Rating: 
Summary: suspenseful literary fun. :)
Review: this book is almost too clever for its own good. almost. thursday next, the heroine with a past, engages in a genre-jumping, hair raising, time traveling adventure that will warm the cockles of bookworms everywhere. thursday pursues the second most wanted man in england, the perfectly named archeron hades, as he sets out to destroy national literary treasures by altering original manuscripts. fforde pulls from so many different genres to assemble "the eyre affair" that the assigned categories of "science fiction" and "fantasy" are certainly underinclusive. however, he does create a very complete and convincing world for the story to take place within - the hallmark of any decent fantasy book. i wish that the characters had been developed more, but i suspect that that is what the rest of the series is for...book lovers will delight in the hundreds of literary allusions (both subtle and blatant), as well as the epigraphs. i especially liked the teasing snippets from thursday's autobiography. fforde's digs at government secrecy and the blurred line between corporate power and government power are both humorous and incisive. good stuff all around.
Rating:
Summary: smart and funny with a bit of everything
Review: "The Eyre Affair" is a wonderful read. Set in an alternate history where literature, philosophy, and art inspire passionate debate and even rioting among the general populace, the book tells the story of literary police agent Thursday Next. In Thursday's world, time travel is possible and the line between fiction and reality is blurred. Using his unusual powers, the aptly named Acheron Hades has managed to hijack Jane Eyre - the woman, and thus the book. Thursday must set the world of literature right, capture the evildoer, and save her own skin. Everything about this book is likeable. It has elements of many several - detective, science fiction, literary references, even a romantic subplot. The characters, while underdeveloped, are quirky and entertaining. The story is readable and absorbing. It's not classic literature, and it's written with the bare nonchalance of many detective stories, but it sets out to delight and surprise and entertain, and it succeeds. It's the perfect Saturday pastime for any lover of books.
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Fantasy? One Must Pause And Consider.
Review: One must pause and consider, but not for long, or your local bookseller won't have this charming, literate, amazing, and altogether incredible work on its shelves. Someone quicker than you might have snatched the last copy. This is a book for real biblophiles to share. The inside jokes and references send you scurrying for the originals, dictionaries, bios, and god knows what else, which is not good, because it detracts from the story. Alternate history/universe; true. Premise; ungodly and unheard of (except in university English departments, where literary theft is an open secret provided, of course, you only steal fromt the best). Characters and dialogue; so entertaining that you'll miss that obscure reference to Beawolf because your eyes are still tearing from the belly-laugh that preceeded it. Thursday Next is a unique character, combining traits of Miss Marpel, Emma Steele (ala THE AVENGERS), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (although far too hip and sophisticated for the more sophomoric elements), and a mature and savy Hermione Granger! She's just right, for the world she inhabits. And that world will give any serious reader pause, and probably "un-serious" said reader for the duration of the story! "The Eyre Affair" is pure fun, start to finish. Oh, it's a roller-coaster, make no mistake. A slow, sedate leaving of the gate, one really high hill to climb (suspension of disbelief), but once over the top, you'd better hang on with both hands! This ride is merciless, and doesn't let up, chapter after chapter after chapter of unending twists, turns, surprises, thrills, tenderness, affection, love, horror, honor, and at rock-bottom, humanity. So my hat, so firmly planted about my ears for much too long, has been tossed gaily into the air. A little roof-top shouting is not too much for this FIRST novel. I haven't been this excited about a FIRST novel since "LOSING JULIA," although for altogether different reasons. Just trust me. Read it. Enjoy it. Then be jealous of whom you give a copy to, knowing THEY'RE about to read it for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: A wild trip into an alternative universe.
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Clever, but....
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Anyone with a love and appreciation of the written word will adore this book. I remember when it first arrived in the US in 2002. I thought it was such a wild concept and wasn't sure if I'd be ready to enter the unusual world Jasper Fforde had created. So I passed it by. But it stayed with me, and finally, two years later I took the plunge into "The Eyre Affair." And now I've been bitten, smitten, and totally swept away into Thursday Next's world. It's fantastic and filled with colorful characters - from the strong yet vulnerable Thursday Next herself, aptly named a female version of Dirty Harry, to Thursday's wonderful time-traveling dad, her mad-inventor uncle and mischievious aunt, her long-lost love, her pet dodo Pickwick, her fantastic car, her crazy co-workers at Spec-Ops (and watch out for those evil villains) and all of the rest of the people in this unusual surreal version of 1985 England. "Jane Eyre" fans will especially love the chance to "book-jump" with Thursday into Miss Eyre's novel and meet the wonderful characters of THAT world. Rochester! Sigh! Yes, it's all here, folks! Adventure, mystery, car chases, time traveling, romance, Shakespearean interactive theatre, conspiracies, vampires, kidnappings, daring heroics, and satisfying endings. Enjoy the ride!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: The reviews I read, the book's description, was intriguing but, I just didn't know if I'd like this. So I picked it up, "The Eyre Affair", and WOW what a great tale! What a really different approach but what an entertaining read! I couldn't put it down. Jasper Fforde has put the fun back into reading and does it with style. If you like mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, or fiction of any kind you'll love the Thursday Next series. If you've read Jane Eyre, you may think that Mr. Fforde has some things wrong at first but patience dear reader, it all becomes clear near the end. I could tell you what the story is about much like my fellow reviewers but truth be known, you won't really appreciate how good it really is til you've read it yourself. I like the description on the book's cover, "Harry Potter for Adults" It is very much like Harry Potter but then not. You could make many comparisons here, but never get it quite right. Fforde has blazed a new tale, and deserves the credit for his discovery of a new fictional territory.
Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction/Fantasy Literary Satire and Love Story
Review: Thursday Next has been working on Shakespeare-related literary crimes in London as a Special Operative when she's summoned into a special assignment with a highly classified outfit. It all relates to a run-in she had with a professor while in college. The assignment leaves her literally flat on her back, and after recuperating she's off to return to her hometown to face her past and her future. She's been trying to escape from both since her unit was decimated in a terrible lost skirmish in the Crimea during which her brother was lost, and her relations with the love of her life were terminated. While there, important manuscripts begin disappearing in unexplained ways and she finds herself in the middle of the investigations. Helped by unexpected interventions from outside this time and dimension, she makes steady progress towards protecting Dickens and Bronte from unpopular bowlderizations. Talk about crossing genres. Mr. Jasper Fforde literally wrote the book on this subject with The Eyre Affair. I became interested in this book after reading and being delighted by the brilliant third book in the series, The Well of Lost Plots. Although both books can be easily understood as stand-alone efforts, you will probably be more thrilled by The Well of Lost Plots if you sneak up on it by reading the other two books first. Ultimately, these books most appeal to those who love literature as readers . . . and for whom classic characters seem like old trusted friends. Those who like science fiction, fantasy, mysteries and adventure stories will be much less pleased. Those aspects are icing on the cake rather than the cake. To me, The Eyre Affair seems like a literary update and enhancement of Alice in Wonderland with Thursday Next as Alice. The Britain you will read about in this book differs substantially from the current one. Although the reason is never stated, I inferred that this one that has been influenced by time travelers to the detriment of Britain. The Crimean War has been going on since the 19th century between Britain and Imperial Russia. Wales is not part of Britain and is a people's republic that is not sympathetic to Britain. Literary debates are more important than political ones. Britain has succumbed to the military-industrial complex in ways that are usually ascribed to the U.S.A. Much technology is primitive (such as air travel by dirigibles) while other technology is very advanced (time travel, cloning of extinct animals as pets, and dimension shifting). Although the book obviously involves Jane Eyre, please realize that the connection is perhaps slighter than the title suggests. The overall themes of the book involve the classic struggles between the light forces of good and the dark forces of evil, against a backdrop of unrequited love. The satire is layered on with a heavy hand. The names give you a sense of this. One character is named Braxton Hicks . . . and he's just a little jumpy!! One of the villains has a name that will make you chuckle every time you read it. The overall effect is a lot like Voltaire's Candide and occasionally has an element of Rabelais. Regardless of any temporary drawbacks in the book to your preferences as a reader, the charming moments will easily carry you forward wondering what marvelous writing innovation next awaits you. Plan to read this one in one sitting. It's hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: great book, and don't worry about lit references
Review: Jasper Fforde has made it to my "favorite authors" list! These books are clever, fun, and well-paced, and don't worry about the british lit references - you don't have to get them all, and if you've had any exposure to world literature, you'll get at least some of them. Either way, you'll enjoy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Plock! Plock! Trust me, it makes sense...
Review: Okay, first off, before anything else, massive thank yous to a friend who made me pinky-swear with thumb-press to read this book next. Next, the main character (heh, I couldn't resist), is superb - she's a young woman working for a SpecOps in an England just to the left of our own version of reality. Her full name is Thursday Next (she was born on a Thursday), and her father works with the time-travelling branch of the SpecOps - or did, till he went rogue, and is now hopping about through time, changing things.
Thursday works with the Literature division, or LiteraTec, in crimes involving literature. Fforde's world is awash in literary love (a world I'd love to visit for that aspect alone), and yet, enter the villain: Archeron Hades. This fellow is bad, bullet-proof, has powers of suggestion, never casts a shadow (nor does he show up on videotape), and a host of other abilities. Also, he nabbed Thursday's uncle, who has built a device to hop in and out of books. When Hades kidnaps Jane Eyre, things get a bit dodgy, and it's up to our intrepid heroine to go deep under cover - or between the book covers, as it were, to sort things out.
Hilarious and fun, and chock-o-block with puns, amusing character names, and odd out-of-synch bits and pieces about the world Thursday lives in (though, I must admit, some of her father's antics make me wonder if he's trying to 'fix' the timestream back to what would be our world, more or less). Also, she has a pet dodo. I want one. They say, 'plock plock!'
You won't regret this one. Really. Read it next - pinky swear that you will. With thumb-press.
'Nathan
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