Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: Book Review
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
This book is large, thick, about 6 inches of roughened pages and binding. When it first arrived in it's brown rectangular box (I'd been looking for it in the local library for weeks, but it wasn't available, so I ordered it from Amazon, a rare but luscious investment.) the weight of it required me to use both hands to bring it inside. A no-nonsense cover, all black and write, resembles an old fashioned book of secrets, or spells, (Those British are so proud of their English traditions, they think civility and literature began in England. ) consisting of no less than three volumes and almost 800 pages of tiny typeset. (Luckily, I found a pair of reading glasses someone had left at my house one day quite by accident. These became indispensable.)
From the first page, readers began a delicious, very British, study of the history of English magic and the story of two, no, three men, who were most crucial to it's development. Through the adventures of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell ( I wonder how long those two argued over who would be listed first?), one a studied magician, one drawn to the craft by laziness and a major brush with destiny, we learn much about English history that is left out of most history texts, we are treated to a rare glimpse of the world of Faerie and their troublesome follies and we learn a few magical basics. Upon finishing the book, I began studying the backyard for signs of fairy roads and my mirrors for shadows, until I made the shocking realization that perhaps this book is just fiction. Perhaps, and I shudder, it's all made up, the made up story of a first time British author who has spent most of her life slaving away in publishing houses making cookbooks.
If that is indeed the truth (assuming I haven't been enchanted), the author does a superb job creating her history of English magic, weaving in mammoth footnotes that make perfect sense down to the last page. The delectable humor throughout the text proves she doesn't take her made-up-world too seriously, as is the fault of many a fantasy writer, and thus bring it all crashing down upon us in one poorly composed sentence. I do love a good fantasy. ( I have read Phillip Pullman, and was a fan of Harry Potter before he became famous.) What sets this book apart from most fantasies is that it reaches to a more intelligent, more astute reader, a reader who loves rich fantasy footnotes, characters for whom things don't always work out, and patterns that follow some predictable paths in fresh ways.
I highly recommend this text. If enchantments and fairies are at work, this review might mean little. If the craft of a first time writer from England created this world, this work stands as one of the best written, longest, most cunning texts I've read in years.
This book is large, thick, about 6 inches of roughened pages and binding. When it first arrived in it's brown rectangular box (I'd been looking for it in the local library for weeks, but it wasn't available, so I ordered it from Amazon, a rare but luscious investment.) the weight of it required me to use both hands to bring it inside. A no-nonsense cover, all black and write, resembles an old fashioned book of secrets, or spells, (Those British are so proud of their English traditions, they think civility and literature began in England. ) consisting of no less than three volumes and almost 800 pages of tiny typeset. (Luckily, I found a pair of reading glasses someone had left at my house one day quite by accident. These became indispensable.)
From the first page, readers began a delicious, very British, study of the history of English magic and the story of two, no, three men, who were most crucial to it's development. Through the adventures of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell ( I wonder how long those two argued over who would be listed first?), one a studied magician, one drawn to the craft by laziness and a major brush with destiny, we learn much about English history that is left out of most history texts, we are treated to a rare glimpse of the world of Faerie and their troublesome follies and we learn a few magical basics. Upon finishing the book, I began studying the backyard for signs of fairy roads and my mirrors for shadows, until I made the shocking realization that perhaps this book is just fiction. Perhaps, and I shudder, it's all made up, the made up story of a first time British author who has spent most of her life slaving away in publishing houses making cookbooks.
If that is indeed the truth (assuming I haven't been enchanted), the author does a superb job creating her history of English magic, weaving in mammoth footnotes that make perfect sense down to the last page. The delectable humor throughout the text proves she doesn't take her made-up-world too seriously, as is the fault of many a fantasy writer, and thus bring it all crashing down upon us in one poorly composed sentence. I do love a good fantasy. ( I have read Phillip Pullman, and was a fan of Harry Potter before he became famous.) What sets this book apart from most fantasies is that it reaches to a more intelligent, more astute reader, a reader who loves rich fantasy footnotes, characters for whom things don't always work out, and patterns that follow some predictable paths in fresh ways.
I highly recommend this text. If enchantments and fairies are at work, this review might mean little. If the craft of a first time writer from England created this world, this work stands as one of the best written, longest, most cunning texts I've read in years.
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