Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

So, I finally finished it. It took me practically the entire month of January--a little longer than I would have liked, but things don't always work out the way I want them to.

Without giving anything important away, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is about two dueling English magicians at the beginning of the 19th century. Mr. Norrell is the foremost magical in England--he assists the government with their ongoing war against Napoleon Bonaparte, and helps to prevent various natural disasters around the island. As a result, he becomes on of the most desired men about town. About half way through the book Jonathan Strange makes his appearance. He is a naturally gifted magician who comes under the tutelage of Mr. Norrell. Eventually the two quarrel and part ways--taking very divergent paths in their pursuit of furthering English magic.

The general consensus about this book is that it's a little too wordy--too much superfluous description. I thought when I began reading, what literature lover ever criticizes Dickens for being too wordy? OK, well maybe a lot of people do, but I generally find that a certain amount of wordiness adds to the charm of a novel. Detailed description helps invoke time and place. Perhaps this in only true for books that are written contemporary to the time in which they take place. One could have a brief ( ;) ) but interesting discussion about that. Anyway, it's my feeling that anyone picking up this book could skip the entire first section, entitled "Mr. Norrell." Mr. Norrell's rise to fame as a magician is pretty boring, and rather unnecessary to the rest of the story. I think any important information could be easily inferred from conversations and narrative printed later in the book.

As an English major, I find it difficult to read a novel simply for enjoyment. For me everything I read should have some sort of lesson to be learned. I'm not sure that Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell does much by way of teaching anything about life--but let me dig a little. Perhaps one could glean from it to not interfere with forces and powers that are out of one's control and understanding. But then again, aren't we supposed to try to gain understanding about things that we don't understand? What is the aim of education if not to break away from the teacher and try to expand upon the accepted knowledge? Would any learning be valuable if it did not lead to further thought and work? Strange ultimately rejects Norrell's teachings about magic. He believes that his teacher's views are too narrow. He wants to explore things that Norrell shuns. In the course of the book, we find that Norrell possessed wisdom from disastrous experience that he was too proud to admit to his pupil. Perhaps this is a story about the dangers of being too proud. Norrell could have prevented all of the tragic events in the book had he not been beguiled by those who would stroke his ego and make him think that he could do no wrong. Of course, then there wouldn't have been a story. But this is the problem of most novels and stories. We have the benefit of being detached from the events enough to analyze them and realize that they are totally preventable if any one of a string of bad decisions had not been made.

So, would I recommend this book? If the person I was suggesting to was a fan of fantasy or was curious to read the book that has been called "Harry Potter for adults" then yes. Definitely. Otherwise, this is not a book for most.

Up next: The World Below by Sue Miller
And for those who are interested my page count for the year is 1741. Don't worry--I'm going strong until the end of June, but then I'm going to be spending my time figuring out how to take care of two children and still remain sane.