Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Someone tell me if I should give this book another 800 pages of my life
Am reading:
I'm still waiting for the bird.
Susanna Clarke is certainly a competent author, which is probably why I’ve made it through the first 100 pages. But really, I’m having trouble coming up with reasons to keep reading, chief among the few being “It’s taking up space on my Nook so I had better read it, hadn’t I?” Which goes to show how intolerant I am of books that lack narrative drive.
There are a few basic tricks of novel-writing which allow the author to hook the reader at chapter’s-end, compelling him to read on. Susanna Clark carefully avoids doing anything of the kind. Often the only indication I have that I’ve arrived at the end of the chapter is the sudden appearance of micro-font footnotes, most of which do nothing more than remind me how much I miss the hilarious footnotes of Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy. And how much I miss Bartimaeus in general. One of the reviews of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell made reference to the Harry Potter series; as much as I despise Rowling’s lack of technique, I miss her bitchiness and her slavish loyalty to fan service. She gives us some magic, is what I’m saying. Hundred pages into JS & MN (or at least it feels like I’m 100 pages into it) and all I’ve got are some talking bits of plaster and a forgetfulness spell. Talk about keeping your powder dry.
I do realize that Clarke is weaving a comedy of manners, as do I realize that comedies of manners are meant to stimulate the “Oh ho ho, isn’t she the clever one” smirks rather than the snort-your-coffee laughs that some of my other favorite authors manage as a matter or routine. And I’m fine with that. I knew what I was getting myself into. I simply wasn’t counting on so little happening.
So tell me, ye who have read this book: does it get better? Life is only so long, after all, and 800 pages (at the rate I read) is not an insignificant chunk.
D.
I liked it, but then I went through a serious Regency romance phase.
I liked it, too, but I didn’t love it. The first third of the book is pretty slow – it gets better, but it’s never a rip-roaring adventure. And yes, the bird puts in an appearance, as does some fairly interesting magic – things pick up when the focus shifts to Jonathan Strange.
I’d have to second Chris’ opinion. I liked it overall – once it picked up some momentum, which takes a while.
Well, that’s enough for me to stick with it. But it is a sad state of affairs when the bulk of the narrative drive comes from pondering the question, Why was this book so damned successful?
I was going to say, that looks like a book that I would get for Chris on a whim, and I guess I must have. But I don’t remember picking it up.
My sister-in-law said it took a long time to get going, but once it did, there was no putting it down. I apparently never got that far. I gave it 100 pages, and when it was 100 pages of nothing much going on, I decided to move on.
Yes, I’d guessed that Chris had read this one 😉
Pat, I’m 150 pages or so into it, and there’s still a lot of nothing going on. But I think she’s about to present the birth of Jonathan Strange, so perhaps I’ll give this another fifty.
Dean: you picked it out at Indigo when we stopped in North Van with the kids last fall.