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The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, #1)
by Jasper Fforde
by Jasper Fforde
Cecily's review
bookshelves: humour, overrated, sci-fi-or-futuristic, miscellaneous-fiction
Feb 25, 13
bookshelves: humour, overrated, sci-fi-or-futuristic, miscellaneous-fiction
Read in August, 2010
I didn't enjoy this. It tries too hard to be clever and to cover many different genres (humour, sci fi, horror, detective, literary and more) whilst also being annoyingly silly. After 100 pages I ditched it - something I rarely do.
Thursday Next is a woman who is a literary detective in one of several alternative realities round about now. In hers, the Crimean War is still going. Somehow, in her society, manuscripts are stolen and guns are involved; she also manages to get into books and meet characters in them, though I was never convinced as to why any of it happened.
WHO... WHY...?
I don't understand who this book is written for. You need a love and knowledge of classic literature to know what is our reality and what is an alternative (e.g. whether or not Jane Eyre does marry Rochester), but having those characteristics would seem to me to make one unlikely to enjoy this, though as that is clearly not the case, I am in a minority and evidently missing something.
It has a surprisingly colloquial narrative style for a self-consciously "literary" book; jarring Americanisms (a "parking lot") for a British book; basic grammatical errors (using "flaunt" instead of "flout"); too much exposition is delivered in clichéd ways (e.g. a police interview); ludicrous names (Jack Schitt, Acheron Hades (a baddie), Thursday Next, Victor Analogy, a vampire called Stoker, Edmund Capillary and Landen Park-Laine) and even sillier futuristic inventions (pizza by fax and a 2B pencil with built in spell check).
Anthony Trollope had a penchant for jokey names, but at least he restricted them to minor characters and made up for it in other ways. This book doesn't.
Thursday Next is a woman who is a literary detective in one of several alternative realities round about now. In hers, the Crimean War is still going. Somehow, in her society, manuscripts are stolen and guns are involved; she also manages to get into books and meet characters in them, though I was never convinced as to why any of it happened.
WHO... WHY...?
I don't understand who this book is written for. You need a love and knowledge of classic literature to know what is our reality and what is an alternative (e.g. whether or not Jane Eyre does marry Rochester), but having those characteristics would seem to me to make one unlikely to enjoy this, though as that is clearly not the case, I am in a minority and evidently missing something.
It has a surprisingly colloquial narrative style for a self-consciously "literary" book; jarring Americanisms (a "parking lot") for a British book; basic grammatical errors (using "flaunt" instead of "flout"); too much exposition is delivered in clichéd ways (e.g. a police interview); ludicrous names (Jack Schitt, Acheron Hades (a baddie), Thursday Next, Victor Analogy, a vampire called Stoker, Edmund Capillary and Landen Park-Laine) and even sillier futuristic inventions (pizza by fax and a 2B pencil with built in spell check).
Anthony Trollope had a penchant for jokey names, but at least he restricted them to minor characters and made up for it in other ways. This book doesn't.
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Shawn
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rated it 4 stars
Aug 18, 2010 10:21pm
Such venom! But I can totally understand what you're saying. I had to suspend a lot of belief to enjoy the book, but that's the ride I chose. Thanks for your review.
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I liked the book, more than I thought I would, but I really don't detect any venom in your review. It was pretty standard fare, but with just enough of a twist to keep me reading.
Oh, I'm just saying that a lot of people seem to get off on writing bad reviews - tanking an author until he or she drowns makes them feel good. I didn't detect that in your review, you had well-put reasons for not liking "Eyre". Maybe I'm over-reacting to the over-the-top bad reviews. Why keep reading the book if it's that bad? Too complain about the ending, too, I guess.
This was a holiday read for me, so I didn't object to its tone. I can't remember whether I was left wanting more or better.
I liked the book even before I had read Jane Eyre. I liked the silly whimsical nature of it, that it was so ridiculous. But I also like this review. I'm actually probably one of those people who fit the intended target audience: a 'childlike' individual who also has a love of the literary.
Maybe I need to recapture something of the childlikeness of my youth (I presume I had some them!). I'd have less of a problem with the few YA books I've read in recent years as well.
Ah well many YA novels are mediocre and only liked because they are for children. I'm onto 'childrens literature' in my literature unit on genre and it's fascinating to think about the difference between quality children's literature (which I think can be read by all ages) and the mediocre texts which are mass written for a market that will read almost anything that interests them without caring if it's 'well written.'
A huge gulf, indeed. The best children's books (even picture books for tiny children) have something for adults to enjoy as well, and that must be far harder to achieve than writing a book for a more specific audience such as adult sci-fi.
I think even the best adult books should have some sort of universal appeal. I know that I was able to read and love many classics when I was ten years old and onwards. That's part of the challenge, to write a book that appeals to a set audience and everyone else.
But can ANY book appeal "to a set audience and everyone else"? I suspect not, but that a good book can appeal to its target audience as well as some outside that group. That's more necessary with children's books, where an adult may be reading to, or in parallel, but it can be achieved with adult books as well... though I'm now struggling to think of good examples.
When I say everyone else I do mean it should be possible for a children's lit novel to appeal to 'others' or non-children. I'm against those who frown upon adults reading children's fiction as if its kind of immature to do so. Children's fiction can be very educational as it tends to have a very obvious surface ideology. Adult fiction can be more subtle and sinister in the ideology it promotes.
Yes, it should be possible for an adult to read and enjoy good children's literature, though I find it hard myself. I need a child to share with - even if we're reading separately and just chatting about it every few days. I guess I need to find a way to get in touch with my inner child until such time as I have a grandchild or two (which I hope won't be for a decade or more!).
My grandmother needs the same kind of thing. So if I ever read a YA novel I think she'd like I recommend it to her and we email back and forth about the philosophies and ideas in that book and others.
