The turn of the 19th century has always been a period I regard as exceedingly dull. S. Clarke somehow breathed life into the stuffy century and made it dance on it's own even before introducing magic. This is, without a doubt, the best book I've ever read. I love it so much, I actually purchased it on kindle five years after I read it the first time and revisited the story, and I *never* re-read books.
The story is slow in the beginning, before J. Strange enters the scene, but it's all quite necessary. Gilbert Norrell is so humorously unpleasant that I found it easy enough to read every page, and the world is so artfully-crafted that you do a true disservice by skipping any thing. The story is replete with historical fact, masterfully wound with fantastical fiction to provide an ambience so rich as to be believable.
The characters, both loathsome and delightful, are a joy to explore as they develop steadily. I felt as though I was actually getting to know H. Lascelles as he progressed from his first impression of rude haughtiness to his true character of despicable cruelty. Drawlight is just as shallow as I suspected, but with a small, sad twist. G. Norrell is easily pinned down by his concrete worldview and yet piteous in his uncertainty about the world. And J. Strange... The wonder of Arabella, plain on the outside and devastatingly beautiful on the inside... The insane wonder of the gentleman and his disturbing parallel with the selfish thoughts of my own logical, human mind... The honorable, mistreated Sir Walter Pole... All of the characters have just the right depth to make the story verily populated with real people; a smattering of sociopaths, a dash of dementia and now you have a dark comedy devoid of overwrought tropes and offenses.
I could write a novella about what this novel does best and I fear that, in my eagerness to convey what I love about the book, I have so tied myself up in words and accolades as to miss the concise description that would bring readers by the thousands to S. Clarke's masterpiece.
My TL;DR follows:
If you enjoy dark comedy with vibrant characters and rich language, and will blithely sit for hours at a stretch to read only the next chapter, just one more paragraph- If you have the patience and wit to solicit each dark, hidden laugh or sublime philosophical insight- If you yearn to read a book that ventures in new territory, dispelling the old conventions of fantasy forged new by literary giants of decades past- this book is for you.
No bargain will match the eight dollars that I paid for this book in hardback five years ago. I can't wait to share it with more people.
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Popular Highlights in this book
She wore a gown the colour of storms, shadows and rain and a necklace of broken promises and regrets.Highlighted by 709 Kindle readers- As to whether or not Mr Norrell was in fact old, he was the sort of man who had been old at seventeen.Highlighted by 692 Kindle readers
- Gentlemen are often invited to stay in other people’s houses. Rooms hardly ever are.Highlighted by 566 Kindle readers
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1 lb, 15 oz of Pure Delight
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is one pound, fifteen ounces of pure delight. I only mention the weight because it is long, and if I have any advice to others it is1. By all means, read it! It is an excellent use of your time, and2. Buy the kindle version! (Unless you have some masochistic love of carrying two pound books around.)It's like an historical novel, but the history is completely made up, because it's a fantasy novel. She has footnotes that reference books that never were. It's funny. I had to buy reading glasses to make out the footnotes! (Another reason to get it on kindle.) But whatever hardships I went through to read this book were entirely worth it for the pure entertainment value. The characters are very true to human emotions. The wit is dry.The plot centers around two magicians in England around the time of the Napoleonic wars. They are rivals, and amazing magicians, but also goofy and not all that amazing as people. Mr. Norrell has a simple wish: to be the only magician in England. So, he collects all of the magic books and hides them away, so no one can learn how to do magic. Jonathan Strange has a simple wish: to share magic with everyone in England. Then you throw in the gentleman with the silvery hair, an evil fairy who kidnaps people each evening from England and makes them dance all night in his ballroom of horrors, but whenever they try to tell other people in England about it, everything comes out as nonsense.The true joy in this book is reading all of the little details of the lives of the minor characters. Even the subplots have subplots, and then footnotes. And then more subplots.The TV series is fairly true to the book, but the ending is different. I like the book ending much better. As usual, the book is better all around, with all of its juicy little details.The biggest surprise of all was at the very end, when I read that this was Susanna Clarke's first book. Seriously? She has achieved quite a level of excellence for a first novel. I can't wait to read her second.
Top reviews from other countries
Artur Barretto Lins
Quando a magia retorna, muito ainda há a ser feito.
Reviewed in Brazil on July 13, 2021
Artur Barretto Lins
Reviewed in Brazil on July 13, 2021
Ela consegue unir a pompa superficial da aristocracia e da fleuma inglesas à circunstância de um conto de fantasia, de magia.
Recomendo demais para quem gosta de algo como se Downton Abbey tivesse sido escrita por Neil Gaiman.
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