# Anyone read "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [August 21, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520 "2006-08-21T00:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/1 "2006-08-21T00:24:08Z")
I’m about 2/3 through it so far and I can’t decide how I feel about it. Anyone else out there read this book? What did you think about it? ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/2 "2006-08-21T00:30:03Z")
Loved it to death. Went to a reading/signing even! Apparently a lot of other people liked it too, quite a crowd. She has a Jane Austen reference - I mean, yes, a lot of it is Austen-ish, but she has an actual reference to a line from Persuasion and that would have won me over if nothing else did. I liked the narrative style, I liked the voice of the narrator and the device of having the narrator describing the events in the novel as having happened some decades in the past. I found the way the protagonists were written very satisfying- I liked that Strange was quite flawed in his own way. I thought the Peninsula wars stuff was particularly gripping. I think it really shows that this is a universe that Susanna Clarke has fleshed out for her own satisfaction - more like Tolkien than Rowling in the way she handled building a fantasy world and then giving us stories from it. I can’t wait for more of her world! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/3 "2006-08-21T00:34:40Z")
I liked it a lot. I think you have to understand that it’s a novel of manners in a lot of ways, more than an adventure or a fantasy. It’s like Jane Austin with an element of fantasy. I think it’s a very rich novel. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/4 "2006-08-21T00:51:15Z")
I usually love this stuff, and the book was highly recommended. I found it to be like drowning in treacle. I could not get more than a hundred pages in without nodding off. Sorry, I did not care for it. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/5 "2006-08-21T00:52:50Z")
I am enjoying the story and for the most part the writing style, but it’s just moving so slowly… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/6 "2006-08-21T00:53:56Z")
I read it in three days over the holiday break and loved it. Never having read Jane Austen, I didn’t catch the reference. If anything, I thought the milieu seemed slightly Dickensian. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/7 "2006-08-21T00:58:21Z")
I have a question. Is Jonathan’s last name supposed to be pronounced “Strange” or “Strang” (like the Elizabethan Lord)? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/8 "2006-08-21T01:12:02Z")
[Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=279829), in which I, among others, talk about how much I liked the book. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/9 "2006-08-21T01:17:00Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I am enjoying the story and for the most part the writing style, but it’s just moving so slowly… It does go quite slowly so far as ‘action’ is concerned. I’d suggest shifting your expectations a bit and savouring it, as it’s not really possible to read it at a full gallop. 🙂 Lots of lovely language and details to savour, too. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/10 "2006-08-21T02:20:37Z")
Keep at it–the action picks up, and I thought when it did that it built very nicely on the previous slow portions. Similar to Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/11 "2006-08-21T03:53:18Z")
Add my vote to the “loved it” category. I really enjoyed the realistic way she portrayed the characters, and the slow buildup of history through the footnotes and stories. I thought the character of John Uskglass was so masterfully fleshed out, without really having an active role in most of the book. It was just really satisfying to enjoy the way the book flowed and go along with it. Plus the humor was amazing, just the way I like my British humor. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/12 "2006-08-21T03:58:01Z")
It may be relevant to note that while I love the storylines of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I hated the writing style and found it boring to read. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed a copy of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ that I borrowed from Edward the Head which was a very old translation (not far off from being contemporary to the writing of the book) and yet it engaged me quite easily. Not that there is a huge comparison there, I’m just noting it to point out that I’m not against older styles of writing. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/13 "2006-08-21T04:00:01Z")
Also it may be that I had been reading it over my summer vacation, when I was quite busy with other things and rarely had more than 30 minutes at a time to devote to reading, so I haven’t had a chance to really “immerse” myself in it. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/14 "2006-08-21T04:16:37Z")
I think it ought to be read languidly. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/15 "2006-08-21T07:11:01Z")
I felt like I was enjoying it, mostly, but also felt like it was a struggle to keep reading. An interesting read, and one I’d recommend to some people, based on their other tastes, but not a thumb way up for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/16 "2006-08-21T12:12:41Z")
I couldn’t finish it. I never got to a point where I cared what happened. Part of the annoyance for me were the footnotes, which was an interesting idea, but got way out of hand. Some pages the footnote is longer than the text. ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/17 "2006-08-21T12:22:23Z")
I read the whole thing but did so because I refused to be bored out of finishing. I found it, as the others who didn’t like it here, slow, dull and a bit precious. It seemed to dangle some fascinating mysterious world in front of me but kept it at arm’s length and never brought it any closer. As a result, I never cared much. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/18 "2006-08-21T12:35:02Z")
I loved it. It’s one of the few books I’ve read lately that really had some “meat” to it. When I wasn’t reading it, I was still thinking about it. Enjoyed the writing style as well, but I could easily understand that it’s not for everyone. Maybe this is a book that just has to catch you at the right time. ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/19 "2006-08-21T16:10:55Z")
put me in the Really Enjoyed It category. Yes, it was slow in parts, but I found that it seemed to pick up the pace in the latter part of the book. Not one to rush through; I enjoyed the atmosphere the book created as well as the story itsself. I thought the world was wonderfully realized and the ending was very satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/20 "2006-08-21T18:25:51Z")
About a hundred pages left, and I’m really enjoying it. It has got to be the book that has taken me the longest ever to read, but I enjoy the characters, and I’m eager to see how it ends. My biggest problem with it is that I have the large paperback copy, and it’s just so damn heavy, it’s awkward to read. Hard to get really comfortable and settle into it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520.md?page=2)