The Eyre Affair (original 2001; edition 2003)

What is there to say about a book so filled with event? Everything and nothing I guess.

I liked ut, but at the same time disliked it. What I liked was the unusualness of the story. People going in and out of books, characters coming into the real world and going out again.
I'll have to reread Jane Eyre to see what the real ending is, read it too long ago to remember.

What I disliked was, that while reading, it felt like I was reading a children's book from time to time. The biggest dislike, however, is the chaos. So much going on, so many plates to hold, that I had the feeling that a few did not get the attention they should have. For example the personal life of Next and the war. Will not write any more, otherwise I'd spoil the fun for other readers.

Summarizing, I'm a bit disappointed, I had different expectations from this book, but at the moment I'm not able to pinpoint precisely what causes the disappointment. ( )

This is a really quirky book. It's set in England that just a bit different from our reality. Literature is extremely popular. People have pet dodos. The main villain has unexplained superpowers. Not for everyone, but very entertaining. The best time-travel alternate-history literary police detective story you will read. ( )

I was somewhere between three and four stars for this, but I thought I'd be generous. The main problem with it is it's completely obvious that it's the author's first book - some of the writing is clumsy, and the ending is totally rushed and a little too neat. However, there's a lot to love in this book.

I really liked Thursday - she was tough and good at her job and independent, without being a cliche, a robotic-type, or generally lacking in empathy. She made mistakes and she did a bunch of stupid shit, but she was essentially a good person. I don't know why, but too often writers fail to make their female characters seem human - they're either too stereotypically feminine, or to earnest in their struggle against that archetype. Points for that.

The plot is in places cartoonish, but I'm fairly sure that was intentional, given the subject matter. Acheron is a total pantomime baddie, but it fitted perfectly. Books within books and the subject of the thin divide between fantasy and reality - whether played out like it is in this book, or otherwise - is one of my favourite tropes and I really enjoyed the way it played out in this.

Like I said, it has its problems - some storylines are completely dropped (what the hell happened to Spike?) and the ending is a bit too... quick. He could have played out the real-life Jane Eyre parallel a little more subtly, I felt, but it didn't ruin it. Also, knowing that this is the first in a series, it makes sense that some things would be left behind. I AM glad that Forde didn't try to have the romance dragged out over a bunch of books - that will-they/won't-they idea has been done to death, so I guess that makes up for it feeling... rushed?

Overall, it was probably more like 3.5 stars, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and will likely read the next one at some point.


EDIT: Also, for some reason, the idea of having a dodo as a pet, and the noise it makes being "plock-plock" is absolutely adorable. Not entirely sure why. ( )

Primo romanzo con protagonista Thursday Next: siamo in una Inghilterra alternativa, tra gli animali domestici ci sono i dodo (in varie versioni), la guerra di Crimea viene ancora combattuta ed è il 1985.
C'è chi viaggia nel tempo e c'è anche chi riesce a entrare nei libri, purtroppo anche per scopi malvagi.
La protagonista si ritroverà a dover inseguire un super malvagio, a salvare familiari e la sua vita sentimentale e Jane Eyre (personaggio e romanzo).
Il romanzo è divertente, soprattutto una volta prese le misure dell'ambientazione alternativa, anche se forse c'è un po' troppo di tutto con una conseguente dispersione della trama.
Una pecca il titolo un po' fuorviante (il caso Jane Eyre è una parte ma non il tutto), invece sono stupendi i turisti giapponesi e i meccanismi dei romanzi (personaggi che entrano e escono e che si fanno i fatti propri quando non sono in scena). ( )

The Eyre Affair opens in an alternative universe--Great Britain in 1985, where England has been at war with Russia over the Crimea for 130 years, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality and literature is taken very seriously. Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! Enter Thursday Next. She's the Special Ops literary detective, who pursues literary crimes such as forgery, plagiarism, manuscript theft, and the abuse of literary characters. Thursday is put in charge of the investigation, but soon Jane Eyre and Rochester are also involved in the adventure—literally! Usually I love the alternative history, time travel and fantasy genres—but I found this novel to drag on. So much of the book deals with the “set up” of Thursday’s world that I felt that the plot was somewhat thin. However, the end of the book does move along more quickly—and is more satisfying. A 3 out of 5 stars. ( )