Is the book Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrel a childrens book or is it meant to be adult reading?

I’m glad you asked. I have been trying to promote that book on Fluther for about 6 months! I absolutely loved it – it was one of my favorite books of all time.

I would say it is definitely an adult book. It is written very much in 19th century style with long asides and lengthy footnotes. There isn’t anything in the content particularly that would be harmful for children to read; I just think most wouldn’t have the patience. However, I could see some pre-teens and teenagers who are real readers, maybe lovers of Tolkien and other fantasies, loving the book. I wouldn’t discourage a child from trying it.

Just reread the comments under the question. I think maybe what you read as “simplistic” I read as ironic. It certainly has a very unusual tone. Let me know how you feel about it if you continue to read it.

It’s meant for adults. I can’t imagine a teen being willing to sift through it (except that I did). I would compare its reading level to, say, Pride and Prejudice. Good for both, but probably targeting adults.

ETA: Jinx!

Definitely not aimed at children. It does get deeper and more complex and (if I may say so) stranger. But any child who is capable of reading prose written in an adult style and vocabulary (not “adult”—just adult, as in grown up) can handle it without harm. There are plenty of youngsters who are up to fully adult reading matter by the time they are in middle school, the same ones who read all the Narnia books and all the Oz books by the time they were seven.

Definitely meant for adults (and teens, I guess), not children.

And many adults and teens will not have the patience for it, because it’s written not just in a 19th century style, but a particularly wordy style that some will find boring. Similar to Dickens at his wordiest.

One small amusing aspect is that some words are spelled as they were 200 years ago: “shew” instead of “show”, “chuze” instead of “choose”, etc.

Despite all that, I enjoyed it a lot, and would recommend it strongly to those who like fantasy novels, and those that like authors like Dickens and Jane Austen.

categories, categories… just enjoy!