Strange and Norrell
It’s been sometime since I finished a substantial fiction book. Prior to Strange and Norrell, the last book I read was Half-Blood Prince of the Harry Potter series. It’s 827 pages – on Adobe Reader for Palm OS. (A contributory factor to the early demise of my Zire’s battery.)
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a very entertaining book. I have laughed out loud at the eccentricities of Norrell and the mis-adventures of his pupil, Jonathan Strange. Most of the characters are somber and gray but they are treated with a light humorous touch which made them endearing. Example, Norrell is a boring, academic and argumentative person but the writer engages you in observing (and rooting for) his efforts to help England (through magic, of course) in its war against Napoleon.
There were also horrifying scenes that drove me to read beside my husband (while he was watching TV). What’s eerie about some of the magical scenes is that I have heard those stories of “enchantment” before – no, not from other English books. Those were the same scary stories from my hometown — like the story of Mrs. Strange who caught the fancy of an ominous fairy king. She was taken away to a fairyland while her physical body was replaced with a bog tree (without anybody noticing because she still looked like herself). She then dies after a few days. In my hometown, it is said that the engkanto uses the trunk of a banana tree. And then there’s the business about mirrors as gateways to other worlds. Heard that too from the old people when I was young. These are only two of several “magical” incidents that ring familiar to me.
So what’s up with these common myths? Does it mean they exist universally? And if they exist in various cultures – does that mean they are true? Or do we all – collectively – have the same rationalization for things we cannot explain? Is that possible?
Anyhow, Strange and Norrell is a very good read. I think I heard/read somewhere that they are making this book into a movie. I think it will translate very well to a movie. Line me up at guaranteed seats, please.
