I want to start off this blogg by saying that I will not continue with a plot summary. Clarke suddenly introduces so many different sub-plots deeper into the book that it would be near impossible for me to give a good, simple plot overview with the amount of time given for these assignments. Anyway, the point of these bloggs is to give commentary about the book, and not concrete details.

I’m now 58% through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. There are only 421 pages to go. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m enjoying the book immensely. It’s just that there was a large chunk of the book where everything seemed to just slow down to what was almost a grinding halt.

At one point, Strange travels to Spain to aid the British in their fight against the French. During this expedition, I was kept interested by Strange’s many feats of magic. Once the British win the battle, however, Jonathan returns home and I was confronted by a change in the book. Suddenly I learn that Stephen, one of Strange’s servants, has somehow been teleported to an alternate dimension where a strange man with wild hair wants to make him a king. I found this to be very confusing, and haven’t read abut this situation since it popped up a couple hundred pages ago.

The man who is only referred to as “the gentleman with the thistle-down hair” is left not discussed up to this point as well. I am dying to know who he is and why he is mentioned any time Strange or his wife, Arabella, visit the house of Sir Walter Pole. Another forgotten character is Childermass, Norrell’s butler. I realize that now it looks like I am contradicting myself, because in my previous blog I talked about my dislike for him. However, I realize now that I am still curious as to what he is to become. Even though Childermass is obviously not a major character, I find myself constantly thinking that he is to be of some importance later in the book. There’s something about the fact that he isn’t like other servants (he doesn’t just carry out the usual tasks, but can also stand in with noblemen and demand respect) that makes me want him to do something more, like maybe turn against Norrell, perhaps.

As I get deeper and deeper into Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, I keep on getting this feeling that Clarke is somehow messing with my mind. She only gives away description and information about the plot in slight bits, and often jumps around. Childermass is a perfect example of how I keep changing my mind about things, and yearn for more detail about some things. I guess that this is a good strategy of the author, since she has in this way indirectly coerced me into finishing the book to find the answers.

There is also the bit of the story about Lady Pole, the young woman who Norrell brought back from the dead. She becomes dejected and sullen, contrasting her earlier happy and lively attitude. Clarke hasn’t explained why this change took place, but instead refers to in pages at a time, sprinkling the passages about the book. I get the feeling that the author is teasing me with the question as to what is going to happen to Lady Pole, and I don’t like it. I expect, however, that all of these loose ends will be tied up by the end of the book.

Strange finally decides that he and Norrell must divide, because their views on magic are too different and conflicting. He and Arabella move to the countryside in Shropshire. Here he is met with a period of inactivity until he hears of news that Napoleon is planning to invade Belgium. Jonathan finds himself thrust into another short military adventure in which he must aid the British in their fight against the French. His most impressive feat of magic during this event is, in my opinion, when he puts out the fire of a religious building burned by cannon. Strange first makes the giant portraits of people on the walls come to life, step out of their paintings, and then collect water with buckets to douse the flames. However, the giant figures catch fire, since they are made solely of paint, which is very flammable. Strange then conjures up a giant well from which he makes water-men. He commands the large beings to run to the building and cast themselves upon it. Finally, Strange succeeds in saving the building.

My favorite event of humor in my section of reading is actually a combination of two short ones that are related and happen in the same chapter. The Duke of Wellington is describing to Strange the great men that he has in his army:

‘“But the Prussian Army has promised to fight with us. And Blücher is an excellent old fellow. Loves a fight.” (This was the Prussian General.) “Unfortunately, he is also mad. He believes he is pregnant.”

“Ah!”

“With a baby elephant.”

“Ah!”’

Then, later on, Strange meets the general himself:

‘Prince Blücher shook his hand warmly and said a great many things in German (none of which Strange understood). Then the old gentleman pointed to his stomach wherein lay the illusory elephant and made a wry face as if to say, “What can one do?”’

The great thing about this is that Clarke makes it funny (“He is pregnant.”), and then makes it even more so (“With a baby elephant.”). Then she adds yet even more to the humor by addressing it again a chapter later, after the battle has ended. I find that my favorite type of humor in this book is the subtle type, as seen the previous excerpt. It isn’t outrageous or ridiculous, and yet it still manages to make me laugh (hopefully in my head and not out loud, or even I myself would admit that I am much too easily amused).