Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

...age - at least until Jonathan Strange appears, to become his pupil and, eventually, his apostate and rival. The book is huge, but it flows well, following the main two magician characters as well as incorporating side stories of all kinds concerning individuals somehow enmeshed in the magicians' actions, notably a certain lady Pole brought to life from death at the beggining of Mr Norrell's public career and several other humans enchanted by inhabitants ...
...interesting, the research impressive and the style accomplished. And yet, 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' fails to delight. First and foremost it is decidedly too long: at over 780 pages the story has neither sufficient breadth nor depth to fill all that space. It is a remarkable achievement of the author that she manages to sustain enough interest in the reader to persevere till the end: there is not enough epic action, nor enough intellectual ...

magdadh 01.04.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

...is even more worried when Jonathan Strange appears on the scene, not knowing whether to treat him as a student, an equal or a rival. Starting as the former, the two soon develop contrasting ideas concerning magic and are soon in competition. Will it be a fight to the death or will they ever be able to see eye to eye? It's tough to explain what effect this book has. It does sound quite dull and, in truth, in places it can be. But it's almost as if ...
...seemingly possessing forenames, apart from Jonathan Strange himself. Once this rather stiff and unusual writing style is adapted to, however, it does become a lot easier to read. In the early parts of the book, however, they style meant that the narrator sounded like a venerable old gentleman in my head and for the first few days, I kept hearing the voice of Patrick Stewart reading the words to me. The use of footnotes can be a cause for concern, ...

Soho_Black 30.07.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

...around the main characters of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel. Britian has a long tradition of magic, however this is now confined to theory rather than practice, and the men who call themselves magicians are simply scholars of magical history, none have managed to practise magic at all - it is firmly believed that magic in Britain is dead - until, that is, that Mr Norrel proclaims himself to be the only living, practical magician of the age! Detemined ...
...Norrel's own. This man is Jonathan Strange, an independent man of means, who comes only to magic after hearing a strange prophecy recited to him by a vagabond. His holds no stock by the prophecy, but with no other career planned, the idea of magic catches his fancy and he is soon being heralded as a new magaician, and a rival for Mr Norrel. In time he becomes his pupil, but with so opposing ideas on magic and it's restoration, it can only be a matter ...

daisydaisym 28.11.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

...gentlemen by the name of Jonathan Strange decides to become a magician after a chance meeting with a street sorceror and Norrell recognising his skill agrees to tutor him in the theory of magic. Soon it becomes apparant that not only is Strange an excellent pupil but he is also a rival to Norrell. Norrell is a cautious man and believes magic should be regulated and controlled, Strange however has different ideas. The two, with their strong personalities, ...
...begin leading them to part ways. Events conspire against them as magic is on the increase in England and the faeries once again begin enchanting and abducting people away to faerie and something must be done....but what? *Opinion* The book is written very much in the language of the old classics which is surprising as it was first published in 2004. It was Susannah Clarke's debut novel. The language is not difficult to understand and portrays ...

maz2909 27.01.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

...craves, and his first pupil, Jonathan Strange, has rather different ideas about things, ideas which Norrell wants to suppress. Before long, the magicians have become embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, have met the king and have earned the enmity of a powerful denizen of the fairy worlds. Tensions mount between the two, one of them falls in love, and some of their closest associates betray their trust. From here, the plot twists and turns in unexpected ...
...or the slow march of English politics. There are triumphs and tragedies, there is intrigue and excitement and the magical mixes with the mundane. In short, we have a rare beast, here. A story of the fantastic which doesn't follow the quests and wars formula. There is no merry band of adventurers in search of treasure. There are no great armies sweeping across the worlds - or at least, none which didn't exist in reality. We have a story about people ...

DavidBedford 13.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

This book had me intrigued from the start. The story is of two magicians in England in the early 1800s Regency era who try and revive magic in a country where magic has been almost forgotten for hundred of years. The story follows the two magicians (Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell) whilst they help the govenrment and the military (particularly Wellington) in their battle against Napoleon and the story has a great deal of interesting detail ...
...must have been which i found fascinating. The two main characters in the book are quite different and have opposing views on many areas of magic but they are bound together by their mutual love of magic and ultimately need each other by the final chapters of the book. The book is divided into three separate volumes: Volume 1 - Mr Norrell Volume 2 - Mr Strange Volume 3 - John Uskglass John Uskglass is a fictional magician who in the book once ...

Pip111 01.12.2005 (02.12.2005) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke