Books
by Susanna Clarke
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell |
A BIG book that has been much hyped. I was not disappointed; I loved every word and there are a great many, including footnotes. Clarke's prose looks to the past: the young Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, both in style, which she captures excellently, and in approach - discursive. Described as 'fantasy' this is rather a fairytale, with its dark, surreal twists, humour and social comment, set against the real background of the Napoleonic wars.
(Ferelith Hordon - bwl 27 December 2004) |
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Piranesi |
"When the moon rose in the third Northern Hall I went to the ninth vestibule - entry for the first day of the fifth month in the year the albatross came to the south-western halls" - so begins this Fantasty novel from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell. Piranesi inhabits a labyrinthine world, washed by winds and the sea. He keeps a journal, tends the bones of the dead, senses his name is not real. I loathed it at first then loved it and couldn't put it down!
(Jenny Baker - bwl 103 Winter 2022) |
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