an abundance of footnotes, a number of drawings, and a constant stream of references to other magical documentation, manages to create and sustain a sense of verisimilitude. A book of 800 pages is likely to either build up too slowly or die our too quickly. Susanna Clark has managed, through an endlessly expansive imagination, to bring the reader from Portugal to Italy, to England to Faerie, without dropping a step. It’s an entertaining row from beginning to end. As the Washington Post reviewed: Many books are to be read, some are to be studied, and a few are meant to be lived in for weeks. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is of this last kind…
The length is admittedly intimidating, but Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a thoroughly engaging work and well worth the read. I’d like to think that Harry Potter and Tolkein have provided a certain legitimacy to fantasy works that will allow books like this one, fantasy but mature, to become mainstream and appreciated. If the works produced continue to mirror the quality of this one, that may likely come true.
The author’s site about the book can found here. Make sure to read the biographies!
