Book Review: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Part 3, by Susanna Clark

Part 3 of JSMN made Parts 1&2 worthwhile. I so much enjoyed reading every single chapter of this part. I can’t talk about what happens even in a “help you to understand” sense because I fear that would give too much away. So, I’ll talk about the structure of the book and some of the very good points and the writing, of course.

The book is structured in three parts, the first is about Mr. Norrell, the second is about Jonathan Strange and the third is about John Uskglass. This trinity, if you will, of main and important characters are all interacting and struggling for power and understanding throughout the book. The main threads that help tie all these characters together are the characters Vinculus, Mr. Childermass, and the gentleman with the thistle down hair. If you remember in my review of the first two parts, I wasn’t highly motivated about reading the book, and after reading the third part I was seriously questioning if the first two parts were necessary. I do think so, because I’m not sure that the book as a whole would make sense without that foundation and skeleton that is built during the first two sections of the book.

Another good point about the book is that I didn’t completely figure out what was going to happen. I usually figure the plot out even when I don’t read ahead, but this time I was surprised about a few of the ending points. And that’s always nice.

Finally, I thought the writing throughout the novel was excellent. It was easy to understand while still challenging the imagination. The footnotes were such a playful part of the book, and though I read each one as they came up, I think you could probably skip them. However, the enjoyment of the book wouldn’t be nearly as much without the unreliability of the narrator and history being pointed out several times in each chapter.

I know that there are lots of things I did not understand in this book. I would love to hear from anyone who has read it who has a broader understanding of this type of fiction so that they can explain to me some of the allusions, etc., that I have missed.