Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Retrieved from: someone else's library
(1582344167), 2004
Suggested by: Jenica
My Ratings: 10 Merit, 9 Interest, 8 Fun

One of the worst feelings is reading a book as long as this--782 pages--and realizing on the last page that you missed a huge chunk of the symbolism. In this case, it's even worse because I really got bogged down in the middle of this book, so I don't want to read it again and figure out all the literary stuff that I missed. The last third of the book is fabulous (in all senses of that word), but the middle is...long.

Quick synopsis: it is the early years of the 19th century. Practical English magic has all but died out, although there are plenty of theorists around to debate the merits of this spell over that spell. Soon, however, the last practicing magician shows himself, followed in quick order by a neophyte who is taken as an apprentice. Thence follows the Napoleonic Wars, lots of political ya-ya, and some light Jane Austen-ish drawing room comedic elements (these are the parts I bogged down in).

Naturally, these two magicians eventually hare off in different directions--physically and theoretically--only to be brought back together to complete the Raven King's final spell. The Raven King is a semi-mythological magician from a thousand years past thought to be the strongest magician (and king) England has ever had.

The book is very Dickensian in many respects, not just in length. The number of characters, the names of the characters, the wide sweep of story, and the melding of factual events with fictional reminded me a lot of some of Dickens' better novels, like A Tale of Two Cities. I especially loved the names, which should have tipped me off that they were IMPORTANT. Some of the better, more telling names are Drawlight, Vinculus, Wintertowne, Greysteel. They just conjure up a certain picture of the individual, don't they? And those are names of humans, not fairies or other creatures!

The upshot of the book is that it would be a wonderful book group read. There is plenty to discuss, there are some great almost throw-away scenes, and Clarke's descriptions of landscape are simply amazing. Perhaps I will skim it through once more before I take it back to the library....