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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
I chuckled my way through this book and enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek humor immensely.
Yes! This was so GREAT! An alternative 1980s Britain with a complicated bureaucracy of Special Ops, a fanatical enthusiasm for literature, time travel, and a shadowy corporation trying to manipulate everything? Yes, thank you. The little scenes of this universe are what really build a surreal, almost "weird fiction," tone - Shakespeare plays getting the Rocky Horror treatment, literary terrorists, mind bending time warps. Thousands of people paying candlelight vigil to the kidnapped Jane Eyre, now, that's a world I'd like to live in. A+ for adventure and absurdism.
Really 2.5 stars. I love the idea of going into books, but this story never really grabbed me like I wanted. The world building didn't work for me and I never really connected to it.
this was very fun and silly in a good way. i feel like i’ve read jane eyre now.
I love this series. Ever so funny (and satirical), with a clever plot.
Set in an alternate 1985 in which the French Revolution has been fought for over a hundred years (but the Russians are still the bad guys) and Richard III is a midnight cult favorite like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where people fight in the streets over whether Milton or Shelley is the better poet and the authorship of Shakespeare's plays is as hotly debated as evolution or abortion, The Eyre Affair is a nerd's paradise and a literature lover's best-case scenario.
Thursday Next is a LiteraTec, a literature detective. She gets caught up in a mystery involving an invention that allows people to jump into books, which the villain uses to kidnap and murder a little-known character from Dickens, just to show he means business.
In this 1985, Jane Eyre has a crap ending, one in which Jane and Mr. Rochester don't get together. I KNOW. Thursday meets up with Mr. Rochester, but doesn't fall in love with him, which was a worry, I admit. Thanks, Jasper Fforde, for not making this into a second-rate romance thing.
There's some stuff about a plasma rifle, Thursday's crazy inventor uncle, and Thursday's soldier past, but the best parts deal with the well-known fictional characters.
Thursday Next is a LiteraTec, a literature detective. She gets caught up in a mystery involving an invention that allows people to jump into books, which the villain uses to kidnap and murder a little-known character from Dickens, just to show he means business.
In this 1985, Jane Eyre has a crap ending, one in which Jane and Mr. Rochester don't get together. I KNOW. Thursday meets up with Mr. Rochester, but doesn't fall in love with him, which was a worry, I admit. Thanks, Jasper Fforde, for not making this into a second-rate romance thing.
There's some stuff about a plasma rifle, Thursday's crazy inventor uncle, and Thursday's soldier past, but the best parts deal with the well-known fictional characters.
Loved this crazy, surreal Nancy Drew meets Matrix meets awesome adventure. It is hilarious and irreverent. Great way to end 2016!
i really enjoyed this book. some odd plot holes (inconsistent things in the world), but overall it was funny and interesting and full of literary references that felt (to an english lit lover) like inside jokes.
Always love a reread of this one!
2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: #13 A book set in the 80’s
Original review:
Because I finished Jane Eyre recently and being a Jasper Fforde fan, I figured it was time to revisit this book. I love discovering Thursday Next's warped reality and can't help but wonder what it would be like to jump into my favorite books and have a look around. (How do I get in contact with Mrs. Nakajima?) I really enjoy the literary banter that goes on in this book and feel that probably half of it goes right over my head. My only complaint is the strong language in one section of the book. Totally unnecessary in my opinion.
2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: #13 A book set in the 80’s
Original review:
Because I finished Jane Eyre recently and being a Jasper Fforde fan, I figured it was time to revisit this book. I love discovering Thursday Next's warped reality and can't help but wonder what it would be like to jump into my favorite books and have a look around. (How do I get in contact with Mrs. Nakajima?) I really enjoy the literary banter that goes on in this book and feel that probably half of it goes right over my head. My only complaint is the strong language in one section of the book. Totally unnecessary in my opinion.
I found the tone a little uneven, but overall quite enjoyable. Probably if I hadn't gotten a number of glowing recommendations I would have been even more satisfied.