Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 06:27:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Nelson <nelson_mr at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

--- Colleen Cahill <ccah at earthlink.net> wrote:
> It is interesting how tastes differ.  I really enjoyed this book,
> partly
> for it's magic and dark edge, but also because as one person put it
> "it is
> written like Jane Austen with Dicken's character names".    The
> footnotes
> were some of my favorite things about the book, but I kind of saw
> them as
> sub-stories and even tongue in cheek humor for nineteenth century
> books.
> I figure I will re-read this one in a few months, but first I am
> re-reading
> Neal Stephenson's System of the World: after being in London, I want
> to
> check some of his details.
> Colleen

As the philosopher states, "Your mileage may vary."

I will paraphrase the t-shirt, "Life is Too Short for
Boring Books."  Yes, JS&MN built up to an interesting
finish in the last few chapters, but the trip to get
there was so boring.  The characters were uninteresting;
their motivations unreasonable (until you learn the reason
at very end of the book); and most of the footnotes were
a distraction and just served to disrupt the flow of the
narration.  No, I read fiction to be entertained.  I
don't want to read a book that doesn't start getting
interesting until two-thirds into the story.  (Did you
notice how the footnotes decreased when she finally
settled down and focused on telling a real story?)

Well, I think I'll try Iron Council by China Miéville
for my next Hugo Awards nominated novel.  We'll see...
China's novels leave me feeling bruised from his wild
flights of fancy -- a rough, but exciting ride.

Michael

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