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: Am I the only one defensive about what he did with Eyre?
Review: As a fan of Jane Eyre, I was looking forward to this book. I found the concept very interesting and delightful. I would love to live in a world where literature held such value. However, the book was a bit too long. I think he took a while getting to the thick of the story. I don't think there was enough character development, and the villainous characters were almost too hokey to be taken too seriously. But I was SO UPSET over Fforde's treatment of Jane Eyre. Are we Bronte lovers really supposed to grasp his notion that Charlotte Bronte herself would not have written the ending of Jane Eyre as she had and that a rather unsatisfying ending was her initial intention? Are we really supposed to be satisfied with the turn of the events for Jane and Rochester being brought about the way he described? I didn't find it amusing at all. I found the ending painful to read! It pretty much ruined the rest of the book for me, even though there was much about it that I initially liked. It's like eating a new, delightful dessert, only to get an aftertaste of rotten eggs at the end. If you LOVE Jane Eyre, I would prepare myself before reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A literature lover's dream!!!
Review: I read Jane Eyre recently, so I had to see what all the fuss was about in regards to The Eyre Affair. My online book discussion groups have been buzzing about it for ages, and I finally understand all the buzz! Jasper Fforde has written a laugh-out-loud romp through an alternative Britain where fanatical groups form around various writers such as Milton, Bacon, and Shakespeare, time travel is possible, and the extinct Dodo bird is the pet of choice. Thursday Next is our female hero whose job it is to track and destroy the evil Acheron Hades before he murders some of literature's most valued characters. Fforde works in a lot of sly jokes through unusual names (Braxton Hicks, Millon da Floss), and the abundant literary allusions are enough to delight any book lover. Even if you haven't read all of the works cited in the book (Richard III, Jane Eyre, Martin Chuzzlewit to name a few) there's still plenty for you to enjoy. Fforde has written a delightful mystery for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: An Affair to Remember
Review: 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.
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