Books by author: Jasper Fforde

[Note to the other obsessive-compulsives out there: this is the 400th book I've read since I started keeping track online on January 1st, 1995. An arbitrary milestone, but a milestone nonetheless.]

Thursday Next is a Special Operative in the LiteraTec division, a literature spook living in an alternate Britain, where time travel is somewhat commonplace, and it's literally (no pun intended) possible to enter the pages of a novel. If it sounds farfetched, it is. The New York Times describes the heroine as "part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew, and part Dirty Harry". Upping the pop culture ante even further, the Wall Street Journal claims that this novel "combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer". USA Today brings in the reference I'm tempted to make: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Although The Eyre Affair does share elements with each of the aforementioned pop culture icons, it isn't quite as good or as interesting as any of them. The narrative stumbles along somewhat for 200 pages (not unlike a Douglas Adams book, but without all of his estimable charm) before really finding its legs for the climax (I greatly enjoyed the last 75 pages). This novel will appeal especially to fans of Jane Eyre, but if, like me, you read the book almost 20 years ago and you barely remember the plot, your fascination level will be moderate at best. Fforde clearly has a potent imagination, but I think he needs a better editor. The Eyre Affair is often amusing, sometimes confusing, and worthwhile as lightweight fantasy with literary references (if not ambitions).