I have been reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for probably 2 months now. I find it easy to put down and not return to for days, so other books have intervened, and the reading has been slow, but I find myself saying that and thinking "I really am enjoying the book."
It's been a very weird reading experience for me, though. I usually read a book and, when I'm not reading it, think about the characters and what they'll do next and how they'll react in whatever situations I'm in. This book has not excited that sort of imagination in me and I can't really explain why.
Let me back up a little. JS&MN is a BIG book (over 840 pages) and is organized into three main volumes that focus on each main character. Volume 1 is Mr. Norrell, Volume 2 is Jonathan Strange and Volume 3 (not yet read) is John Uskglass. The characters are interesting, their plights are sympathetic, the plot is good, the "fiction" of the narrative is engaging, the language is fabulous, but something is lacking for me and I'm having a very difficult time putting my finger on it. It, for whatever reason, is not drawing me in. I feel very much like an outsider in this story; yet, I WANT to be an insider.
A little selfishly, I'm asking other people to read it because I want to find out what it is about the story that I'm not getting. Someone needs to explain to me why this book has had such a huge mass appeal and why it gets 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com. Am I the only person that is reading this book and thinking "what's so special?" But as I said, the weird thing is that while I'm reading, that's not what I'm thinking. It's just after I put it down that I don't feel a compulsion to get back to it.
After spending years and years in graduate school and reading loads of books that I didn't want to, I promised myself that I would never finish a book if I decided, at whatever point in reading it, that it wasn't worth it. I quit Mrs. Dalloway 15 pages from the end and never even thought twice. I've tried twice to read What Maisie Knew and made it to page 78 both times. I tried Kite Runner, but didn't get more than 50 pages before I decided it wasn't worth my time. The Life of Pi, my bookclub kept insisting, was a great book, and if I'd just keep reading I'd be hooked. I stopped at p. 100 in the middle of a sentence. I'd tried long enough. I love books in a series, so I thought that I would give Phillipa Gregory's Wideacre series a shot (especially after reading The Other Boleyn Girl, which is excellent). Quit Wideacre roughly half way into it when the sister started having sex with her brother so she could keep the family home--I knew it was not gratuitous sex, we really did get a picture of the depravity of the sister, but I wanted no part of it.
And despite myself I keep coming back to JS&MN. I do want to know what happens next, I just don't need to know that today. I finished Volume 2 last night and will leave the book home over my beach and quilt bee trips. Maybe the ending is what makes the book worthwhile, or maybe it's the journey and the questions it makes you ask. I'll try to have some sense for you in the next couple of months when I'm finished...
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