The Eyre Affair (edit title)

• Rated 3 stars

“For the majority of its run, this book is incredibly entertaining. Fforde creates a world that any bibliophile will salivate over -- what English major wouldn't love a milieu where everyone knows Richard III by heart, or where the barrier between reality and literature is permeable? He also throws in plenty of wormholes and time travel to lure in fans of sci-fi literature, meanwhile inventing a political and military conflict that seems incredibly possible.

However, as fun as Fforde's alternate-Earth is, he does falter in creating consistent rules for his fantasy. He doesn't adhere to any particular model of time-travel, but tries to employ all of them at once: in one instance the past is fixed, in another it is malleable -- with no explanation. Also, while the rules on entering a work of literature like Jane Eyre are quite well established, it's never clear why Thursday must be so careful to avoid her after they have already met one another within the novel, and Jane has obviously chosen not to mention her within her eponymous novel.

But the weakest point of The Eyre Affair is Thursday herself. She has her flaws -- impatience, recklessness -- but is overall too skilled to be believable and, as some characters within the novel point out, annoyingly self-righteous on occasion. Though she is morally in the right, she has a tendency to express her views in grand cliches that grate on the nerves. In general, Fforde himself employs many cliched phrased within and without his dialogue -- not all that surprising, considering this is her first book, but it can leave the reader frustrated.

Fforde also seems to feel the need to give every plot-line -- except that one he leaves open for a sequel -- in a perfect bow, though he hasn't really earned the happy ending in some cases. The resolution of Thursday's romantic relationship, in particular, doesn't make that much of an impact because her love interest hasn't been focused on enough to give the reader a sense of his having a unique personality. In general, everything comes a little too easily to Thursday in the end, which only serves to make her a more unbelievable and annoying character. So while Fforde succeeds in creating a compelling wonderland for the bibliophile, one that the reader will want to return to, his uneven characterization ultimately leaves that same reader unsatisfied.”

• Rated 4 stars

“It was very fun :)”

• Rated 3 stars

“I liked the story line but sifting through all the extra bits about the world the story takes place in made it really hard to follow. Maybe reading it a second time would help but I was just plain confused a lot. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“This book was really good. I loved how they incorporated parts from lots of different books into this one, especially Jane Eyre. I love books about other books, and loved when the characters traveled into the books. This was a very well-written book, and I hope I will read the next book in the series.”

• Rated 2 stars

“The premise was more enjoyable than the execution. Too much of the novel was taken up with an unbelieveable and uncompelling romance, and the Rochester of this novel has little in common with the Rochester of Bronte's original.

Evocative of Connie Willis' earlier and far superior To Say Nothing of the Dog. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“wonderful! I can't wait to read the next Thursday Next book - a great escape.”

• Rated 0 stars

“4-5 STAR AVERAGE AMAZON RATING”

• Rated 0 stars

“I read it but I don't remember much about it. I plan to read it again. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“Engaging read so far!”

• Rated 0 stars

“sounds interesting!”