Rating: 
Summary: Tes, I think
Review: The plot is completely new. The theme is fascinating. I will need to read the original Jane Eyre.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun, but...
Review: Like previous reviewers I enjoyed this book and had fun with the constant barrage of odd-ball characters, book references, Shakespeare, time warps, and all the other craziness. I loved the novel mix of lit and tech and the idea of people literally entering a book is what prompted me to read it. It's a fun read and a roller-coaster of a ride.
What I didn't like were the cardboard characters. Fforde needs to work on developing his characters more. Aside from Thursday Next they were much too thin and one dimensional. I found Hades too campy, especially when he first expounds on his goals of being a rich and famous criminal. He reminded me of Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor in "Superman." A bit over the top. And Jack Schitt (okay, we all got to titter over that one) is too sterotypcial as the heartless, greedy, big business type.
From the blurb on the back cover Thursday Next (great name) will be returning with further adventures. Fforde could have used this and future works to gradually grow his characters and give us time to appreciate them. Instead we're bombarded with the new and exciting in every chapter.
I hope we will see more of Thursday but with some villians who are more than cardboard cutouts.
Rating: 
Summary: Great idea, too focused on plot.
Review: Wonderful story and utterly imaginative. But I wouldn't have minded more characterization and less focus on moving along the plot. Fforde's ideas are so original and impressive that I wanted time to take all of it in, to really explore the alternate world he creates. I wanted to get to know the characters and the landscape initmately, rather than know just enough information to keep the story going. I found this difficult to do, since ideas were thrown out quickly in order to keep the plot progressing. "The Eyre Affair" is original and intriguing - I wanted even more than what Fforde allowed me to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing- a literary parallel universe!
Review: Imagine a world where stealing a line from a famous author can land you in jail. Picture a place that considers stealing manuscripts from famous literary works as the most heinous crime one can commit. In "The Eyre Affair", Jasper Fforde has created this sort of literary parallel universe where there is a special police unit that specifically handles plagerism and other crimes of literature- "LiteraTech", it's called. Enter Special OPs agent Thursday Next, who's expertise of the written word, and her yet-to-be captured archnemesis Acheron Hades, lands her smack in the middle of a special assignment- who stole the "Chuzzlewit" manuscript? Thursday has her suspicions, but has no idea what she's getting herself into. In a place where there exists a group known as "Baconians" (who go door to door offering brochures to support the theory that Frances Bacon, not Will Shakespeare, penned all those famous sonnets and plays), and where you can get stuck in a "time aggregation" (caught outside the "herenow"- 60 years can be added to your life in less than a minute), anything can happen.
This is fantastical fiction at it's best. Each chapter begins with a quote from some ficticious piece of work (such as "Thursday Next- A Biography" and "Degeneracy for Pleasure and Profit" by Acheron Hades)that gives an extra-added flavor to Fforde's genius work. You'll want to reread this once you're finished (and perhaps find out how you, too, can be the proud owner of a pet dodo bird!). Pass this gem on to your friends- a superb blend of mystery, irony, and even a little bit Sci-Fi, it's too much fun not to share.
Rating:
Summary: So good it made me write my first amazon review ever
Review: The most enjoyable book I have read in recent memory. I could not put the book down. When it ended I wanted more - I can't wait for the next of the series to be released.Don't read this book to have any of life's questions answered, read this book for the joy of reading. I have never written a review before and it is testamount to the book that I have taken the time. Throw this novel into your cart - you will not regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Different, and fun.
Review: Certainly, I haven't read a book like this in some time. It's the kind of book that you give to your friends and say, "Hey, why don't ya check this out?"
I wanted a change of pace, something outside of my normal reading habits. Instead of reading psychological suspense thrillers, Oprah Book Club Picks, Pen/Faulkner award winners, National Book...you get the idea, I wanted to step outside the box. (I was also reading some fluff too, but don't tell anyone.) I happened upon this book, and didn't want to let go. I read it in a week, and was so happy with the creativity that I visited the web sites that go along with the book. The whole experience made reading fun, and I will be looking forward to the next Thursday Next novel.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Entertaining Read I've Read -- Ever -- Period
Review: Fforde has packed everything but the kitchen sink into this mystery/thriller/fantasy/caper/whatchmacallit, and it works like gangbusters. Time-travel, mad inventions, literary allusions, camp characters, romance, vampire hunters, Jane Eyre, and a really, really great car. It's all over way too fast. You just gotta love it!
Rating:
Summary: Go read this fab book!
Review: This is a great book that I wanted to read again as soon as I had finished! Once you start on the adventure it is very difficult to leave and I just wanted to keep on reading and reading.
I loved the characters - not only the fab Thursday Next and her pet dodo but also suppporting roles like Bowden Cable, Braxton Hicks, Felix8, the wonderfully evil Acheron Hades and of course Mr Edward Rochester. The whole story is a funny and clever mix of our world and a world of books and literature, with plenty of hilarious jokes, some illuminating ideas and a whole lot of fun. I found myself laughing out loud at times and giggling to myself at others. The author loves to play with words and names and great fun can be had spotting the gags and allusions. There are also, should you wish to see them, some serious undertones but they seem to be there for your own interpretation.
If you like adventure, literature, inspiration, humour, Shakespeare, dodos, Dickens, Wordsworth, prose portals, theatre, the Crimean war, films, cars, airships, detectives, Swindon, Bronte, books, inspiration and fun - then you should read this!
Rating: 
Summary: Oh Dear.
Review: I bought this book on the strength of the many-starred reviews on it's cover; reviews from the NY review of Books, the Washington post, et al.
I'm still waiting for the 'verve', 'quirky charm' and 'clever wordplay' to emerge. Admittedly, the premise is clever; the alternate universe with details such as the Hyperbookworms, ChronoGuards and the biblio-centric society well thought out, but the prose is pedestrian in the extreme (as one other reviewer wrote, it's of the 'I did this, the he did that.....' style). And the witty word play? A character named Jack Schitt? Not funny the first time, and after the two-hundredth mention of Mr. Schitt, I felt like screaming. (I did giggle at a few of the names though, like 'Millon De Floss', but it's hardly subtle is it?) So, excellent ideas, shame about the writing. I should mention that I did finish it - and will probably take the rest of the series out on loan from the library.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best
Review: The Eyre Affair is a brilliant masterpiece that ranks up with its counterpart, Jane Eyre, as well as Harry Potter and David Copperfield. The style is so clever, the wordplay genius, the plot terrifying, captivating, and original. With wit and originality, Jasper Fforde was able to create a surreal yesterday.
The story follows Thursday Next, who lives in a 1980's England with a regenerated dodo (without wings) and works as a LiteraTec (one who helps to maintain books, particularly old manuscripts of novels/plays by Chalres Dickens and Shakespeare) in SpecOps (divided into thirty or so divisions, it is more or less the police force). She is a thirty-something veterean from the Crimea War, an ongoing battle between England and Russia, who had lost her brother in that war, and something more. Living in a world where time travel is possible (her father was in ChronoGuard, a SpecOps division, and is now rogue, bouncing throughout time to visit Thursday every once in a while), mammoths migrate, and werewolfs hunt down vampires, Thursday also has to deal with the antagonist, Acheron Hades.
An unprincipled villian, Hades nabs Thursday's uncle and aunt, steals the original Martin Chuzzlewhit manuscript, and, with Thursday's uncle's help, kills a minor character in that novel. Insistent upon wreaking havoc simply because he can, Hades then decides to kill Jane Eyre herself, completely remove her from the original manuscript, and thus from every copy of the book worldwide. It is up to Thursday to stop him.
This book has something for everyone. Scifi and fantasy, mystery, romance, and some portions of history, the writing and creativity makes this book a must have. The story begins by simply thrusting you into the world, so you have to continue with it for a few chapters, and not make your decision after the first two pages. A captivating read and particularly well-researched on the Jane Eyre parts.
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