The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 11, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery, time-travel, alternate-planes-and-histories

This had been on my TBR list for a while; I finally read it as part of the popsugar 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge, first book by a popular author. I'm not sure exactly how popular Fforde is, but ... Close enough?

This book is quirky in a way that I was completely not expecting. What I expected: a detective interacts with Jane Eyre in an off-kilter investigation. And while that does happen, that's not the quirky part. The quirky part is that all these odd things are going on and mostly being tre This had been on my TBR list for a while; I finally read it as part of the popsugar 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge, first book by a popular author. I'm not sure exactly how popular Fforde is, but ... Close enough?

This book is quirky in a way that I was completely not expecting. What I expected: a detective interacts with Jane Eyre in an off-kilter investigation. And while that does happen, that's not the quirky part. The quirky part is that all these odd things are going on and mostly being treated as totally unsurprising, even normal. I expected silliness, along the lines of a Mother Goose mystery I read to my kids once. And okay, one guy is named Jack Schitt, so I guess it's silly, but in a very dry way.

The central conceit, which is very subtle, is that this is an alternate universe, where many many little things are different, leading to some big differences. I appreciated the subtlety, and found it very charming and appealing. (view spoiler)

What kept me from really loving this book was the odd remove the characters seem to feel from the events unfolding. The characters were in grave danger, but kept a very British stiff upper lip throughout. "It'll be a doddle." Their apparent lack of concern left me feeling less than engaged.

An odd little quirk, which would set me off balance each time, was the occassional mention of the religion, "GSD.". For me, GSD has a very definite meaning, which is German Shepherd Dog. In this book, it means Global Standard Deity, the one meaningless and ridiculous religion that has overtaken and absorbed all other religions. Now, I'm fine with treating religion as ridiculous, but I'm not sure if Mr Fforde intended this particular confusion.

I will definitely read more from this series someday, but it's not at the top of my list. ...more

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Aug 04, 2009 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, audio

Finally! I'm finished with this book! I felt like it took FOREVER. This was partly because I was listening to it on audio while I did housework--but also because I've discovered that books only take me forever to finish if I don't like them. When I do enjoy the books, like Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days, I speed right through it. This was not Book of a Thousand Days. Not even close. I didn't enjoy the vast majority of it, despite literary and historical references galore and lots of not- Finally! I'm finished with this book! I felt like it took FOREVER. This was partly because I was listening to it on audio while I did housework--but also because I've discovered that books only take me forever to finish if I don't like them. When I do enjoy the books, like Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days, I speed right through it. This was not Book of a Thousand Days. Not even close. I didn't enjoy the vast majority of it, despite literary and historical references galore and lots of not-so-subtle criticisms of the military industrial complex, its interrelationship with the government, and how those relationships leads to violence and injustice almost inevitably. It just wasn't enough to salvage the book for me.
I'm honestly not sure why I ever thought I would enjoy this book. Maybe it was a recommendation from a friend, and/or I liked the idea of constant literary references. I do not like time travel concepts, and it turns out I don't like stories that mess with classic works of literature; if I had realized exactly how much of this book involved those elements, I probably wouldn't have read it in the first place.
Thursday herself wasn't bad, although the Jerry Springer Show-esque drama with Landon and Daisy got really old really fast. Up til then, I'd respected Thursday, at least, as a competent agent and decent person. But the continual drama and petty inconsistent behavior she developed whenever he was around was annoying, and didn't necessarily fit well with the rest of her behavior. Frankly, I preferred two other male characters in the book to Landon: her partner, whose name I can't remember (Yes, the book is that memorable.) or Spike, the paranormal agent. They both seemed like fun, decent guys and way more interesting than an old fiance who'd dimed out her dead brother.
Also, the literary references ended up being less fun than I expected. A world that is more obsessed with literary characters than our current world is with Hollywood and musical celebrities and professional athletes? The idea sounds like a breath of fresh air. In reality, militant Baconians, the constant debating over the true author of Shakespeare's works, constant productions of Shakespeare plays, huge tourism industries based around original literature manuscripts, etc--it all got really old really fast, and started to feel cutesy and cloying and annoying.
The book felt very dated. I know it was set in the 1980s, in an alternate UK, but the technology referenced definitely dated the book. And some of the futuristic technology mentioned throughout the story seemed distracting and not germane to the plot (pet dodos? for real?) The villain was over the top--almost a spoof of a really evil villain. And I hated how, after half the book written from Thursday's perspective, suddenly chapters were written from Mycroft's or other perspectives. The quotations at the beginning of each chapter from various characters from the story could be equally confusing, at least in audio format.
I could keep on grumbling, but I won't. I don't necessarily think that this was a poorly written book. It was just not a good book for me. I doubt I'd ever willingly read anything by this author again.

This review is also available at Once A Week Or More ...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Julianne Dunn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-friends-recommendations

Read this originally in 2011 as a book.

Recommended by Laura Megivern #2014ReadingChallenge - reading as a Kindle in 2016

While in Belize, I re-read "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde, recommended by Laura Megivern for my ‪#‎2014ReadingChallenge‬. This was already one of my favorite books so it was fun to jump into it again. Based in a slightly different version of today, there are time agents, vampires, and people who can change other's perception of them. But most importantly, the line between b ...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Amy Richard marked it as to-read

This is an amazing book so far. The premise is just so....literary. IT makes those of us who do become part of the books we read, feel almost vindicated for feeling that way. I would suggest this to anyone who feels that they've lost their love of books or just someone who wants to be reminded of just how fun books can be. ...more

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Jan 06, 2017 Corina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, around-the-year-in-52-books, ultimate-popsugar-reading-challenge

"The Eyre Affair" A really interesting book with a touch of humour now and then... Lots of literary references. Not my favourite, but I liked reading it. ...more

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