It’s very funny and quirky, the characters are all very
interesting with funny opinions. There’s also a commentary from the narrator on
aspects of the story that’s very funny as well. It makes it an enjoyable read,
and not nearly as dry as it could have been.
The plot is very intricate (it better be in a book that
size) but there are many instances of foreshadowing or important details being
dropped that you don’t realize until the end. One good example is Vinculus’s
prophecy (I think it’s clearly referring to Strange and Norrell as the two
magicians, not Vinculus and Childermass, since there are references to dark
towers and being ruled by thieves and murderers). Another is the fortune
telling cards that Childermass possesses, when he reads Vinculus’s fortune it’s
frightening how accurately it comes true. For an analysis of Childermass’s
fortune, I found one here: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/10/jonathan-strange-a-mr-norrell-reread-part-4.
Then there’s also how the Raven King pops up everywhere, in person and being
mentioned. He links many parts of the plot together.
There’s also a very elaborate world being described here.
It’s been called an “alternative history” type of book, since it’s based on an
actual time period (early 1800s) but has some differences, as in magic and all
that. Lord Byron is present and supposedly based a poem off of Strange, Goya
also based his hellish paintings on a piece of magic Strange did. The Duke of
Wellington also makes an appearance in the Napoleonic Wars. So there’s quite a
bit of history jokes going on here.
The characters are all funny and quirky as well. Strange and
Norrell function really well as opposites and just socially awkward people in
general. Norrell hates talking to people, and Strange is better than he is but
still lacks quite a bit of tact. This all makes everything rather amusing.
Segundus is great, one of those characters who always pops up in convenient
places for the heroes. Childermass is also one of the few people who know
what’s really going on, despite the fact that he’s Norrell’s servant. And
Vinculus is hilarious as a homeless fakeish-magician. As you can imagine, he
bothers Norrell quite a bit.
There’s also a recurring idea of madness and how it can be
clarity. You need to lose your senses in order to realize what is actually
going on. This is taken literally and a bit more figuratively in places.
There’s also a lot of “Englishness” mentioned. I’m not sure
if the author was going for a stereotype or not here. English and English
things are associated with being strong and true, but anything else is Other
and strange. This applies to magic as well, there’s English magic and darker
magic that lurks in all their actions.
One complaint I had was that there aren’t many strong women
or minorities (other than Stephan). And no female magicians! Having said all
that, Stephen is a black servant and is pretty cool and ends up powerful, kind
of.
It’s written in the form of a history book, so nearly half
of the pages have footnotes at the bottom explaining different comments or
elaborating on ideas presented. It’s also all written by a rather mysterious
narrator. I found this site analyzing just who this might be (spoiler: we
probably don’t know the person). http://crookedtimber.org/2005/11/29/who-is-the-narrator-of-jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell-and-where-are-the-lady-magicians/
The Raven King is ubiquitous, as I mentioned, but he also
orchestrates most of the action in the book. I’m hoping for more elaboration on
this, to what end is he going to, and how is he doing this? What is really
going on behind the scenes?
This book is also being turned into a BBC mini-series! I’m
so excited! It looks very good so far.
Clarke also released that she’s writing a sequel focusing on
the darker characters, which should be very interesting. Can’t wait for all
these developments!
No comments:
Post a Comment