21
Jun
2010
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The basic differences between our world and the alternative history are as follows: The Crimean War has been going on for over 150 years, Wales is an independent republic, Shakespeare is hotly debated by everyone (and appreciated in various capacities), riots break out over art, and some people have a natural gift for time travel.
Sounds lovely, right?
This is usually where I say, well, it’s not, or something snarky. But in this case, it is! I would happily live there.
Especially after Thursday’s (our heroine) Uncle Mycroft invents a way to enter into literature, quite, well, literally.
As far as female detectives go, Thursday Next, a literatec, is more like Debra Morgan from Dexter than Sidney Bristow from Alias. Though why I bring up tv with real actors is beyond me, because I could only see this as being an anime movie, as it has that very exaggerated quality to it.
By saying that she’s more like Debra than Sidney, I mean that she’s awkward, flawed, abrasive, and often frustrated. She spent time in the Crimea before the book began, and the death of her brother and friends from that time haunts her. She has worked her way into the literatecs, which while a good government job, is not what she wants.
So when another, much more secretive agency, wants Thursday’s help in catching one of the great criminal minds of the day, it seems like it might be just the thing. After it goes horribly wrong, she takes a literatec job in her home town, and you guessed it, ends up right back up on the trail of the criminal she was previously chasing.
She chases him right into the classic, Jane Eyre, and improves the narrative in the process.
Some critics have pointed out that there’s a lot of unnecessary characters and loose threads, but that didn’t bother me as I fully intend to continue in the series, as I think was Fforde’s intent while writing it.
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float by Sarah Schmelling
The Unwritten Vol 1. by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Other works by Jasper Fforde:
Lost in a Good Book (A Thursday Next Novel)
The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next Series)
Something Rotten (Thursday Next Novels)
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels: A Thursday Next Novel (Thursday Next Novels)
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing: A Novel
The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime
The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime
Shades of Grey: A Novel
I loved The Eyre Affair! It is definitely a world I would not have a problem living in.
I’m glad you got a chance to read The Eyre Affair! I hope you will continue reading the rest of the series. A lot of interesting things happen.
I have not read the Nursery Crime novels, so I can’t vouch for them.
I’m so glad you liked this one! I was a little afraid to click in to your review.
The rest of the series varies from awesome to super awesome but The Eyre Affair is really the best.
I still have not read this book or another of his that is sitting on the shelf. I’ll have to get to it. This sounds like a good one!
One of my favorite books! I love Jasper Fforde and Thursday Next is so awesome.
I love your comment, “more like Debra Morgan from Dexter” what a hilarious observation. I’m a fan of this whole series and I’ve grown to love Thursday Next more with each book, but she is more awkward that super, smooth spy. I think it makes her much more relatable. Hope you keep reading the series.
I actually own this one – now I just need to read it. Thank you for the nudge *moves it to the Soon pile*
I’ve heard such good things about this author that I went out and got me “The Big Overeasy.”
And I am such a huge fan of Dexter (and Debra) that I can’t even stand it. Cannot wait to see what they do with next season after last season’s ending!
I loved this book–it is such a hoot! Definitely keep on with the series, as Fforde does tie up some loose ends (and create new ones). You’re right, one of the best things about Thursday Next–aside from her job–is that she is flawed. Enjoy!