The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
Ratings61
Average rating3.6
En ‘Las Damas de Grace Adieu', Clarke expande el mundo de Jonathan Strange y el Sr. Norrel con una colección de historias bastante divertidas con su toque dramático y ambiente inglés victoriano. Se leíste o piensas leer JS&MrN recomiendo seguir con esta agrupación de relatos! Hasta Strange y el Rey Cuervo aparecen en ciertas historias!
I thought that Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell an exceptionally fine book, so an eventual read of this collection of short stories was always going to eventually happen.
And a most enjoyable light read this has been. Typical of short story collections some hit the mark, others less so.
The first tale The Ladies of Grace Adieu references Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and was in fact culled from that from the final edit. Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower, I thought an exceptional piece of fantasy and worth the entrance fee alone. I would love to read a full length novel of the life and adventures of Mr Simonelli if Susanna Clarke was going to maybe write something further. I thought this a very thematic tale told about the treatment of others that are dissimilar. Two other stories, Tom Brightwind and Tom Brightwind were also very good.
This can be a standalone read for anyone that has not read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell but if other readers were less keen on that book they will be indifferent to this collection, I would imagine.
Late edit: after writing and posting the above, I read a very impressive review of Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower that is worth a look for anyone interested.
https://www.revenantjournal.com/contents/not-entirely-flattering-revealing-mr-simonellis-fairy-nature/
Honestly kinda conflicted about this book. On one hand, Clarke's writing is unparalleled and I am a huge admirer, semi-academically. On the other, I just frequently got bored through a lot of these stories or felt that they ended anti-climactically.
The best story in this lot is also the very first one listed, the titular “Ladies of Grace Adieu”. There's proper magic, there's a great storytelling trajectory, a small mystery underlying the whole thing, and a satisfying conclusion. That's pretty much more than I can say for most of the other stories. Some of them were really promising throughout (”On Lickerish Hill”, “Mr Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower”, for e.g.) but then just had very unsatisfying and sometimes abrupt endings. Others (”Tom Brightwind”, “John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner”, for e.g.) were just so bizarre that I had trouble following along and skimmed through a lot.
Don't get me wrong though. I haven't read any contemporary historical fiction writer that is able to more accurately replicate an early 19th century writing style than Susanna Clarke and there's always a perpetual awe when I'm reading her book. It really feels like I'm reading something actually written by someone living in the early Victorian times, but then with our very modern concepts of magical realism thrown in. Her stories are quite often pretty dark, morbid, and even gory, but with an outer coating of Regency/Victorian aesthetic, so there's almost a Tim Burton thing going on here. I've really never read anything like her writing before or since. I'm, of course, basing most of this from reading her most popular novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. For Ladies of Grace Adieu, I'd recommend only reading it perhaps after JS & MN - though it is shorter, it is not exactly a good primer for Clarke's writing style and might be just too eclectic for people new to her.
Like many collections of short stories, this is a bit of a mixed bag. I adored Clarke's very long Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and I loved her shorter Piranesi just as much but maybe for different reasons, so I was very curious to see how she would be in the very short form.
There's some great moments here, and I really liked some of the stories (particularly many of the footnotes, but overall this didn't entice me as much as JS&MN and Piranesi did.
Faux-Victorian writing is a delicate art; most attempts are tedious or even grating. Clarke has the gift: her language is exquisite, her stories quirky, filled with understated surrealism and wonder.
Gave up after 4.5 stories. The titular story had promise, but I found the others tedious and boring.
A pleasant enough read, but not nearly as good as [b:Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell 14201 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Susanna Clarke http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410A553CR8L.SL75.jpg 3921305].