Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: April's Book Club Discussion

[Lenny]

Haha. I thought you were a completely new member for the moment, what with the new avatar.

Where exactly are you up to?

[Culhwch]

Page 100, or thereabouts. SPOILER: Norrell has just brought Miss Wintertowne back from the dead.

[Lenny]

That's only Pg 100?! I really need to re-read.

Keep going. It'll be sad to stop now.

This is the problem, you see. I can't give you milestones to look out for or try to read up to because it will spoil it for you!

[Culhwch]

I'll keep going. I haven't finished a book club read yet, so I'm determined. As I said, I'm hoping Strange will pick things up a bit, which it seems he does from your comments.

The other problem is that the book is so damn big I can't take it to work with me, so I'm losing valuable reading time...

[Lenny]

It's one of these books that you can read in bed, but you can't put it under your pillow because if you do you'll be sleeping with your head a foot higher.

Betcha can't just sit down this afternoon and slog your way through the whole thing in one. Always fun with something that's heavy going.

[Culhwch]

'This afternoon' has been and gone. Work's up in my next 'this afternoon'.

[Lenny]

Oh yeah, Australia.

An evening, then? Or a night? I mean, who actually needs sleep?

[Teresa Edgerton]

Strange does take a while to make his appearance. But some of the minor characters already in place at page 100 develop more interesting facets along the way. And characters do come along for whom it is much, much easier to feel sympathy than Norrell and his cohorts.

But you really don't need to read the footnotes if they are distracting you and slowing you down. I found them interesting myself, and thought they added an extra dimension, but reading them is a little like watching "Lost" -- more knowledge does not equate to a greater understanding of what it's all about. So you could skip them and be no more in the dark about certain things than if you had actually read them. Or you could go back and read them later, when they'll probably make a little more sense.

[dsmith]

I was getting really irritated by the footnotes, so I started skipping them, and the book is going faster, although I still have a lot more to read.

[Lenny]

"Footnotes a book do not make" as some may say.

But not me. I quite like footnotes. And I'm going to have to read the book again, as soon as I've finished The Unadulterated Cat, so I can really get into a discussion.

[kaneda]

I'm reading this at the moment. I'm currently on about page 550. It is taking an AGE to get through though (as other people have said, because of the damn size of the thing - you can't actually carry it anywhere, and the footnotes).

I am kinda enjoying it though. Although, I'm finding that there are a lot of chapters which to my mind seem to be nothing more than filler, doesn't seem to progress the story further or anything. I'm finding that highly frustrating.

But, I will continue with the book, if for no other reason than Neil Gaiman loves it

[Trey Greyjoy]

To me this was a classic example of "its not the destination, but the journey" situation. I never really felt hurried to reach the end or want the action to move along any quicker. I simply read along enjoying each scene as its own. I loved the atmosphere and unique flavor the story has. If anything I would say it left me hungry for more! Im dying to know more about the English magicians of the past and their relationship with Faerie. Who also, after having read the book, wouldnt want to know more about John Uskglass, his life, his kingdom in Hell etc.?

It will pick up a bit after Strange comes into the story, but you will find that neither is an overwhelmingly sympathetic protagonist. I related to Strange a bit better than Norrell, but not entirely.

Personally I didnt find the footnotes distracting at all. Often they just add spice and some history behind what is happening. Sometimes the footnotes were more interesting to me than what was occuring in the main body of the book! In my opinion a lot of what I enjoyed about the novel would be lost if you skipped over the footnotes, but that's just me.

All that being said, I do think this isnt a work that I would recommend to just anyone. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I also knew what to expect from reading reviews. To me the book is a wonderful surprise and one that I will be recalling well into the future.

It took me about 3 months to work my way through it, but I had 3 other books I was reading at the same time.

[jackokent]

Originally Posted by Trey Greyjoy

To me this was a classic example of "its not the destination, but the journey" situation.

Really agree with this. I was just enjoying it, not really needing to rush towards some blinding denouement, just tittering away at all the quietly funny bits. I loved the footnotes and thought they just added to the basic feel of the experience.

I would strongly urge people to keep going. There were times I flagged but these were near the beginning and it did increase pace although as you can probably guess it doesn't ever turn into a thriller.

[No Inspiration]

Culhwch,
I had the same problem as you at about 100 pages or so in.
In my case, I chose to take a break and re-read Finovar(GGK). When I finished that, I had nothing else to read, so I went back to Strange and Norrell.
In my case, I was able to find it much more interesting after that break. I am now almost finished. In my case as well, I began to find the footnotes much more interesting as I progressed with the book. In addition to all of this, I did find that Strange added some more... I don't know, flavour, I suppose, to the book. But I myself have a good amount of Sympathy for Mr Norrell and his hardships.
Anyway, I hope you hold in there and it proves to be much better for you as well, .
Lena.

[Culhwch]

Well, I haven't actually touched the book in a few days - been reading some graphic novels - so hopefully when I get back into it I'll finally get into it.