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A review by alleseter
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3.0
'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' is set in England in the early 19th century (1806-1817 to be precise), but in an alternative universe in which magic plays a significant part. The book is written in an easy, somewhat ironic style, and at times almost reads like a children's book.
Clarke is at her best when describing magic. In her world magic always has an eerie, otherworldly and uncomfortable quality. Most interesting is the account of Lady Pole and Stephen Black, two people who get enchanted by a mysterious man with 'thistledown hair'. Unfortunately, the accounts of magic and these haunting tales are few and far between, and Clarke devotes much too many pages to more mundane matters. These chapters give her story believability, as do her numerous notes, which provide a convincing background story to this world of magic.
The non-magical chapters without doubt are the origins of the connections to Jane Austen and Charles Dickens many people make. But Clarke misses both Austen's subtle psychology and Dickens's social undercurrents, and has only kept their overflow of words. Only too often the reader finds himself in strands of boring events, leaving more exciting tales aside. Even a tale of magic during the battle of Waterloo only feels like a digression from the main plot.
Thus, despite the easy prose, reading this novel often feels like plowing through pages in hope of finding a magical event once again. Luckily, during the last 200 pages the book finally finds the momentum and urge it should have had all along, and Clarke brings her book to nice and quite surprising finale. Three stars, because Clarke has managed to conjure a convincing world of magic, but no more, because I feel the book could be much, much shorter.
Portia Rosenberg's amateurish and all too literal illustrations add nothing to the book, and could easily be missed.
Clarke is at her best when describing magic. In her world magic always has an eerie, otherworldly and uncomfortable quality. Most interesting is the account of Lady Pole and Stephen Black, two people who get enchanted by a mysterious man with 'thistledown hair'. Unfortunately, the accounts of magic and these haunting tales are few and far between, and Clarke devotes much too many pages to more mundane matters. These chapters give her story believability, as do her numerous notes, which provide a convincing background story to this world of magic.
The non-magical chapters without doubt are the origins of the connections to Jane Austen and Charles Dickens many people make. But Clarke misses both Austen's subtle psychology and Dickens's social undercurrents, and has only kept their overflow of words. Only too often the reader finds himself in strands of boring events, leaving more exciting tales aside. Even a tale of magic during the battle of Waterloo only feels like a digression from the main plot.
Thus, despite the easy prose, reading this novel often feels like plowing through pages in hope of finding a magical event once again. Luckily, during the last 200 pages the book finally finds the momentum and urge it should have had all along, and Clarke brings her book to nice and quite surprising finale. Three stars, because Clarke has managed to conjure a convincing world of magic, but no more, because I feel the book could be much, much shorter.
Portia Rosenberg's amateurish and all too literal illustrations add nothing to the book, and could easily be missed.