Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
As some of you may know, I'm currently in Kabul, Afghanistan on a short term assignment. Whenever I'm in Kabul I get a ton of reading done, and I had to share my thoughts on this latest.
I finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel a few days ago, and I'm still a little rosy from the experience. The book is classified as Fantasy, but it's not the kind with wizards and dragons. Instead we get gentleman magicians who are out to restore magic to19th century England. In this pursuit they assist England in battling Napoleon's armies, raise the dead, and engage in high-brow debates about magical theory (especially where it relates to fairies). Cameos by King George III and Lord Byron are particularly notable.
The book was difficult for me to get into. Others have remarked that the action doesn't begin until the last 200 pages, which is true. But for me it wasn't about the action, it was about the style. I have never had patience for "old books" (ha- stay with me here). When I started to read this book it reminded me of how annoyed I was trying to read Jane Austin and anything Dickens. In fact I was doubly annoyed because it's not even an old book! The author was doing this to me on purpose! I think my problem is that with older style prose I feel a distance between myself and the book, where reading it is not natural enough for me to fall into the story.
But maybe all I need is more practice, because by page 300 or so something shifted and I really got into it. The story is great, and Clarke's 800 pages might be slow but they don't take you on pointless tangents. Everything in there feeds into the main storyline. And by the time you get to the action you will be glad you stuck it out!
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