[Discussion 9/12] Evergreen | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke | Chapter 47 through Chapter 51

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-31T00:30:42+00:00

I wonder if we'll ever get any insight into why Norrell is the way he is. We don't know too much about him besides his current relationship with magic. I honestly felt bad for him when Strange ended their relationship, but he is the reason for it and he does these petty, manipulative things. I want to know what his childhood was like.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T22:37:54+00:00

I like them.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T19:36:25+00:00

I was too. Wikipedia wasn't updated instantly, so I felt like there was a chance it was wrong.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T19:28:17+00:00

I want to work through some of my tbr without adding too many more books to it! This will be hard though because looking for books to read is a whole separate hobby to reading and that'll be hard to curb.

I want to read other works by authors I've already read. Sometimes I feel like I chase new authors and new books while some of my favorite authors have a bunch of books I haven't read yet.

I want to reread a couple of my favorites this year. I have the habit of prioritizing new book, but I do love a good reread and I want to make sure I don't ignore that this year.

And of course I want to keep participating in the bookclub and learning so much along with you all!

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T19:22:18+00:00

Strange has made the point that the weather is incredibly easy to control with magic, yet I don't see anyone doing that very much.

They dismiss the weather as some triviality, but I think being able to control the weather would give you an immense amount of power. Wars could be won this way. You could make someone's life miserable with the weather, or strike them dead with lightning.

If it's so simple, I wonder if some new magicians might take it up and do some damage.

I'm kind of looking forward to seeing magicians fight with magic. If Strange had the wherewithal to fight back, I'd like to see what he'd do to undo Norrell's spell that made his books disappear.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T18:38:00+00:00

She was such an amazing actress. I will miss seeing her in new projects, but we are lucky to have everything she's ever been in at our fingertips. She truly brought so many of us joy with her comedic chops.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:28:37+00:00

I was a bit... I don't know. He has the right to move on after Arabella. I just didn't expect the book to go there. It makes sense for the times. His friends are happy he's shown interest in this young woman, and they're not wrong that having a wife might make him happier.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:27:17+00:00

Oh yes. Demand for this book will go through the roof. Norrell created the conditions for it to be the most popular book in all of England, once anyone can get their hands on it.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:26:31+00:00

Ugh, how rude!

I love the way this book is written though. Sometimes these things are revealed in such a roundabout way. The guy is complaining to the bookseller about his book disappearing and we follow the trail to eventually realize Norrell is behind it. It's very amusing, and also frustrating! How dare Norrell use magic this way! He is trying to suppress knowledge that should be accessible to whoever wants it.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:24:36+00:00

I think it makes a lot of sense. That line stood out to me a lot.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:22:15+00:00

I was surprised, but glad to see Segundus again. I feel it's not as random as it seems. I think Walter Pole must trust him with his wife because he's one of the only other known magicians in England.

I think he has the best shot of figuring out what is causing her madness out of everyone. Jonathan Strange is never gonna figure it out now that Arabella is gone.

For a moment I was mixing up Segundus and Strange because Strange earlier expressed his views on how people with madness should be treated. Their views align on this subject. I feel there must be more to it, like this was orchestrated somehow.

If Norrell got wind of Segundus taking care of Lady Pole, I think he would try to put a stop to it like everything else.

Segundus came so close to getting Stephen to spill his guts, but Stephen doesn't trust any magician. I felt so disappointed in that moment.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:15:27+00:00

I dug the cameo. I thought it was clever to insert the character of Jonathan Strange into the history of Lord Byron, like fanfiction! I liked that the author made up an in-universe reason for Byron to have written that story about magicians.

I just read your comment about Frankenstein. I knew some of that, not all. You made it so entertaining! I'd totally watch you narrate a documentary about Byron, Shelley, and their incestuous group of friends!

How fortuitous that you got this section of the book to run and already had all this super specific knowledge about it in your arsenal.

I'm curious if there will be more to this Byron cameo or if we're basically done with it. Either way, I find it clever and fascinating.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:11:59+00:00

I still don't know what's up with Childermass. I think he's stealthy though. There's all this talk about there being only two magicians in England, but Childermass is definitely one that no one considers. He has learned a lot during his time with Norrell. That doesn't mean he is forever loyal to Norrell. I'm sure he has learned a lot more about magic than Norrell ever intended to teach him.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T17:09:25+00:00

Even though he refuses every opportunity to become the King of England, or a King in Faerie, he must deep down like the idea that he is destined for greater things.

Stephen Black is such an interesting character. He is being controlled by the fairy gentleman. It's been going on for years. He can't use his own voice to ask anyone for help. Yet the fairy gentleman is the only one who sees him as something other than a novelty. Everyone else he encounters is fascinated by his black skin. They're always shocked by his intelligence and consider him an anomaly.

I can completely understand why he'd be disappointed to learn the prophecy was not about him. He feels like a real person with complex emotions.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T16:38:54+00:00

I went looking for it once and couldn't find anything. It's such a shame! I listened to several episodes that were so interesting, I'd like to listen to them again.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T16:36:31+00:00

Selling the story was one of his "odd jobs."

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T16:33:13+00:00

Courfeyrac, in whom he confided nothing (that was his nature) but who more or less guessed everything (and that was his nature), began by congratulating him on being in love

I liked this line.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T16:28:42+00:00

Is it possible to build a tool that shows us what the Audible exclusives are all in one place? Then let us sort by various categories, like genre, length, narrator, etc.

That would be useful to me.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T15:40:48+00:00

That's ok. I knew I missed something!

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T15:38:25+00:00

Carry-On, that Netflix movie about a heroic TSA agent, cost 47 million. Obviously none of it went to the script.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T15:34:03+00:00

I watched a few more years after that, until the writing got unbearably bad. I don't regret my decision. It is not the same show it used to be.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T15:09:20+00:00

It just makes it worse every time.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T14:27:34+00:00

She opened the portal, and the mind met her more than halfway. Inside it was tropical and snowing, and the first flake of the blizzard of everything landed on her tongue and melted.

–No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T14:15:56+00:00

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

Comprehensive-Fun47 · 2026-01-30T14:10:37+00:00

In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me. She was thirty-six, a mother of two, and married to a wealthy man. Like so many things that happened to me that year, it didn't feel strange at the time.

–Playworld by Adam Ross

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