# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/21 "2006-08-21T19:35:15Z")
I read it and loved it. The author creates a whole different world which she envelops both her characters and the reader in and I love books like that. beware, though. For me, at least, the ending came completely out of left field, but on looking back I can see how the entire book had been building up to it all along. ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/22 "2006-08-21T19:49:45Z")
I loved it; my best friend hated it. I have to agree with others - it’s a slog to get through. I didn’t read it all at once. I read a large part, then put it down for a few weeks, then came back. Not because I didn’t like it; I just couldn’t take it in one gulp, like I do with most books. Susan ---
**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/23 "2006-08-21T19:54:11Z")
It strikes me (and I believe the author has said as well) that it is a wintry sort of book; more suited to the months between November and February than late August. I personally read it first in spring and early summer, IIRC, after hearing the author on the Diane Rehm show, but when I pick it up again, I don’t expect the season to be earlier than late fall. Perhaps you ought to put it aside for a while and pick it up again later? ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/24 "2006-08-21T20:11:33Z")
I think what makes this book aggravating to some (or at least to me) is that most of the book is about the battle between S & N and the Gentleman with the Thistle Down Hair, and the magicians don’t even know it. I just kept waiting for a confrontation that never occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/25 "2006-08-21T20:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=krisolov] 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. [/QUOTE] This pretty much matches my opinion. I can see how it wouldn’t be for everyone, especially if you don’t like long Victorian novels or “scholarly” fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/26 "2006-08-21T20:37:02Z")
It was easily my favorite book I read last year. Loved the style, the footnotes, the story, and how damn creepy the fairies were. Of course, I also dig Austen, Patrick O’Brian, and history in general. ---
**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, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/27 "2006-08-21T21:15:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I think what makes this book aggravating to some (or at least to me) is that most of the book is about the battle between S & N and the Gentleman with the Thistle Down Hair, and the magicians don’t even know it. I just kept waiting for a confrontation that never occurred. Part of what I liked about it was that the mystery is still alive at the end of the book–we still have only tantalizing glimpses. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/28 "2006-08-21T21:57:10Z")
I enjoyed it but one point kept nagging at me: The repeated phrase “English magic.” As if in this world, magic is something **uniquely** English and no other country produces magicians or has gateways to Faerie. (Napoleon’s efforts to find a magician of his own meet with no success.) If the author is going to include that, she should at least explain why. But nobody ever seems to raise the question. Also, it’s never clearly explained why Norrell wants to hoard all magical knowledge and keep anybody else, with the sole exception of Strange, from becoming a magician. Pure jealousy, or fear of what magic could do in the wrong hands? ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/29 "2006-08-22T01:48:01Z")
I listened to it on audiobook, and LOVED it. As I got closer to the end, I couldn’t stop listening. I thought the ending was very satisfying too. ---
**Author:** ![Arien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/30 "2006-08-22T02:33:08Z")
I really loved it but I can see how other people wouldn’t. I liked the whole alternative history for England and how it took Strange a long while to find a way to use magic practically in the war. Plus, it was surprisingly funny. I hope the author doesn’t take another ten years to write her next book. By the way, on Susanna Clarke’s website you can find out what [Mr Strange](http://www.jonathanstrange.com/copy.asp?s=1&id=8) and [Mr Norell](http://www.jonathanstrange.com/copy.asp?s=1&id=9) think of the author. ---
**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 22, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/31 "2006-08-22T03:46:01Z")
For a sort of similar fictional context (vain magicians in conflict, alternate England, magical otherplace, footnotes) try Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy (YA fiction). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/32 "2006-08-22T04:03:54Z")
I read it in January 2005, on a trip **burundi** and I took to DC and NYC. I read it far more than I should’ve, but I was totally engrossed. I kept reading little sections to her, sections of absurdity or beautiful language. I don’t remember what the faerie feast consisted of, but I remember thinking it was the perfect description of a faerie feast. And yeah, the footnotes were out of control–but I thought they were hilarious. It was such an over-the-top conceit that it worked really well, in my mind. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/33 "2022-03-17T17:20:58Z")
Bumped. Just read and loved her latest book, _Piranesi_, and started this thread: [Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (open spoilers)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piranesi-by-susanna-clarke-open-spoilers/961260) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/34 "2022-03-17T17:30:53Z")
I did wade through some of it and found it quite a piece of work! I only remember The Gentleman With the Thistle-Down Hair and his bizarre promenades at night through his castle with that poor girl - Emma? - who never got to sleep. (I pictured him looking exactly like David Bowie.). I heard there was a mini-series made of it some years ago, but haven’t read anything about it, maybe it was just in England. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/35 "2022-03-17T18:00:51Z")
[The miniseries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Strange_%26_Mr_Norrell_(TV_series)) was pretty good - not entirely faithful to the book but close enough to be enjoyable, although I thought Marc Warren was miscast as The Gentleman With Thistledown Hair. I would have loved to see Benedict Cumberbatch or Alan Cumming in the role, but you can’t have everything I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/36 "2022-03-17T19:33:15Z")
Here’s our thread on it: [Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC America](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-on-bbc-america/722477) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520/37 "2022-03-17T19:51:13Z")
The book and the miniseries were both great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-read-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/369520.md?page=1)