A Goodreads user asked this question about Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell:
I'm watching the BBC1 tv series based on this book, how does the story in the book compare to the tv series?
Jeanne It seems to me that Jonathan Strange was made more sympathetic in the series than in the book with the strange effect of everyone talking about how ar…moreIt seems to me that Jonathan Strange was made more sympathetic in the series than in the book with the strange effect of everyone talking about how arrogant he is without him seeming all that arrogant. In the book he is clearly empathy deficient. In the show he seems just frustrated by all the stupidity around him (justifiably). The language of the book is beautiful and the show can really just give the bare skeletal outlines of plot with some tweaks. Also the raven king is so present in the book and it is really more his history than any other story and he is sadly less present in the show. But the imagery of the stones and the corpses coming to life is wonderful! And the fairy lands are beautifully strange.(less)
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