My Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Review

In February of 2023, I picked up Piranesi by Susanna Clarke to read on the plane ride home from a vacation. It was so good that not only did the whole plane ride go by in the blink of an eye, but I read the whole book in one sitting. When I heard that Susanna Clarke had written a much longer book in the dark academia / historical fantasy vein, I added it to my TBR list right away.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was first published in 2004 and was nominated for a ton of awards, winning the Hugo award for best novel in 2005. But at 864 pages and riddled with lengthy footnotes, I admit I was intimidated. So it was only a few months ago that I finally picked up.

The verdict? Read on for my Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell review!

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Overview

4 Stars

Subgenre: Dark academia, historical fantasy

Judge a Book by Its Cover

2024 marks the 20th year since the initial release of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and so Bloomsbury released a 20th anniversary edition that features a stunning new cover and beautiful end pages.

But I admit, a big part of the reason I was convinced to read this book was the endorsements. The one splashed across the top of the cover is by R.F. Kuang, which reads “The book I wish I’d written.” And this edition also has an introduction by the incomparable V.E. Scwhab.

Now, if you’ve hung around my blog for any length of time, you know that these are two of my favorite authors. So when they say something is good, I listen!

At any rate, I highly recommend this edition if you enjoy having a book trophy. If you’re a practical reader, the Kindle edition makes for a more comfortable read, as my hands were cramping from holding this bad boy open.

Plot

This story takes place in the early 1800s during the Napoleonic wars. But in this alternate reality, magic and faeries are not folklore, but a tangible part of history. Alas, magic disappeared from England at some point and magicians ceased to exist except as “theoretical magicians” – until one day in 1806, when the reclusive Gilbert Norrell displays his powers by making statues speak and instantly becomes a celebrity.

Norrel is intent on bringing magic back to England and hopes to aid in the war against Napoleon, but he’s highly introverted and neurotic and has very specific ideas about what English magic should entail.

Enter Jonathan Strange, a handsome young man with a gift for practical magic. Norrell soon takes him on as an apprentice, and the two magicians go about serving England under Norrell’s direction.

But Strange is far less reserved and cautious than Norrell and soon he goes from pupil to rival when he decides he wants to learn more about the infamous Raven King.

This is the gist of the story, but it is very, very slow-paced.

We don’t even properly meet Strange until more than 200 pages into the book. There are also a lot of tangents and subplots within subplots that make Brandon Sanderson’s books seem like fast-paced thrillers in comparison.

Now, I don’t say this is a bad thing, only that it’s a different style of book. It’s not the kind of story you tear through in a few days in a fevered page-whipping frenzy.

It’s more like: “I wonder what that rascal Mr Norrell is up to today,” and then you read a chapter or two in a leisurely fashion.

Long books like this typically take me 7-10 days to get through, but this one took me two solid months, because I took my time with the reading experience – and I’m so glad I did; I know I would not have enjoyed it as much if I had tried to read it all in a few days. It’s just two dense for that.

I will say that the ending is spectacular and is the perfect conclusion to the tale of these two magicians. Although it makes me wish that Clarke would write a sequel…

Characters

This book is what you would call a character-driven story, with of course the main two being those of the book’s namesake – Strange and Norrell. The book is mostly about them and their relationship with each other as it evolves from teacher-pupil to rivals, to something else entirely. Indeed, this was the most interesting aspect of the book for me.

Neither character is exactly a “hero.” Norrell is a bit of a neurotic hypocrite.

And Strange? Well, as Clarke puts it:

“He was not avaricious; he was not proud; he was not ill-tempered and disagreeable. But though he had no striking vices, his virtues were perhaps almost as hard to define.” – Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, page 207

They are both kind of selfish and it’s debatable how much their magic is actually helping people. But this is what is so fascinating about them – they’re not black and white. Not mustache-twirling evil or cardboard cut-out gallant. Just two magic-obsessed men with their own ideas and motivations.

There are also several other characters that have a strong bearing on the plot.

First, we have the “Gentleman with the thistle down hair,” from Faerie. We never learn the Gentleman’s actual name, but we do learn that he is quite irrational and mischievous and the cause of most of Norrell and Strange’s problems.

We have Lady Pole, the wife of Walter Pole who was brought back to life by Mr Norrell – but with dire consequences.

Another interesting character is Stephen Black, Walter Pole’s servant who gets caught up in the Gentleman’s shenanigans and is unable to tell anyone due to the curse placed on him.

There are several other colourful characters that appear throughout the book, each one cleverly written and adding another dimension to the story. (Drawlight and Lascelles were fun to hate!)

Writing Style

Clarke’s writing style is my favorite thing about this book. It’s chock-full of wry British humor that had me chuckling nearly every few pages. It’s written in such a way that you feel you are reading a text from the 1800s, with its old-school spellings and turns of phrase.

Something about the way it’s narrated reminds me a little of the C.S. Lewis books I grew up with, (which is definitely not a bad thing!)

And then there are the footnotes, which make up a considerable portion of the book – some footnotes are more than a page long, and give more context and backstory into what the characters are doing or talking about.

It is such a clever addition to the story and it’s impressive how vivid Clarke’s imagination is to have dreamed up all these historical events, texts, and parables that don’t exist.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to believe that Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was Clarke’s first book because it’s so uniquely compelling, exquisitely crafted, and one of the most impressive fantasy novels I’ve ever read. Especially when I learned it took Susanna Clarke a whopping ten years to complete this book!

As a budding author myself, I find it super inspiring to keep going with my own story. In the meantime, I will treasure the experience this book gave me for many years to come.

FAQ