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Loading... The Big Over Easyby Jasper Fforde
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. first line: "It was the week following Easter in Reading, and no one could remember the last sunny day." This is a tongue-in-cheek whodunnit by the author of the Thursday Next series (The Eyre Affair, et al.). Fforde's a funny-punny writer, but I find I have to be in the right mood for him. My first experience with Jasper Fforde. What an introduction! I really enjoyed the mystery, the characters of Sprat and Mary(Mary), and the surreal landscape of the story environment. I love the juxtaposition of childhood figures and gritty-city crime. I loved the word play and the sly references to fairy tales an nursery rhymes outside the main story. A surreal book following DS Mary Mary and DI Jack Spratt in their investigations of the suspicious death of troubled egg Humperdinck 'Humpty' Van Dumpty. They work in the ailing Nursery Crime Division of the Oxford and Reading police force, a laughing stock to other officers. Now they must solve this eggy crime to keep the division from being disbanded and the sickeningly charming Friedland Chymes from taking all the glory yet again. It sounds mad, and the strange appearance of nursery characters and aliens alongside the human characters does take a few chapters to get used to, but the strange thing is... this really works! It's like a combination of Shrek and CSI - a real murder mystery but with an intelligent and amusing strand of fairytale mockery woven through the whole thing. The three pigs have just been found not guilty of the murder of Mr Wolff (boiled to death when he came down their chimney), and an alien called Ashley (like us but blue) is working in the NCD trying to adjust to his strange human colleagues. It's funny, it's very clever, and it's well worth a read. I'm looking forward to the Thursday Next novels now! I have to say I was very hesitant to read this book. I adore Fforde's Thursday Next world and couldn't imagine anything would compare. I have to say I was correct in the way that this is not the same. But different is good. Once again his odd wit tickled my funny bone. And I loved every last word. 0.040 seconds to build listing no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0143037234, Paperback)Jasper Fforde does it again with a dazzling new series starring Inspector Jack Spratt, head of the Nursery Crime DivisionJasper Fforde’s bestselling Thursday Next series has delighted readers of every genre with its literary derring-do and brilliant flights of fancy. In The Big Over Easy, Fforde takes a break from classic literature and tumbles into the seedy underbelly of nursery crime. Meet Inspector Jack Spratt, family man and head of the Nursery Crime Division. He’s investigating the murder of ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Dumpty, found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Yes, the big egg is down, and all those brittle pieces sitting in the morgue point to foul play. BACKCOVER: “A wonderfully readable riot . . . [A] cleverly plotted, magically overstuffed yet amazingly digestible book . . . This summer’s perfect beach read for eggheads.” —The Wall Street Journal “As if the Marx brothers were let loose in the children’s section of a strange bookstore.” —USA Today “Pythonesque . . . Like the Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books, this one is abundantly playful without being truly geared for children. Anyone who has ever been read a nursery rhyme . . . can appreciate Mr. Fforde’s outlandish joking.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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It took a few chapters to acclimate to Fforde's created world but the story was quite interesting and I'm rather glad I finally decided to read this one. I don't think this is a series for everyone because it's a bit far-fetched and silly but at the same time it's hilarious and imaginative. Just like the Thursday Next series, this is definitely something different than anything you've read before.
http://webereading.com/2009/07/it-was... (