Rating: 5
Set in 19th Century Britain, during the Napoleonic Wars, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell are rival magicians, with very different ideas concerning the role magic should play in modern society. With a fantastic array of characters, notably Norrell's intriguing servant Childermass, and the delicious villain, the gentleman with the thistle-down hair. Clarke's desriptions of characters and the magical events they find themselves involved in are delightful...ships built of rain, darkness sweeping over cobbled streets, talking statues.. This novel is a truly original creation, with a foot firmly placed in historical fact, an interesting take on prominant figures such as the Duke of Wellington, and is a beautiful homage to Dickens. Within the first few pages, I knew this would rapidly become one of my favourite books! The size of the book had put me off reading it for some time, but it really is necessary for the sheer number of characters and the kind of character development the author wanted to achieve. Jonathan Strange is intelligent, witty, poignant and at times, bitterly sad. Oh, and Clarke uses the most fabulously long footnotes, which I always love! My only gripe is wanting to know more about the Raven King!
I am quite interested to see how the book is going to be adapted into a film (the talking statues and moving darkness could be quite eerie!).
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
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4 comments:
I loved this and am really looking forward to reading The Ladies of Grace Adieu for a bit more magic.
I'm glad you enjoyed this one so much - I did too! I wanted to read more about The Raven King as well. I think there are a few stories that have to do with him in The Ladies of Grace Adieu. And if I'm not mistaken she's said that she will write more about him in the future. I can't wait!
I'm currently listening to the audio version of this one (it's an insane number of CDs!). So far, so good - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it so much. And welcome to the bookblogosphere! :-D
A film! I must be the last one to realize it'll be a film.
I reviewed this, too, here:
http://deweymonster.com/?p=425
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