The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

Published by Penguin Books: London, England, 2003 (2001).

The quote on the cover of this book compares it to Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I get mostly reminded of Terry Pratchett and Discworld. It is bizarre but humorous, full of wordplay and plot diversions; a world where seemingly anything goes. A world where the protagonist's fugitive time-travelling father will pause time and show up mid-scene in order to query his daughter - literary detective Thursday Next - about whether bananas exist in her version of reality or not. A world where characters from classic fiction are beginning to cross over into 'the real world' and vice versa. A world where vampires and werewolves exist, but its not the main thrust of the plot at all. A world where cloned dodos are now so common as to be a bit of a pest. A world where literature is so popular that the audience is able to perform entire Shakespearean plays from memory at sold-out venues.

It's very weird.

It's a lot of fun.

Thursday Next is promoted to help capture a wanted criminal, Acheron Hades, whom she was once the student of when he taught at a university. Hades has many bizarre powers including mind control and not showing up on film, but Thursday seems to have some immunity to this. Hades has stolen the original manuscript for the Charles Dickens novel Martin Chuzzlewit, and is planning something sinister and currently unknown. Hades has also kidnapped Thursday's aunt and uncle, making this a more personal mission for Thursday. 

Knowing classic literature like Martin Chuzzlewit and Jane Eyre does help the understanding of the book plot, but not having (yet) read Jane Eyre didn't hold me back too much.

The Eyre Affair does have a little more language in it than many books I read, but not to a distracting level.

A world I will probably revisit.

Completed 26 October 2021.



(Alphabet Soup Books)


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