Book Review - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Category Book Review
Based on a friend's recommendation, I picked up the novel The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It has one of the more unique and strange storylines I've read in awhile, but it was fun...
Thursday Next, a Special Operative in charge of literary crimes, has been called in to help solve a murder mystery as well as stop the destruction of a classic book, Jane Eyre. The story is set in England in the mid-1980's, but there's a strange mix of old and new. Animals are routinely cloned as pets, and Thursday's father is part of the ChronoGuard team that controls and protects time travel and time disturbances. Travel is often by blimp, and everything seems to have a turn-of-the century feel. Next is involved in this case as she's the only person who knows the killer, Acheron Hades, and isn't affected by his paranormal powers. Hades uses a "Prose Portal" to escape into the pages of Jane Eyre, and he's threatening to kill off the main character unless he gets his demands. Thursday follows him in, and the outside observers watch as parts of the manuscript appear, disappear, and change based on what is happening inside the story. While her life is truly in danger from Hades, she's more concerned about making sure the manuscript and story survives intact with no tampering from the outside world.
The way the story shifts between the real world and the pages of the book, as well as how the characters drift in and out, make for a crazy read. It's not like any sci-fi novel I've read before. I'm not even sure sci-fi is the right classification, but it's the closest I can come to slotting into a niche for reference purposes. You just have to start reading, be prepared for just about anything to happen, and enjoy the ride...
Based on a friend's recommendation, I picked up the novel The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It has one of the more unique and strange storylines I've read in awhile, but it was fun...
Thursday Next, a Special Operative in charge of literary crimes, has been called in to help solve a murder mystery as well as stop the destruction of a classic book, Jane Eyre. The story is set in England in the mid-1980's, but there's a strange mix of old and new. Animals are routinely cloned as pets, and Thursday's father is part of the ChronoGuard team that controls and protects time travel and time disturbances. Travel is often by blimp, and everything seems to have a turn-of-the century feel. Next is involved in this case as she's the only person who knows the killer, Acheron Hades, and isn't affected by his paranormal powers. Hades uses a "Prose Portal" to escape into the pages of Jane Eyre, and he's threatening to kill off the main character unless he gets his demands. Thursday follows him in, and the outside observers watch as parts of the manuscript appear, disappear, and change based on what is happening inside the story. While her life is truly in danger from Hades, she's more concerned about making sure the manuscript and story survives intact with no tampering from the outside world.
The way the story shifts between the real world and the pages of the book, as well as how the characters drift in and out, make for a crazy read. It's not like any sci-fi novel I've read before. I'm not even sure sci-fi is the right classification, but it's the closest I can come to slotting into a niche for reference purposes. You just have to start reading, be prepared for just about anything to happen, and enjoy the ride...
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