Name: Jonathan Strange i pan Norrell
Rating: 3.956118881118881 (286 reviews)
ISBN: 9788374802772

Susanna Clarke

Wydawnictwo Mag Jacek Rodek

Małgorzata Hesko-Kołodzińska

Jonathan Strange i pan Norrell

Schwarze Edition

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

M. Sosotris

An ambitious novel that really nails the feel and voice of an authentic 19th century novel. It feels like it came to us from another parallel world, and we’re reading about a version of the UK that really existed.

This book has the feel of a novel like A Tale of Two Cities of Middlemarch, so if you find those books slow, or are frustrated by the massive casts of characters and the intersecting storylines, this may not be for you. 

I know I found myself wishing it had the feel of a more contemporary book at times so we could get a look inside Strange and Norrell’s minds, more. But since this book is very accurately written in the style of the early 19th century, quite often you hear about the events of the main duo secondhand, and you see their effects on others. 

But with that said, I had a wonderful time with this book. It scratched the Dickensian itch in my brain, and I was swept away with the breadth and scope of this beautifully realized version of England. This is definitely a book you don’t want to rush through just to get the story. You want to LIVE in this world and exist amongst the characters.

Such a terrific reading experience. I definitely want to read this again in physical form so I can get a feel for the writing style and the footnotes in a more traditional format.

This book was a delight!

Shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award; longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 

'Unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years ... Funny, moving, scary, otherworldly, practical and magical' NEIL GAIMAN

The year is 1806. centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country.

Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell.

So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

A Novel

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Not like the fantasy I've read lately. More literature than adventure. A story unlike any other. 

Brian Alderman

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Personally not the most enjoyable reading experience. Footnotes all the way until the end and often ramblings about some academic dispute (completely fictional). However, the writing style was very interesting and detailed (sometimes a bit too detailed imho). Yet, about 200-300 pages less wouldn't have been missed if taken away.

The main characters were quite unlikable. Yet interesting. Books don't always need heroes and likables as main character, so it was a good choice made by the author. However, the likable characters that were in the book were not treated fairly and came a bit short, I'd say. Would've liked to see more of them and less "academic" rambling and footnotes. But this also is part of an amazing world building.

I still don't know from whose perspective this book is written and who is "I". Not sure if it matters anyway. Unexpectedly, it became rather dark towards the end.

This book might be triggering for some. It contains words of racism and is a bit sexist (surprised, since the author is a woman). But it also seems like a hyperbole of white male societies, especially the English ones. Topics such as slavery and female emancipation are treated in an interesting yet maybe a biy subtle way. 

Alisa 

Personally not the most enjoyable reading experience. Footnotes all the way until the end and often ramblings about some academic dispute (completely fictional). However, the writing style was very interesting and detailed (sometimes a bit too detailed imho). Yet, about 200-300 pages less wouldn't have been missed if taken away.

The main characters were quite unlikable. Yet interesting. Books don't always need heroes and likables as main character, so it was a good choice made by the author. However, the likable characters that were in the book were not treated fairly and came a bit short, I'd say. Would've liked to see more of them and less "academic" rambling and footnotes. But this also is part of an amazing world building.

I still don't know from whose perspective this book is written and who is "I". Not sure if it matters anyway. Unexpectedly, it became rather dark towards the end.

This book might be triggering for some. It contains words of racism and is a bit sexist (surprised, since the author is a woman). But it also seems like a hyperbole of white male societies, especially the English ones. Topics such as slavery and female emancipation are treated in an interesting yet maybe a biy subtle way. 

In short: well crafted, but a bit long.

Recommended season: late autmn/winter 

Annabella

Annika Arguemore

I probably won't be able to finish this since the copy I borrowed was from the library. I'll have to return this in order to get my clearance filled up, you know, so I could graduae. Therefore, yhis one's on hold until I find another copy to borrow.

Michael Springer

This was one of those rare fantasy novels that reminded me why I write fantasy, and what fantasy can be when it is done well. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story. I thought I knew where the whole story was going, but discovered when I was very close to the end that I had been wrong.

In nineteenth-century England, all is going well for rich, reclusive Mr Norell, who has regained some of the power of England's magicians from the past, until a rival magician, Jonathan Strange, appears and becomes Mr Norrell's pupil.

Peter Read

It's been a while since I read this book, but I remember loving how quasi-real it felt, specifically the footnotes throughout the book really made it extra-special for me. I like history books and this one read a little like one, in a weird kind of way. I guess this book set me up really well for Lev Grossman's The Magicians (and to a lesser extent the sequel The Magician King), which I also really liked. I guess I am a sucker for the premise that some secret, hidden something is going on that we normals don't know about. Like Harry Potter, or to a lesser extent, True Blood (the TV Show anyway).

Anja Hansen

Amazing. Looking forward to reread it in the future

Prashanth Srivatsa

At once engrossing, imaginative and magical in its truest sense, JN & MN is a fascinating journey down the shadowy psych of its eponymous characters, while managing to remain rich in tone and language for a whole friggin' 1000 pages. Clarke has given out a fantasy blockbuster here.

Ryan LaFerney

Agh! Where to start! This is one of the most haunting, lyrical, moving, otherworldly, funny novels I've ever read. This is one of my favorite books. It is quite simply mesmerizing.

Kwan Ann Tan

** spoiler alert **
           The ending felt just a little rushed, given the luxurious & leisurely pace that we'd just taken throughout the book--I admit to being really surprised but very pleased with Stephen's ending but ah I just feel like so much more could have been done!! it could have been different!

Arianna M

Entirely delicious. Clarke's style is delightful, ironic, engaging.
I can't recommend this enough.

sophia n

i have this weirdly specific memory of wandering through the discount section of borders back in 2007 with one of my friends (we used to just ... go to borders after school ... to just dick around ...) seeing the raven on the cover of this book and zooming to it, sitting down on the floor in front of the discount shelf and flipping to a random passage in the middle and just LOVING it.

i impulse bought it then and there, and my friend laughed at me like "when you ever gonna read that tome" and i mean. she was kinda right, bc i didn't actually start it until 2009, and then finally finished it some point in 2010 (can't really remember exactly when, sorry goodreads) and i've never been more proud of finishing a book in my life (this is probably an exaggeration but let me have it ok)

this book. this BOOK. it's truly such an atmospheric read, and i was shocked that i ended up connecting and caring about so many of the characters AND the plot. so many moving pieces, such a slow burn, but in the best way. i think my only criticism really, remembering back when i finished it and after having invested so much time in it, i felt like the ending was very ... abrupt. but after time has passed, i find i'm endeared to the ending more and more. this book is quite a journey.

anyway justice for childermass bye

Kirsten Simkiss

Well, this book is definitely not a speed read. That being said, I enjoyed it quite a bit, even though it was pretty slow for most of the book. I feel like a 4 star rating is definitely fair.

As I have said, and I'm sure other reviews have said, the book is quite slow. And for a book of this length, that speed may not be something every reader can stand. However, the pace is quite consistent and it does a good job of creating story lines that connect and collide later on in the story to make everything come together for a pretty fantastic climax and ending. I enjoyed how it ended for most of the characters, though I found the ending for the Strange family - pardoning the expression - a little strange. Everyone's ending was very fitting. My favorite ending was, by far, Stephen's ending, which was fantastic and lovely.

The story is a bit gory in some areas, although not excessively so. Just enough to get the point across. Otherwise, it reads as a very English novel and the bits of humor are similarly quite English. 

I found that all the characters, though there were many, were easy to remember and distinguish. Sometimes when you read a book with as many pages and as many characters, the side characters sometimes blur together. I never had that problem with any of the characters as they were all made very distinct and had very distinct takes on people's personalities. Stephen and Arabella were, by far, my absolute favorites. I really really loved Stephen's ending. It was poetic and it was accepting. I loved that the story never let you forget he was born as an African slave, but it never villified or let him be lesser as a character because of it. He was every bit as important as Mr. Norrell and Mr. Strange. While Arabella was more overlooked as a character, I found her perspective on every situation to be wonderfully logical and practical. She was never really framed as a damsel in distress, even when she was one.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this to others. However, my recommendation would absolutely come with a warning regarding the pacing of the story and the length. My copy was 782 pages long, which can be a bit much for some readers.

Nicole Dykeman

DNF @ 266 pages. I just...do not care. I really tried to like this. The reviews on the back are fabulous and it came recommended by several authors I admire, but I fail to see the appeal. The writing is difficult to wrap your head around—it feels more like reading an academic text than anything else. And the characters, particularly Mr. Norrell, are just not likable. If the book were shorter, I might have powered through, but at 800+ pages, this just isn’t worth my time to finish.

Jonathan Strange i pan Norrell

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