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eatingfiction 's review for:
The Eyre Affair
by Jasper Fforde
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Within the first page of this book I was sure I had discovered a new favourite. It is brimming with my favourite tropes, namely time travel, book characters come to life, and a very quirky sense of humor.
And this book is so clever. I love the way it recontextualizes the plot of Jane Eyre around itself, the off-the-wall concepts it drops in and the literary jokes. The world-building is fun, and the silly sense of humor definitely got me laughing.
But at the end of the day it's not a new favourite. I found it hard to connect to the characters, which meant I never felt the weight of the stakes that were being pushed. The plot confused me. The settings are light on description. The romantic side-plot grates like nails on a chalkboard. Those dropped-in concepts may have been fun but often bared no lasting consequences. It's written in first-person POV but randomly switches to different characters, with little warning, leaving me completely lost.
I wish I had loved this book, though. It's got such a good premise.
What I did love: the Jane Eyre portions of the story; the moustache-twirling, maniacally evil villain; Thursday's charmingly odd father; the book worms; all the weird time stuff (there really should have been more weird time stuff).
I probably won't read the next book, but this was still a fun time overall.
And this book is so clever. I love the way it recontextualizes the plot of Jane Eyre around itself, the off-the-wall concepts it drops in and the literary jokes. The world-building is fun, and the silly sense of humor definitely got me laughing.
But at the end of the day it's not a new favourite. I found it hard to connect to the characters, which meant I never felt the weight of the stakes that were being pushed. The plot confused me. The settings are light on description. The romantic side-plot grates like nails on a chalkboard. Those dropped-in concepts may have been fun but often bared no lasting consequences. It's written in first-person POV but randomly switches to different characters, with little warning, leaving me completely lost.
I wish I had loved this book, though. It's got such a good premise.
What I did love: the Jane Eyre portions of the story; the moustache-twirling, maniacally evil villain; Thursday's charmingly odd father; the book worms; all the weird time stuff (there really should have been more weird time stuff).
I probably won't read the next book, but this was still a fun time overall.