"Wonderful!" mumbled the bookworms.
Customer Rating: 
Reader, I loved it. I was sick in bed when I read it and I spent a whole flu-sodden day obsessively reading it, and I was so so sorry when it was over. I was also sorry that the alternate universe didn't really insist because I wanted to go to the Rocky-Horror style showings of Richard the III. Most of all, I wanted to walk around in Jane Eyre.
I really had my doubts about Jasper Fforde. Some of my friends really loved his Thursday Next novels. Some of my friends write sermons of irritation about his Thursday Next novels. I rather dimly thought that I would find them too precious, but I have to stress that I did not really know what the books were about.
What is it about? Well. The Crimean War is still raging in 1980s England. A disaffected book detective gets a message from her future self that leads her into an evil plot to attack beloved national classic literature. True love is at risk. Japanese tour guides lead trips into major Victorian novels. Nothing that I can tell you about the plot is really going to do the book justice. My advice would be that if you plan to read it, relax and do not worry too much about what is going on. Just read, and see what happens.
I really enjoyed The Eyre Affair but I am guessing that this book may not be for everyone. It requires a tolerance for broad pop culture puns that involve literary allusions. If you're easily tripped up by the details, you won't like this as much as I did-- I closed my eyes and let the energy carry me. I suspect that if I stopped too long to think about the all the details, then some of it would fall quite flat. Finally, I get the feeling that many pick this up imagining one of these Jane Austen sequel-type books or a literary cozy detective novel. Nothing could be further from the truth.
So who is the ideal audience? A bookish middle-aged fangirl with a sweet tooth for classic literature, science fiction and the movies and who can laugh at any good literary cliche if you spice it up with werewolves. In other words-- me. Your mileage may vary. Give it a try and see for yourself.
This book is even better than you may have heard!!!
Customer Rating: I read this book in 2003 when it first came out and was just mesmerized by such a fresh voice and one so bold and confident in a first time novelist. Suffice it to say that I have read all of Jasper Fforde's works and now, having reread this wonderful book I finally get around to a review!
What you need to know is that you are in the hands of a maestro, a master of the ink and quill. If you are not sure you will like the book's premise or you find it too childlike or unbelievable - read this book anyway and be prepared for Mr. Fforde to take you on a journey into a world that you never knew existed and after having discovered it, you will be in no doubt as to its veracity.
To say that this book is a comedy is to mislabel it for it is so much more. It is a drama and a suspense, a fantasy and a sci-fi. Indeed I would say that The Eyre Affair is genre busting novel and well worth your time and money.
Try it, you can't possibly be disappointed, in all the thousands of books that I have read, Jasper Fforde is the freshest voice that I have read in at least a decade.
