Review The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

[Melanie_Page]

The kidnapping of Jane Eyre from the pages of her own novel is no ordinary crime and Thursday Next, the lead character in Jasper Fforde’s quirky masterpiece, is no ordinary detective.

Welcome to Swindon, England, circa 1985, where the Crimean War is in its one hundred and thirty first year, mastodon migrations are annoyingly commonplace and where an unimaginably evil villain with an unspeakable name is threatening one of Britain’s greatest literary icons.

Thursday Next, war veteran and literary detective is drawn into the case because of her past history with the villain. Hades, who prizes evil for its own sake, is back and a famous Dickens manuscript has disappeared. After a tragic shootout, and a surprise visit from herself, Thursday returns to her hometown and to the man whom she loved and lost a decade earlier. Meanwhile, her genius uncle Mycroft has invented the Prose Portal, a way into books and the megalomaniac Goliath Corporation, represented by bully Jack Schitt, senses profit to be made.

This book is brilliant on a wide range of fronts. The concept is delightfully unique and well executed with a well thought out and intricate plot slowly evolving. If that were all it would be worth reading. The setting is amusing with the juxtaposition of the very innovative and the deliberately mundane. The characters are utterly charming. Many are recognisable stock characters yet they are all fresh and original. Thursday’s mum is laughingly familiar and Jane Eyre’s Mr Rochester is memorable as he reprises his role. The star of the show of course is Thursday who is a well-rounded character; feisty, kick-ass, brilliant and morally upright, she could easily be a cardboard cut-out action figure, Lara Croft in print. Yet she has surprising depth. She still grieves the loss of her brother, killed in the war, and cannot forgive the man who she believed betrayed him. She is utterly dedicated, utterly fearless and surprisingly real.

The real charm of the book however lies in the writing. The Eyre Affair is very cleverly written with fabulous dialogue and witty one liners. From the opening line; “My father had a face that could stop a clock” to “Reader, I married him”, the reader chuckles their way from chapter to chapter. Another feature are the chapter headers, most taken from books written by the characters in the book, a joke within a joke as it were. It is a great story for all readers with an added dimension for those with a literary sense of humour.

I unhesitatingly give this novel four stars out of four. It has it all; the best of an action thriller in a fantasy body with a classic twist. It is funny. It is clever. I have read it at least ten times and have never tired of it. It is the first of a series, most of which are equally good.

I recommend it to those who love Jane Eyre, to Douglas Adams or Python fans everywhere and to everyone who love a wild ride. Lunacy was never so much fun.

[Fran]

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