Book Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England -- until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity.

Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France.

But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.

Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.

I FINALLY finished my reread of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I started last year with the 20th anniversary readalong. I mostly kept up with the reading schedule (albeit a week or so behind) until I didn't, pausing for over a month until I finally finished it halfway through January.

**mild spoilers throughout**

I would say the main plot is "autistic magician and ADHD magician have a friend breakup" if it weren't so contrary to the feel of the book, but that is basically what happens. Mr. Norrell is so obviously autistic in the way he is written: his special interests are books and magic, and he is very rigid with his rules; he has no social skills and doesn't follow social customs, and he gets overwhelmed at parties. I would argue that Mr. Strange has ADHD because he flits from career to career until he lands on being a magician, which quickly becomes his main focus in life over even his wife; he hyperfocuses on his magical studies and makes impulsive decisions on big things like moving mountains and stepping through mirrors to unknown lands without a game plan.

There are many characters in this book besides the eponymous ones; the second tier consists of menservants and ladies, and they are quite well-rounded characters, even if they are trapped by their social statuses (and for most of them, by the fairy villain). The sole character of color is Stephen Black, whose mother was enslaved; he goes through so much stuff that his story's ending is rather sad, to me. The women are controlled and let down by the men in their lives, and their agencies, lives, and voices are taken away. There are lots of duos in this book: the two magicians, the two kings, the two nameless slaves, the two ladies, the two menservants, the two big eras of English magic, doing magic versus reading about it...

SUCH a good book and so excellently written. The Regency England setting makes it familiar (apart from the magic, everything seems to be as it was in our universe, such as the Napoleonic wars), but the magical history stuff is so different and interesting. The fairytales mentioned in the footnotes feel familiar too, especially if you grew up reading Western fairytales a lot like I did. The atmosphere of the magic, how big and wild and ancient it is, is just wonderful; it puts me in mind of what C.S. Lewis called Northerness (and affected me much the same). 

If you've already read this book, this article I found on Pinterest compares JS&MN plot points and themes to Bible characters and stories (heavy spoilers!). It's utterly fascinating, and I can't believe I didn't realize some of those connections myself: the word(s) made flesh! The longing for the departed/absent king! I think C.S. Lewis would have liked this book.

You can read my first review of JS&MN here; interestingly enough, I first read it on its 10th anniversary year.

See my Pinterest moodboard for JS&MN here.

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: no spice
Read in: November 4, 2024-January 19, 2025
From: thrift store purchase (old)

Tropes: taken by fairies, the student has become the master, forced proximity LMAO

Representation: Black man secondary character, several working class and poor minor to very minor characters, the neurodivergence mentioned above (it is a headcanon but I am correct)

Trigger warnings: murder, gore, dead bodies, war, slavery (past, discussed), racism, death, animal endangerment, injuries, and death; body horror, kidnapping (by fairies), magical stalking, period-typical sexism & classism, supernatural horror, women let down and betrayed by men, Lord Byron (jk)

"Music" by Anne Porter

When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother’s piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold

And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying

Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country

I’ve never understood
Why this is so

But there’s an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow

For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest

And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country

We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams

And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows

Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.