Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell- Susanna Clarke

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 I have started reading this after falling in love with Clarke's other novel 'Piranesi'.  This was a short, but effective novel that left me thinking about it for months after it. 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' is Clarke's debut novel, first published in 2004 and is in many ways completely different from 'Piranesi'. It is essentially a door stop of a book, spanning over 700 pages of alternative history, magical realism, quirky characters and whimsy that I found is characteristic of Clarke's writing. I have attempted to give this novel a fair chance and not compare it to what I consider a master piece of 'Piranesi', but I must say I did not enjoy it as much. 

The novel follows two magicians in England during the Napoleonic wars and their various attempts to bring magic back to England. Although set in the historically accurate time period, because of the influence of magic, the history presented is different from what we believe to be true. Readers will be faced with magic that can relocate entire cities with its inhabitants to another continent, make horses out of sea foam in the war effort. In this world, it is common knowledge that England had a fairy King, sometime ago that can basically return at any moment and that fairies used to very much so exist and fairy roads are an actual way to get to Fairy Land. This is incredibly entertaining and Clarke also employs the style of the time, which unfortunately was never my favourite. It is rich and Clarke's vast talent in storytelling is displayed on these pages, but in the matter of personal preference, I have much preferred her style in 'Piranesi'. The use of the footnotes to add to the lore of this alternative world was a genius way to expand on it while not interrupting the flow of the novel too much. 

Clarke introduced so many characters in this novel, some of which she introduced at the start and then introduced them again during the middle of the novel. I grew up reading Russian novelists, but I was not ready for this. At times, I would have to go back and try to remind myself of who they are, what they were described as and what is their role in the whole story. The main characters could not be any different if they tried, so that was not a huge issue. I did not always fully understand their motivation and at times it felt almost exaggerated for comedic effect, but overall the dynamic between the titular characters worked well for me. There were not too many female characters, but the once that existed were as fleshed out as any other character in the novel and I especially appreciated the friendship of two women. 

I am not the biggest reader of long novels with convoluted plots and much prefer more contained narratives. However, I think that Clarke's talent shines in this element as well. She is able to juggle many different plot points wonderfully, giving them enough attention to keep them interesting and relevant. I have seen some reviews saying that switching between different points of view and plots was confusing and jarring, but I did not feel that way. 


Overall, magical realism in the novels is one of my personal favourites and overall it worked well in 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell', but I had an issue with the magic system overall. I was never quite sure what magicians could or could not do and the rules felt arbitrary but never quite explained. At certain situations, magic worked more like deus ex machina solution rather than an actual plot point. The description of some of the magic performed added to the overall humour of this novel, but I wish that more information about the system of magic was offered one way or another. 

 Finally, the ending was quite anticlimactic for me. After pages and pages of escalating the danger and the final battle, it just sizzled out. The magic went to the person that it was not raised for (although the way it was explained and in the context of the story and some very dark British history impressed me) and it saved the day. I expected this finale to be given more attention and last a bit longer than a few pages it did. 

I will absolutely keep reading and recommending Clarke to anyone who cares to listen, but I had to rate this one 3/5.



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