Comments on: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Seminar: Introduction

By: The Bodhisattva » End of the Year Noise

The Bodhisattva » End of the Year Noise — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:52:35 +0000

[...] Niall Harrison has had some nice pointers of late, most recently this great seminar at Crooked Timber focusing on Susanna Clarke’s Hugo and World Fantasy Award winning novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (which for the millionth time I loved). Read the full commentary and Clarke’s response on PDF. Highly recommend for those who read Clarke’s fabulous novel. [...]

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 09:53:45 +0000

I enjoyed the book. It was a fun trip. Evidently it’s not not for everyone.

At a gorgeous Greek Orthodox church in southern California I attended a performance of a new work by Arvo Pärt, the Passion according to St. John. I didn’t enjoy it, but I thought it was probably pretty good.

Or I could offer the example of the beautiful pie I bought in a historical quarter of Vancouver, which I bit into, expecting apple, and got beef and gravy instead.

Strange & Norrell is certainly not a novel anyone expected, which makes it all the more delectable.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 14:07:58 +0000

I fourth the ‘read great reviews and hated it’. Interestingly if you look the at Amazon reader reviews they are split too.
Frankly I got nothing from it and just don’t understand what people see in it. Low middlebrow.

By: Will De Vere

Will De Vere — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 01:35:28 +0000

Alas. I started reading ‘JS & Mr N’ last week and quickly found it precious, twee, self-conscious, contrived, over-written and amazingly badly illustrated.

Here is an epithet that I rarely use and then only for especially extreme cases: this novel is very very boring.

By: Luis Villa

Luis Villa — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:20:56 +0000

I third the ‘bought it because of raves here, hated it’. You’d think that someone who used to be an editor might see the value of cutting out, dunno, about 300 pages or so, and most of the footnotes. The idea was fun and the plot pretty good, but the style mind-numbingly dull.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:05:32 +0000

I agree Colin. I purchased the book after reading the many glowing recommendations here. After slogging through 2/3rds of the book, I finally gave up. Interesting that others find it so wonderful.

By: Kate Nepveu

Kate Nepveu — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:47:50 +0000

Tooth and Claw is “if the characters in a Trollope novel were all literally dragons and ate each other” (here’s a review comparing it with Framley Parsonage). I really don’t know which way around that counts as imposing one on the other.

Walton is working on a sequel, yes.

By: Henry

Henry — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:05:36 +0000

Cheryl – you’re quite right. And it’s well worth reading too – enormous fun. Austen meets feeding troughs, cannibalism parental and otherwise, and sundry other topics She’s working on a sequel I think.

By: Cheryl Morgan

Cheryl Morgan — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:55:36 +0000

Hi Henry – I haven’t read Jo’s book, but as I recall it is more an attempt to impose Jane Austen on dragon society than to impose dragons on Jane Austen. Hopefully Patrick Nielsen Hayden is lurking around here somewhere and can comment (I think he edited it).

By: Neil Gaiman em Português » A promessa de Neve

Neil Gaiman em Português » A promessa de Neve — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:28:27 +0000

[...] para a tua informação, o Seminário Strange and Norrell está em http://crookedtimber.org/category/susanna-clarke-seminar/ (PDF em http://www.henryfarrell.net/clarkeseminar.pdf). O bocadinho da Susanna está em http://crookedtimber.org/2005/11/29/women-and-men-servants-and-masters-england-and-the-english/ . Cumprimentos [...]

By: Colin

Colin — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:11:29 +0000

Wow, I thought the book was boring as hell. After seeing recommendations all over the web I picked it up but soon regretted it. The book meandered on endlessly with a weak plot and concluded with an unsatisfying ending. And what is “thistle-down hair” anyhow? Based on some of the illustrations it must be a white afro or something.

PS-A friend of mine who loves Harry Potter also read it and said she struggled to finish it. So I know I’m not the only one out there.

By: Henry

Henry — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:25:53 +0000

Indeed – approximately 12 hours passed between me reading the comment and responding to it. My excuse is that I’m about to head off on a flight, and running around trying to get last minute things done between keeping an eye on the seminar.

By: almostinfamous

almostinfamous — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 12:26:51 +0000

man oh man. has it been a year since i read JS&MN?

one of the most brilliant books i’ve read, and this seminar is much more fun than it has a right to be :)

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:57:03 +0000

This has been one of the nicest things I’ve ever run into, and I toured a van Gogh exhibit in Golden Gate Park when I was young. Absolutely delightful. I will never remember it without smiling.

By: ben wolfson

ben wolfson — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:52:46 +0000

Cheryl also thinks the Novik sounds like O’Brian or Forrester, and goes so far as to mention both of them in her comment.