Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

19 reviews

amsswim's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. Scratches the same itch as Good Omens does for me in some ways. I do attribute it to getting me back into fantasy, I started this last year and got 40% through then my hold went up. Finally was able to finish it now and I'm happy I did.

For lovers of magical fantasy and characters with significant interpersonal relationship issues, this is the books for you. Love the footnotes and constant character pov rotation.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.5

This book reads like a classic. I’ve seen it described as a slow burn but I’m not sure it’s burning towards anything really. The author clearly has mastery over characterization and tone, but I found it boring. I wished there had been more focus on the women of the story. And I wished that the characters did anything. There is never really a moment that the pace quickens. There is hardly a climax and even less of a conclusion. It wasn’t a bad way to spend 21 hours, but I probably wouldn’t reread.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

Context:
I borrowed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark from my library through the Libby App. It is the second book by Clark that I have read; I read Piranesi in 2023 and gave it 4 stars.

Review:

On paper, I should have loved Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I love historical fantasy, I love slow-paced nineteenth-century literature, and I love books that immerse you in a historical setting. I am the sort of person who would love nothing more to attend a History of Magic class taught by Professor Binns. Unfortunately, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is a huge miss for me.

Before I talk about what I don’t like, I want to talk about the positives. I am immensely impressed by Clark’s ability to mimic the nineteenth-century prose style, something that many authors attempt but few do successfully. The writing is atmospheric, witty, and occasionally beautiful. Additionally, it is clear that Clark knows an enormous amount about early-nineteenth-century history and English folklore, and her knowledge pervades every aspect of this book. In this sense, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is an admirable and unique triumph of literature.

Unfortunately for me, I despised the book’s characters and plot. And when you’re reading a novel of this size, it helps very much to like at least one of these things. Every character, except for two or three side characters, is selfish, petty, and arrogant. (Oh, and Mr. Norrell is canonically against the emancipation of Jews and Catholics, so that’s great /s). It can be entertaining to read about terrible people about if they are written with intention and care, but they are not. Are they supposed to be insufferable? Why do they act the way they do? Why should we care about them and what they do? I have no answers. Furthermore, there is little to no character development throughout this enormous book. The two or three characters that aren’t insufferable receive little-to-no screentime, so to speak, and have little agency. It appears that Clark tries to make a point about racism, slavery, and sexism, but her flat treatment of the female characters and the one black character rubbed me the wrong way.

My problem with the plot is partly a matter of taste because this book largely revolves around English fairies and the Otherworld. I’m someone who dislikes fairytales and fairies because they strike me as meanspirited and nonsensical (which funnily enough describes the characters in this book), so this element of the book did not work for me as a result. In general, however, this book DID NOT NEED TO BE 800-1,000 pages (depending on the edition) long! It could have easily been 200-300 pages. The plot of this book is discursive, muddled, and nonsensical. I actually DNF’d the book at the 50% mark but decided to push through in case it got better. As miserable as it was, I am glad that I read the ending, which I think wraps things up as well as could be expected and gave me a little bit more perspective about how the author wants us to view the main characters.

The Run-Down:

You might like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell if . . .

· You love fairy tales, historical fantasy, and nineteenth-century history/literature

· You want to read about deeply flawed main characters

· You don’t mind reading pages upon pages of material that doesn’t really pertain to the main plot

· You like books that explore the darker side of magic

You might not like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell if . . .

· You like well-written characters that you can root for

· You don’t want a read an 800-1000-page book that could have easily been 250 pages

A Similar Book:

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry (I rated it 4 stars).

Similarities:

· Historical fantasy epic that reimagines major European historical events with magic

· Very slow-paced, well-researched, and historically dense

· Some real-world historical characters

Differences:

· A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians focuses on late-eighteenth-century history; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell focuses on early nineteenth-century history

· A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians plot more strictly follows historically accurate events and explores concepts of oppression and colonialism; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell diverges from historical events and is more interested in the relationship between its titular characters

· A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians has morally upright main characters but a darker tone; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has selfish main characters but a slightly lighter tone overall

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mkaiww's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I love the use of foot notes it makes the world feel expensive and lived in like there is more information just off screen that is excluded simply because it's not the focus of the book

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hfrancesh's review

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challenging funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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botanicpanic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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beautifulminutiae's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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lycheeteareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If you are someone who is any level of dedicated to the occult arts, particularly those you learn extensively out of books like ancient astrology, grimoire magic, traditional witchcraft, or a reconstructionist polytheism, this book is for us. The society of magicians in York is so true to many groups and individuals I have met that I felt compelled to read the first page and a half out loud to the occultists and close friends of occultists I met up with while reading this book, who could not stop smiling and shaking their head at it. If you feel the same way about those opening paragraphs, it is worth your time to continue on with the entire tome.

What ultimately robbed it from being 5 Stars in my eyes is that it was too long! This book is fantastic but it didn't need to be over 800 pages. It is maddening how many times characters not sharing information with each other prevents the right action from occurring until hundreds of pages later. There was a point where I thought I was never going to finish this damn thing and I felt about it akin to a textbook I was reading for class. And then we finally get a large jolt of plot progression in the last ~150 so pages that was so satisfying it kept me from from going down to a flat 4 Stars.

Sidenote: this book contains period-typical racism, in both remarks made about Jewish people and one of our main PoV characters being a Black man in London in the early 1800's.

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