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Awards
Winner of Hugo Award: Novel Category 2005.Winner of British Book Awards: Newcomer of the Year 2005.
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LaurenBDavis
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Okay, look it's not for everyone. It is, after al,l over a thousand pages long. And it's about magic. And it's got footnotes. So you get that, right?
But if you think a complex, lushly written, wildly imaginative, somewhat quiet, gently humorous, subtly satirical novel about magicians and ravens and fairies and love and politics and Lord Byron and the Napoleonic Wars might be in your ballywick, well, dive in.
Could it have been trimmed just a smidge? And might some readers wander off into the poppies and doze for a few hundred pages? It's possible. I didn't. I was fascinated, enthralled and anxious to know what on earth (or not on earth) would happen to the "gentleman with the thistledown hair" -- a fantastic example of moral ambiguity and the narcissistic abuse of if ever there was one.
The plot it complicated. So is the magic and Gregory MacGuire has stated it this way in the New York Times:
"The plot -- do you have an hour or two? -- can be summarized thus: a Yorkshire magician named Gilbert Norrell arrives in London in 1806. He intends singlehandedly to rehabilitate the reputation of English magic, a subject long deemed more suitable for academic scrutiny than for practical application. Though lacking in charisma, Mr. Norrell makes his reputation by publicly bringing the dead young fiancee of a cabinet minister back to life. Soon the young Jonathan Strange -- talented, handsome and impetuous -- arranges to study at Mr. Norrell's side, only to set himself up in trade as competition. Jonathan Strange affects the course of the Napoleonic wars, and has the luck to meet and perhaps inspire Lord Byron, Shelley and Mary Shelley, but he loses his wife to the faerie realm. Meanwhile, a figure from mythic history, John Uskglass (Oberon with attitude), moving beneath and beside the early 19th century, is attempting to set upon the throne of England a king to rival the current occupant, the befuddled George III."
In fact his entire review is very good and since I'm sure he spent days writing it (and being well paid for it) and I have neither the time nor the monetary incentive to do so, I suggest you read his review here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/books/review/05MAGUIRE.html
In conclusion, approach this book with caution -- C.S. Lewis once described himself thus: "I have never met a cup of tea large enough nor a book long enough to please me." This book just might have managed it, not only for the length, but for the pleasure. Modern readers may be unaccustomed to having to work a little for their pleasures; perhaps Clarke's novel will convince them of the merits of doing so.
But if you think a complex, lushly written, wildly imaginative, somewhat quiet, gently humorous, subtly satirical novel about magicians and ravens and fairies and love and politics and Lord Byron and the Napoleonic Wars might be in your ballywick, well, dive in.
Could it have been trimmed just a smidge? And might some readers wander off into the poppies and doze for a few hundred pages? It's possible. I didn't. I was fascinated, enthralled and anxious to know what on earth (or not on earth) would happen to the "gentleman with the thistledown hair" -- a fantastic example of moral ambiguity and the narcissistic abuse of if ever there was one.
The plot it complicated. So is the magic and Gregory MacGuire has stated it this way in the New York Times:
"The plot -- do you have an hour or two? -- can be summarized thus: a Yorkshire magician named Gilbert Norrell arrives in London in 1806. He intends singlehandedly to rehabilitate the reputation of English magic, a subject long deemed more suitable for academic scrutiny than for practical application. Though lacking in charisma, Mr. Norrell makes his reputation by publicly bringing the dead young fiancee of a cabinet minister back to life. Soon the young Jonathan Strange -- talented, handsome and impetuous -- arranges to study at Mr. Norrell's side, only to set himself up in trade as competition. Jonathan Strange affects the course of the Napoleonic wars, and has the luck to meet and perhaps inspire Lord Byron, Shelley and Mary Shelley, but he loses his wife to the faerie realm. Meanwhile, a figure from mythic history, John Uskglass (Oberon with attitude), moving beneath and beside the early 19th century, is attempting to set upon the throne of England a king to rival the current occupant, the befuddled George III."
In fact his entire review is very good and since I'm sure he spent days writing it (and being well paid for it) and I have neither the time nor the monetary incentive to do so, I suggest you read his review here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/books/review/05MAGUIRE.html
In conclusion, approach this book with caution -- C.S. Lewis once described himself thus: "I have never met a cup of tea large enough nor a book long enough to please me." This book just might have managed it, not only for the length, but for the pleasure. Modern readers may be unaccustomed to having to work a little for their pleasures; perhaps Clarke's novel will convince them of the merits of doing so.
