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The Chuzzlewit Caper?
“For the first half of the novel, one might have asked if it had the wrong name, but by the time the book ends, one can probably agree that "The Eyre Affair" is at least as good a title as any. "The Eyre Affair" is Jasper Fforde's first novel, which was published in July of 2001. Fforde creates an alternate world, with many similarities to go with some glaring differences, keeping the reader off-balance, yet strangely at home at the same time. Combining alternate reality, with spy thriller, with mystery, with some literary classics, this unusual book makes for a most unique and enjoyable experience. As I have not, as of yet, read any of the sequels in the series, I cannot speak for how well it holds up, but I can easily recommend this one.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-11-01.
The setting of this novel is in a world very much like our own, but with some bizarre twists. In no particular order, this would include recreating Dodos and cloning them for pets, never-ending discussions about who wrote Shakespeare's plays (of course this happens in our world, but not to this extent), Wales as a socialist republic, and an ongoing Crimean War. Our heroine is Thursday Next, a Literary Detective (SO-27) one of 30 departments of Special Operations to handle various areas of police work. The top 20 departments are restricted, i.e. they are known to exist, but only in a few cases do people know what they actually do.
In addition to the alternate reality, there is an unusual family and personal life to deal with. Thursday's father was a Colonel in the ChronoGuard, but had turned rogue and is being chased by his former colleagues. He has a habit of dropping in on Thursday and halting time when he does so. Her uncle likes to invent things, including a device which allows people to enter works of literature (this has happened accidentally to some people, including Thursday, but this allows the person to pick the time and the place). Her brother, like Thursday, was in the Crimean War, but unlike her, he was killed. The man she loves, Landon Parke-Laine, who gave testimony which led to her brother being blamed for a mistake which caused a tremendous loss of life during an important battle.
Thursday is temporarily assigned to SO-5 to deal with a super-criminal, Acheron Hades, a man she had the misfortune to meet many years ago, and she is one of the few to have ever seen him in person. He is known to have special powers, including the ability to avoid being seen on camera, and he is able to confuse even Special Operations agents to the point where he is able to escape, usually after killing the agent whose trust he has gained. Thursday has been called in because Acheron is believed to have stolen the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit. The story follows Thursday as she follows, sometimes officially, sometimes unofficially, Hades and it takes her through time paradoxes, kidnappings, government bureaucracy, the war and peace movements, and of course into Jane Eyre
With all the strange inventions, and odd plotlines, it was somewhat disappointing that the end was rather predictable, but it was still very fun to read. Thursday and her family make for wonderful characters, and Hades was a great villain. Many of the other characters are somewhat two-dimensional, but one needs a few normal people to play against. This novel is far from perfect, but if you are in the mood for some crazy adventure and have run out of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, this is one you may want to give a try.
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Fforde ffan
“I stumbled onto this book because it won the Wodehouse prize and I am a huge Wodehouse fan. I loved the book and all the sequels.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-05. -
The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel
“If you enjoy sci-fi and literary references, you may really like this book. It was a little slow at first for me, but then was very good once I got into it. I don't normally pick sci-fi type books to read; however, we read this book as part of our book club. I am the only one out of most of my friends that didn't enjoy Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it seems like I have heard lots of comparisons. Thankfully this book had a lot of saving graces in it to make it only slightly similar in comparison.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-20.
The main character was well developed and basically quite likable. Other characters were fairly well developed when needed and played their parts - everything fit together for the most part. I especially liked the antagonist in the book. I enjoyed the literary references through out the book. The ending was good too. Overall, it was an interesting concept in many ways and a good read. I would recommend it. ” -
A thoroughly enjoyable read
“I had heard mixed things about The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde before picking it up but in light of my reading Jane Eyre a few weeks ago my interest in this story was renewed. The book takes place in an alternate England where the impossible is possible - things like vampires, time travel and the resurrection of long extinct animals. In some ways the England of Eyre Affair is far more advanced then in ours....and in others its still stuck in the past. The differences in the two worlds are a delight to explore. The characters all have equally delightful names like Thursday Next, Victor Analogy, Braxton Hicks....and my personal favorite Jack Schitt. This book made me giggle from start to finish and I loved seeing new found favorite characters brought to life - literally.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-19.
I'm also very glad that I read Jane Eyre before this book for there are a TON of plot spoilers. Granted I did know the basic plot of Jane Eyre before reading it but this book goes into far greater detail then I had heard previously. So while I throughly recommend this book I would also add the caution that if you haven't read Jane Eyre but plan on doing so at some point then to hold off reading Eyre Affair until after you've done so.
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1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Fun, but...
“Jasper Fforde's novel is great fun. It's a light hearted mystery that succeeds in keeping this reader both interested and entertained. My first impression was that this is what might have happened if Douglas Adams and the Python players ever wrote a book together. The book is quite successful at an easy kind of playfulness in the creation of these characters and their world and I found myself staying interested in what happened to them. Having said that, this particular world's very strong focus on literature and especially literary culture creates many opportunities to play. And in this case, the more the reader knows about literature, literary history and philosophy, the more they are likely to enjoy what Fforde dishes out. A reader who doesn't know much about these topics can still find the book enjoyable. The characters and story are interesting on their own and the world is present enough that the casual reader will enjoy its interest in all things literary. But there is the possibility that some readers may come off feeling like they're seeing inside jokes they're not privy to, or that they're just not connecting with the story. For these readers, the playfulness of the world may not be enough to balance out the disconnect between themselves and Fforde's acrobatics. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-01.
