- ISBN13: 9780142001806
- Condition: New
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Product Description
In Jasper Fforde’s Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë’s novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde’s ingenious fantasy-enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel–unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.
Amazon.com Review
Penzler Pick, January 2002: When I first heard the premise of this unique mystery, I doubted that a first-time author could pull off a complicated caper involving so many assumptions, not the least of which is a complete suspension of disbelief. Jasper Fforde is not only up to the task, he exceeds all expectations.
Imagine this. Great Britain in 1985 is close to being a police state. The Crimean War has dragged on for more than 130 years and Wales is self-governing. The only recognizable thing about this England is her citizens’ enduring love of literature. And the Third Most Wanted criminal, Acheron Hades, is stealing characters from England’s cherished literary heritage and holding them for ransom.
Bibliophiles will be enchanted, but not surprised, to learn that stealing a character from a book only changes that one book, but Hades has escalated his thievery. He has begun attacking the original manuscripts, thus changing all copies in print and enraging the reading public. That’s why Special Operations Network has a Literary Division, and it is why one of its operatives, Thursday Next, is on the case.
Thursday is utterly delightful. She is vulnerable, smart, and, above all, literate. She has been trying to trace Hades ever since he stole Mr. Quaverley from the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and killed him. You will only remember Mr. Quaverley if you read Martin Chuzzlewit prior to 1985. But now Hades has set his sights on one of the plums of literature, Jane Eyre, and he must be stopped.
How Thursday achieves this and manages to preserve one of the great books of the Western canon makes for delightfully hilarious reading. You do not have to be an English major to be pulled into this story. You’ll be rooting for Thursday, Jane, Mr. Rochester–and a familiar ending. –Otto Penzler
Mary Whipple @ 12:47 am
Jasper Fforde has a rich imagination that moves in wacky directions, an off-the-wall sense of humor that never quits, and a deep knowledge and love of literature which give shape and substance to this hilarious “thing” he’s created. Not really a mystery, sci-fi thriller, satire, or fluffy fantasy, this wild rumpus contains elements of all these but feels like a completely new genre. Fforde combines “real” people from the “historically challenged” world of his plot with characters from classic novels, adding dollops of word play, irony, literary humor, satire–and even a dodo bird–just for spice.
With “real” characters who can stop time or travel back and forth in it, hear their own names (the names here are really terrific!) from 1000 yards away, appear in duplicate before themselves to give advice, travel inside books, and change the outcome of history, the reader journeys through Fforde’s looking glass into a different and far more literary universe than the one we know. Thursday Next, a SpecOp-27 in the Literary Detective Division of Special Operations, is looking for Acheron Hades, who has stolen the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and killed one of the characters in it, thereby changing the story forever. Thursday and the Literatecs are trying to prevent him from getting inside Jane Eyre and committing further murders.
If you have not read Jane Eyre recently, your pleasure in this book will be greatly enhanced if you look up a brief plot summary on-line before proceeding too far–the ending of Jane Eyre as we know it is different from the ending of Jane Eyre as Thursday Next knows it, and the differences themselves become a delightful part of this plot. Though some readers seem to feel that the book would benefit from a bit of pruning in order to strengthen its conclusion, that suggestion seems to me to be too much like Acheron Hades changing Martin Chuzzlewit or Jane Eyre–if you do that, something is irreparably lost–and this book is so much fun that I’d hate to lose even a single word! Mary Whipple
Josh Aterovis @ 1:20 am
With the first page of this book, Fford caught my attention and held it fast until the last. I hated to see it end, but I was very happy to discover that it was only first in a series featuring Spec-Ops agent Thursday Next. Fford has created a blend of mystery, science fiction, and fantasy that is similar to Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently series. Fford’s books even have the same irreverently sublime silliness, but with a decidedly literary bent.
The books are set in an alternate universe, one where England is the world greatest super power, but is held under the control of a shadowy mega-company called Goliath. The year is 1985, but it’s unlike any 1985 you or I might remember. Technology is both far advanced and far behind. The Crimean War still drags on and the world’s biggest superstars are authors. A special crime enforcement unit has been formed to deal with crimes that fall outside the usual boundaries of police jurisdiction. Thursday Next works for Spec-Ops 27, the Literary Division.
When the world’s third most wanted criminal, Acheron Hades, finds a way to jump into the original manuscript of Dicken’s MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT and assassinates Mr. Quaverley (a character you will only remember if you read the book before 1985), Thursday is assigned the case. It turns out that the assassination of Mr. Quaverley was only an example of what he was capable of, and when he jumps into JANE EYRE and kidnaps the title character, it’s up to Thursday to save the beloved heroine…and the book.
I’ll warn you now that you’ll have to suspend belief while reading this book. It should be read as a fantasy first and foremost. It deals with time travel (Thursday’s father is a Spec-Ops agent as well, but in the Chronoguard), cloned dodo’s (Thursday’s marshmallow loving pet Pickwick, version 1.2), and Shakespeare’s Richard the Third is performed with audience participation ala Rocky Horror. If you can get past some of the more absurd qualities of the book, you’re in for a true literary treat. Fford writes assuming his readers will get his numerous high lit in-jokes, and while I’m sure I missed a few, he provided me with many laugh out loud moments. While his world is bizarre and occasionally hard to swallow, it’s also amazingly imaginative and fun, Fun, FUN! Thursday is a strong, complicated, and entirely likeable protagonist and I’m sure we have a lot to look forward to from her.
P. Zrimsek @ 3:06 am
A lot of credit has to be given to Jasper Fforde for creating a parallel universe that is quite quirky and very fun to explore. England is embroiled in a 130 year war with Imperial Russia over the Crimean Penninsula. There is tension along the British border with the People’s Republic of Wales–a totalitarian regime. French Revisionists are apparently traveling back in time to wipe out British heros (Churchill, Nelson etc). Long distance travel is done by zeppelin. People keep extinct creatures as pets (our heroine has a dodo, version 1.2). Uncle Mycroft invents a device that allows travel into a literary work. The world’s third most evil man pulls a character out of Dicken’s Martin Chuzzlewit and assassinates him. Richard III is performed a la Rocky Horror Picture Show. In short, there is a lot of stuff going on in this book and the reader needs to pay careful attention.
The first two-thirds of the book (the setup) is great fun. But the problem with the book is that Fforde cannot pull off an ending that equals the setup. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common woe of many “clever” books. It seems as though Fforde expended all his energy on creating this ultra-clever parallel universe and lost sight of the plot. I felt the ending was contrived and that is saying a lot in a book whose entire premise is contrivity.
I wish I could give the book five stars because I really like it. Maybe Fforde will deliver a more satisfactory climax in the sequal(s).
C. Moore @ 4:37 am
It’s no small task that Jasper Fforde was able to create a world where genetic engineering has reached a point where people can own dodos as pets, Britain has been at war with Russia for 130 years, time travel is a common occurrence, and most incredible, English literature is actually pertinent to modern life.
This book is a lot of fun, the arguments about Shakespeare’s Plays’ true authorship, plus other satrical pokes at the world of English lit should keep any bibliophile snickering, and if the characters get out of control sometimes, well that happens with a first novel.
Ultimately I found myself thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it, and looking forward to getting back to it. There are some laughs, a fun plot, an incredible setting, and just enough jibes at literary deconstructionists to make one feel smart, which is not generally how one leaves the world of literary deconstruction.
Others have already outlined the plot well enough. If you liked Mark Frost’s, List of Seven, or China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station, then land somewhere in between, add some whimsy and sit down to a really fun read. Let’s call Fford’s new sub-genre, Lit-Punk.
It looks as if this is going to be a series, and I look forward to Fford’s next book. Thursday Next is a great character and now, with his bizarre world established, Fford can sharpen his chops on more off-the-wall humor — not because his work needs it, because we all do.
Tony Hines @ 5:38 am
Some books are memorable because they’re well-written. Some books are memorable because their plot leaves you breathless.
“The Eyre Affair” is neither of these. But it is indeed memorable on the strength of Jasper Fforde’s original, witty version of an alternate world. It’s a genre-bender to be sure. Because it involves time travel and alternate reality (the book takes place in a 1985 UK no one will recognize, only partially because England is at war with Russia), it’s a SciFi/Fantasy novel. Kinda. But because Thursday Next, the protaganist, chases an ultra-baddy (Archeron Hades) to a final showdown, it’s a Detective Thriller. Kinda. Also, because it’s filled with witty in-jokes ranging from literary references to character names (yes, there’s a character actually named “Jack Schitt”), it’s humor. Kinda. Well, mostly.
While it delves into literary subject matter (works of Dickens, Bronte and Poe all play key parts in the story), it ain’t literary. Fforde’s prose is pretty lean and bare–too lean and bare, sometimes, but the charm of the story more than compensates.
You should certainly like this if you enjoy imaginative, experimental fiction. You will probably like this if you enjoy thrillers with a dash of humor, or the idea of “jumping into” classic works of literature such as “Jane Eyre” seems interesting. You probably will not like this if you’re a hardcore SF fan: you don’t get any nuts-and-bolts explanations of how this alternate universe works. And if you’re looking for a complex antagonist, forget it; Archeron Hades, Thursday Next’s nemesis, might as well go by the name Snidely Whiplash and twirl his handlebar mustache.
Still, the power of imagination conquers all in this book, and Thursday Next is someone most readers will enjoy getting to know.