hot take probably one of the oldest books in my TBR pile, but now that I’ve finished it I can see why the payoff is worth the initial slog — I hope I get around to writing further thoughts, because definitely have lots of feels…
As my next written will be my 52nd proper review posted on Cannonball Read (this year feels more chaotic than most), I figured I’ll stick with my most recent read as I have the most to say about it. This was gifted to me by my dear friend Vatsala a thousand million years ago, and since I always try to read things gifted to me it’s been hanging over my head since. It’s just hard to get into! A long international flight, however, is the perfect opportunity.
I will start by reacting to this seminal Goodreads review of this book, which I have thought about basically constantly since I had this on my radar. In short, the review sarcastically compares this book to Game of Thrones, which they find to be utterly without literary merit:
And then, instead of having her characters laboriously explain how the world worked to each other, she made brief mentions in footnotes, as if she were writing a history. I’m not sure why she made this decision, I often explain to my friends in basic terms how cars and money work in our culture, so it’s clear that endless expositionary dialogue is the most realistic way to inform the reader. I mean, I guess you could just have the omniscient narrator tell us everything in detail, that’s almost as good.
I think about the bit in bold ALL THE TIME.
But I disagree–not that Clarke isn’t a talented writer, but there are plenty of characters who sit around and explain the nature and history and limitations of English magic to one another (namely, the English Magicians explain to non-magicians). When Strange or Norrell have realizations, the omniscient narrator says as much, e.g., Norrell was struck with a sense of foreboding which was quite unlike his normal mien.
What this book does do is really lean into the ~*vibes*~. This reads end to end like a Victorian novel a la Dickens, which is quite a bit harder than you’d think to pull off. And much like a Victorian novel, the beginning like 200+ pages are a GIANT SLOG with one highly consequential detail that will bear fruit 400 pages later.
SO all that to say that once I was in the latter half of this book, I was absolutely hooked and couldn’t pull myself away. Clarke lays the pieces out painstakingly, over time, and therefore the payoff is incredibly worth it (although I wouldn’t have minded even more gratuitous punishment for the final villains of the piece–namely, a look into their heads as they realized they were lost). The story is told via interwoven POVs, sometimes via letters, and it all works together so very well by the end that I lost most of my frustration for the outset.
I will admit to skipping over the footnotes–more or less from a conversation I had on Infinite Jest and the ability to do so there–and that definitely helped move the book along a bit. Footnotes need to be read in printed form, unfortunately–I wish that Kindles gave you the ability to keep footnotes on the bottom of relevant pages.
So, end of day, I do recommend this book. Perfect vibes for the winter and finishing up while cozy and it’s snowing and dark outside!