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The Eyre Affair (2001)

by Jasper Fforde

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Thursday Next (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
15,803592316 (3.97)3 / 1189
There is another 1985, somewhere in the could-have-been, where dodos are regenerated in home-cloning kits and everyone is disappointed by the ending of Jane Eyre. But in this world there are policemen who can travel across time, a Welsh republic - and a woman called Thursday Next.
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Recently added byTamsinDight, SamwiseJones, Stitchweaver, wendy_m, JFB87, osgmlc, private library
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  1. 432
    Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (Kerian)
    Kerian: If for some reason you read The Eyre Affair without having read Jane Eyre, I definitely recommend it. It will certainly be interesting to read and is a very good book.
  2. 2710
    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (coliemta)
    coliemta: One's more literary and the other more science-fiction-y, but they're both bizarre, hilarious and similar in feel. Most people who like one will enjoy the other.
  3. 162
    Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (flonor)
  4. 145
    Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (sanddancer)
  5. 94
    Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (shallihavemydwarf)
  6. 83
    To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (simon_carr)
    simon_carr: Similar light hearted style and 'book travelling' rather than time travelling but chances are if you like one then you'll like the other.
  7. 50
    Aberystwyth Mon Amour by Malcolm Pryce (ten_floors_up)
    ten_floors_up: This and the other books in the Aberystwyth series share a specifically British alternative universe, and a dollop of entertainingly twisted literary pastiche.
  8. 40
    Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines (TomWaitsTables)
  9. 96
    Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (lauranav)
    lauranav: The Eyre Affair has a great scene of an anger management session in Wuthering Heights!
  10. 41
    The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers (ShelfMonkey)
  11. 20
    Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (SimoneA)
    SimoneA: While one is about travelling through time and the other about travelling through books, the atmosphere of these book (series) is very similar, with a strong female lead and a crazy set of side characters.
  12. 42
    The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (norabelle414)
  13. 10
    The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H. G. Parry (timtom)
    timtom: If you wish more literary characters escaped the pages of their books to mingle in our own contemporary reality, head to Wellington, New Zealand where Dickensian villains might just about destroy everything...
  14. 21
    The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Katie.Loughlin)
    Katie.Loughlin: The two books have very similar flavor, but The Manual of Detection is a darker fantasy novel.
  15. 00
    The Blackouts by Robert Brockway (TomWaitsTables)
  16. 00
    Beforelife by Randal Graham (ShelfMonkey)
  17. 11
    Schrödinger's Ball by Adam Felber (fyrefly98)
  18. 00
    The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith (bonne1978)
  19. 22
    Who's Afraid of Beowulf? by Tom Holt (Dr.Science)
    Dr.Science: The English author Tom Holt is relatively unknown in America, but very popular in England. If you enjoy Jasper Fforde or Christopher Moore you will most certainly enjoy Tom Holt's wry sense of English humor and the absurd. He has written a number of excellent books but they will be difficult to find at your library.… (more)
  20. 11
    The D. Case: Or The Truth About The Mystery Of Edwin Drood by Carlo Fruttero (jonathankws)

(see all 36 recommendations)

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▾Member reviews
English (572)  French (6)  Italian (3)  Spanish (3)  German (3)  Danish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (589)
date ▼ | votes
Showing 1-5 of 572 (next | show all)
While its contemporary fiction... its an alternate reality in 1985.
Enjoyable if you love reading. ( )
  lbrychic | Sep 9, 2023 |
Great fantasy. Fforde makes me believe how books could come alive. ( )
  mykl-s | Aug 7, 2023 |
I'm really not a fan of the absurd, or of puns; I really am not the audience here. It would be much better for fans of Terry Pratchett, which I am sad to say, I am not, not for lack of trying. ( )
  lyrrael | Aug 3, 2023 |
How can one properly describe Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair? A lighthearted novel filled with mystery, suspense, romance, and science fiction, this is a humorous tale of Special Operative Thursday Next (of the literary detection division) who is on the trail of a dangerous criminal, a man who has the ability to pull out characters from literature, risking the very stories booklovers have come to treasure. In a world where the debate of who wrote Shakespeare’s plays is a common argument and time travel is not impossible, Mr. Fforde introduces readers to colorful characters, both real and imagined. Classic booklovers will enjoy the touch of literary humor that Mr. Fforde uses to bring his story to life. Suspension of disbelief is a must when reading this book and easy to do as the reader gets pulled right into the book. The Eyre Affair is an enjoyable book, one I highly recommend to other booklovers who are looking for something different. I look forward to reading more about Thursday Next’s adventures! ( )
  LiteraryFeline | Jun 29, 2023 |
This is a re-read. Probably a re-re-read. One of my favourite books of all time, I guess I read it originally before I joined Goodreads. This reverential and yet irreverent romp through literature is set in an England that is contemporary but different. The Crimean war still rages, people travel long distances in blimps, and people actually read books. Not just read them, but revere them. Thursday Next is the intrepid heroine, defending the integrity of classic literature against Acheron Hades, a villain for all time. The reader (and the heroine) are introduced to the concept of book jumping, in which people and characters can move between their real and fictional worlds. There is very little dead weight here—it is almost uniformly clever, mind-bending and entertaining. Of the many devices at work, my favourite occurs on pages 309-311 of my edition (chapter heading “The People’s Republic of Wales”) in which the bookworms begin “farting out hyphens and ampersands” and “belching out large quantities of unnecessary capitalizations,” and the physical text reflects this phenomenon. It is a little distracting (natch) but so funny that I laugh out loud with every reading. The most significant impact that this book had on me was that I had to go read Jane Eyre after reading this, since I hadn’t read it before and didn’t know which was the real ending. Happily, it is the first in a series. I was going to put my toe in and then go back to original readings, but I might just have to carry on now! ( )
  karenchase | Jun 14, 2023 |
date ▼ | votes
Showing 1-5 of 572 (next | show all)
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▾Published reviews
Fforde wears the marks of his literary forebears proudly on his sleeve, from Lewis Carroll and Wodehouse to Douglas Adams and Monty Python, in both inventiveness and sense of fun.
added by Katya0133 | editYale Review, David Galef (Oct 1, 2008)
 
Fforde delivers almost every sentence with a sly wink, and he's got an easy way with wordplay, trivia and inside jokes. ''The Eyre Affair'' can be too clever by half, and fiction like this is certainly an acquired taste, but Fforde's verve is rarely less than infectious.
added by Shortride | editThe New York Times Book Review, Kera Bolonik (Feb 17, 2002)
 
A good editor might have trimmed away some of the annoying padding of this novel and helped the author to assimilate his heavy borrowings from other artists, but no matter: by the end of the novel, Mr. Fforde has, however belatedly, found his own exuberant voice.
added by Shortride | editThe New York Times, Michiko Kakutani (Feb 12, 2002)
 
THE EYRE AFFAIR is mostly a collection of jokes, conceits and puzzles. It's smart, frisky and sheer catnip for former English majors....And some of the jokes are clever indeed.
added by Shortride | editSalon, Laura Miller (Jan 24, 2002)
 
Dark, funny, complex, and inventive, THE EYRE AFFAIR is a breath of fresh air and easily one of the strongest debuts in years.
added by jburlinson | editLocus, Jonathan Strahan (Aug 1, 2001)
 
▾Other authors

» Add other authors (17 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Fforde, Jasper—primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bussolo, EmilianoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gewurz, Daniele A.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Koen, ViktorCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kruger, GabrielleNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rostant, LarryCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sastre, ElizabethNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stern, LorenzTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thomas, MarkCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
▾Series and work relationships
▾Awards and Honors
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▾Common Knowledge
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
The Eyre Affair
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
2001-07-19
People/Characters
Victor Analogy (Swindon LiteraTecs)
Alexandria Belfridge (Toad News Network)
Boswell (Area Chief)
Bowden Cable
Jane Eyre
Important places
Swindon, England, UK
BookWorld
Wales, UK (People's Republic of Wales)
Russian Empire
Crimea
Important events
Crimean War
Related movies
Awards and honors
Alex Award (2003)
The IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (2002)
Locus Recommended Reading (First Novel, 2001)
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2002)
Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award Nominee (2006)
Epigraph
Dedication
For my father
John Standish Fforde
1920-2000

Who never knew I was to be published but would have been most proud nonetheless
—and not a little surprised.
First words
My father had a face that could stop a clock.
Quotations
The barriers between reality and fiction are softer than we think; a bit like a frozen lake. Hundreds of people can walk across it, but then one evening a thin spot develops and someone falls through; the hole is frozen over by the following morning. (Victor to Thursday)
Governments and fashions come and go but Jane Eyre is for all time.
It was a glorious sunny day, and the airship droned past the small puffy clouds that punctuated the sky like a flock of aerial sheep.
He wore thick glasses and mismatched clothes and his face was a moonscape of healed acne.
"You shot him six times in the face."
The dying killer smiled.
"That I remember."
"Six times! Why?"
Felix7 frowned and started to shiver.
"Six was all I had," he answered simply.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Zylberstein, Jean-Claude
Blurbers
Kakutani, Michiko
Original language
English
Canonical DDC/MDS
823.92
Canonical LCC
PR6106.F67
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Wikipedia in English (2)

▾Book descriptions
There is another 1985, somewhere in the could-have-been, where dodos are regenerated in home-cloning kits and everyone is disappointed by the ending of Jane Eyre. But in this world there are policemen who can travel across time, a Welsh republic - and a woman called Thursday Next.
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WorldCat

Genres

Melvil Decimal System (DDC)

823.92Literature › English & Old English literatures › English fiction › Modern Period › 2000-

LC Classification

PR6106.F67Language and Literature › English › English Literature › 2001-

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Average: (3.97)
0.5 11
1 70
1.5 21
2 220
2.5 57
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