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Review - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Mar. 24th, 2009 07:02 pmI like the realist Victorian novels. I like fantasy novels. I seem to like Neo-Victorianism based on my little experience with it. I was not sure I'd enjoy Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell -- particularly considering it isn't exactly a Neo-Victorian novel, perhaps: I read that it was intended to be a pastiche of Jane Austen. Try as I might, I don't really get on with Jane Austen, although I will give her the obligatory second go, etc, etc. In the end, though, I did like this book. I loved it, really. I've read a lot of other reviews of it and I can see what people mean when they complain of the length, the lack of editing, the dry tone, the long and numerous footnotes... all that, for me, was part of the novel and very necessary to it, but I can understand why that made it somewhat inaccessible. Particularly as it seems to have been marketed or hyped as the "adult Harry Potter". That, it isn't. I'm reasonably used to reading the kind of dense, descriptive prose that this imitates, which obviously helped, and I became fascinated with the whole world it lays out, including the alternate history and the various interweaving of fact and mythology.
The plot itself admittedly takes a while to get off the ground. However, details from early in the novel do become very important, and the set up is entirely necessary, to my mind. I don't think there's anything meaningless in the story that could or should have been edited out. It could have been a much slicker, more accessible read -- it could, indeed, have been "Harry Potter for adults"! It was something more than that, though, I think, and something more unique. If you can't buy into that and get invested in the story/characters by the time Jonathan Strange is learning magic, than I think perhaps it's not the book for you -- but it does require giving it a chance. Once the plot took shape, I was riveted. It wasn't so much so that I "couldn't" put the book down, but I certainly didn't want to.
Character-wise, it took me a while (again) to get into it and to start liking them. Mr Norrell isn't the most likeable character anyway, but I did end up feeling quite affectionate about him. He's certainly a vivid character, in that you feel like you get to know him. Jonathan Strange is more likeable, although he still has his flaws. Ultimately I probably liked Strange the most of all the characters, since he has good lines and would probably be quite fun to talk to (if he wasn't mad or working at the time). Norrell certainly wouldn't be. I also enjoyed that neither magician was really more "right" than the other. A good touch! Childermass was another interesting character, even from early in the novel, and I wanted to kick Norrell sometimes for his treatment of him. I could have wished for more female characters taking an active part in all of it, but I did like Arabella.
As a whole, evidently, I found the book absorbing and worth the time I put into it -- despite all I've said about the dryness and difficulty, etc, I pretty much ate it up. If it sounds appealing to you, give it a try, but be prepared to give it a chance and also for not feeling like it's the sort of story you can get into. It is not the adult Harry Potter -- I'm not sure what I could compare it to, but it's decidedly not that.
Did someone say there may be a sequel in the works?
The plot itself admittedly takes a while to get off the ground. However, details from early in the novel do become very important, and the set up is entirely necessary, to my mind. I don't think there's anything meaningless in the story that could or should have been edited out. It could have been a much slicker, more accessible read -- it could, indeed, have been "Harry Potter for adults"! It was something more than that, though, I think, and something more unique. If you can't buy into that and get invested in the story/characters by the time Jonathan Strange is learning magic, than I think perhaps it's not the book for you -- but it does require giving it a chance. Once the plot took shape, I was riveted. It wasn't so much so that I "couldn't" put the book down, but I certainly didn't want to.
Character-wise, it took me a while (again) to get into it and to start liking them. Mr Norrell isn't the most likeable character anyway, but I did end up feeling quite affectionate about him. He's certainly a vivid character, in that you feel like you get to know him. Jonathan Strange is more likeable, although he still has his flaws. Ultimately I probably liked Strange the most of all the characters, since he has good lines and would probably be quite fun to talk to (if he wasn't mad or working at the time). Norrell certainly wouldn't be. I also enjoyed that neither magician was really more "right" than the other. A good touch! Childermass was another interesting character, even from early in the novel, and I wanted to kick Norrell sometimes for his treatment of him. I could have wished for more female characters taking an active part in all of it, but I did like Arabella.
As a whole, evidently, I found the book absorbing and worth the time I put into it -- despite all I've said about the dryness and difficulty, etc, I pretty much ate it up. If it sounds appealing to you, give it a try, but be prepared to give it a chance and also for not feeling like it's the sort of story you can get into. It is not the adult Harry Potter -- I'm not sure what I could compare it to, but it's decidedly not that.
Did someone say there may be a sequel in the works?
