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Title: so... very... long... and... boring...
Review: Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Tor, 2004)After struggling with the first fifty pages of this book for almost three months, I finally gave up and hurled it out the window. I know it's a critical and fan favorite, but my god, people, the snail's pace? The thudding language that apes Dickens' worst paid-by-the-page excesses? (For an example of how to do this sort of thing correctly, I urge you towards Charles Palliser's The Quincunx.) A lack of characters who are in the least likable, or even empathetic in some negative, but compelling, way? No, thanks. Twenty thousand-odd books are published in America alone every year, and many thousands more around the world; far more than a body knows what to do with, and I'd much prefer spending my time reading the ones I'm actually going to enjoy. (zero)
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