World Famous Comics: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
By: Susanna Clarke Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Tor Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 1024 Publication Date: August 01, 2006 Release Date: August 01, 2006
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England’s history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England—until the reclusive Mr Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight.
Soon, another practicing magician comes forth: the young, handsome, and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell’s student, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, straining his partnership with Norrell, and putting at risk everything else he holds dear.
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Amazon.com Review: It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler
Have you a pair of scissors? I started out being completely delighted and enchanted by Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Author Susanna Clarke has perfected a narrative voice that is thoroughly 19th century yet has a modern dry sense of humor. Likewise, her use of copious footnotes to give the reader background on magical history (making the book feel more like a historical novel than a work of fiction) are initially charming. After several hundred pages, however, things start to drag. The essential plot line concerns Mr. Norrell, a fearful, secretive magician who wants to return magic to England but be its only magician. He makes his name by restoring the beautiful young bride of Sir Walter Poole to life. However, no one knows that he has done so by enlisting the assistance of a fairy, known as the gentleman with thistle down hair or just "the gentleman," who takes his payment for aiding Norrel by enchanting the Lady Poole and essentially keeping her a slave in the balls he throws every night in Faerie land.
Enter Jonathan Strange, a young man who, rather than choosing magic, has had magic thrust upon. He becomes Norrell's pupil and, as is only fitting, soon surpasses his master. There are a number of intertwining story lines and characters, but the main thrust is the the rivalry between the two magicians and the increasingly malicious doings of the gentleman with thistle down hair. I found that the pace picked up in the last two hundred or so pages, when the plot becomes driven by higher stakes. Clarke and her editor should have stepped back and done some judicious cutting of the text. They could have done so without doing damage to the narrative voice or the plot, and it would have prevented more than one reader from wanting the throw the book across the room on occasion.
Clarke is a fabulous writer just, apparently, not so fabulous a re-writer/editor. This is a book that definitely requires some patience. The pay-off was not entirely satisfying to this reader, hence four stars instead of five.
A novel of extraordinary proportions! But with a warning.... When you begin a novel that spans more than 800 pages and you start noticing footnotes (shriek!!), it should serve as a warning. One the good side, Ms. Clarke's writing is quite good, and very consistent considering it is done in an "Old English" style. She is extremely detail oriented; leaving no stone unturned. Her development of a "history within a work of historical fiction" would not be matched by many authors. Even the footnotes are so well thought out, I began wondering if I was reading history, imagined or real? I would also have to say that the writing, in some spots, is quite witty and humorous! Do yourself a favor, give it at least 100 pages before deciding this book is not for you. The pace is slow and it definitely takes a while to start making some sense of character and plotline. I think it's best to say that if JK Rowling and Jane Austen were to co-produce a novel, this would be it. A little Harry Potter, a little drawing room comedy, a little swashbuckling thrown in for good measure. Now, for the bad news. It is just too darned long! There are way too many plot lines with secondary characters; some of which are revisited after several hundred pages! At this point, you've forgotten what the plot line was or you simply do not care. It's apparent that Ms. Clarke had a great many ideas roaming around in her head. It's unfortunate she felt the need to include all of them into one book. Imagine, Rowling trying to squeeze everthying she had in mind for Harry into one or two books! Personally, I think one book with a tight plot and without an excess of characters would have been more effective. Alternately, I think she could have (with a shorter novel) have begun to build up steam for successive novels and make it a series. But, hey, let's be honest here, too. I did finish the entire book and there was certainly enough to keep me wanting to find out what happens.
a pleasure! first off, i have to point out that this book is quite a fun. the style of writing Clarke has is pleasant to the ear and mind. but what strikes me very peculiar is that the first volume of this book titled MR. Norrell is focused on a character that is rude, arrogant, snobbish, pretty much the most unlikeable character i have ever read about and i couldn't put the book down. people who complain about this book being too slow need to realize that this is not something like Harry Potter. Clarke uses much of her language in this book not to tell the story so much as to play and experiment with the form of English during the 1800's i feel this book says much about common day literature. the story does drag in spots of the first volume but i found that once Jonathan Strange was introduced the book picked up quite nicely.the story is original and has many twists and turns. her writing is fun and sophisticated. great book. i highly recommend it.
A worthwhile read for the patient During the Napoleonic Wars, Mr. Norrell, the first English magician in several centuries appears and starts using his powers to aid England against Napoleon. Mr. Norrell believes that he is the only person responsible enough to wield magic and proceeds to try to accumulate all of the known books of magic and prevent anyone one else from learning magical skills. However, when Jonathan Strange appears with some strong innate skills, Mr. Norrell feels forced to take him on as a apprentice. Eventually Strange becomes tired of Norrell's restrictive view of magic and goes off on his own, creating a deep rivalry between the two. Strange also faces danger as he tries to contact fairies and the Raven King, a legendary magician who ruled Northern England in the past.
I have mixed feeling about this book. I really enjoyed the wit of it with many individual entertaining scenes. The overall story turns out to be interesting as well. The big problem with the book is its length. It takes forever to get the story moving, and up until about the last third of the book it is very slow-moving. In many ways, it reads like a book that was written in the 19th century, which I sure was the idea, but which can also be somewhat offputting to modern readers. Overall, I found that the strong writing and humor compensate for the slow plot and would recommend the book.
Very good reading I didn't think I would like this book becuz it seemed for women, but I was wrong. It is very long book but so good a read. It is about a magician, but not at all like Harry Potter, so don't think it is. It is so much better than Harry Potter. I found myself thinking more of Jim Butcher's excellent DRESDEN FILES series, that I also think is great. There is no romance stuff in it, so don't worry about that.
It takes place in the 1850s or so and follows the exploits of Jonathan Strange on his quest to explore the world that cannot be seen. He makes "jumps" into a vast unknown area to go to other places and follow a mysterious figure that eventually begins to wreck havoc on the world of humans.
These characters come to life and is hard to put the book down, even though it is very very long. But you will be glad it was long when it is done and you will still want more. I am waiting for a sequel
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