The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde is the first of the Thursday Next novels, and it is the novel I have gifted most to people who teach English. I think it is cleverly written and requires one to be well read and know characters from Austen, Dickens, and also understand theme and motivation behind the characters. It also requires death of the author, and the realization that words have a life of their own.
The five books in the series are not all equal. I enjoyed certain characters more than others. For example, I thought the series was most fleshed out, most round, and most touching in the scenes with her Uncle Mycroft (and the thought of him and Sherlock Holmes interacting was delightful!) I also thought that Something Rotten, was probably the strongest of the books, despite it being the zaniest of them because the theme in the book shows that no matter what, at their core, people have goodness inside of them: poetry can move us to find goodness inside ourselves. Words have the power to move us. Beware: Poetry has power. Despite all of the strong points in book four, the most touching ending was at the end of book three, which was the climax of the series, certainly. Her father, who's name is never, ever revealed, is a well rounded, delightful character only seen for literally flashes of time in the book that don't seem to matter, but they are enough to give us comic relief and insight into who he is and how Thursday feels about him.
My very favorite character is Granny Next, and she comprises the best moments of book four. She's the best parts of the series for me. I adore her and she reminds me much of Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett's works. She's all knowing in blue gingham, and I loved her interaction with Thursday.
I did not enjoy the fifth book in the series. I found myself thinking, this is Thursday's future? Really? Wow. Middle age really does bite. I did love her children, and Landon was fantastic. Polly and her mother were still funny and silly, and I even still loved hating Lola Vavoom. Having read everything else Jasper Fforde had written, I expected to be thrilled to be visiting Thursday and her family again in her First Among Sequels, but I was SO DEPRESSED by her life. Read if you must, but if you want my advice? Imagine that her life stopped when you finish Something Rotten, and leave her when her future was amazing. Jasper Fforde has another book coming out in the Thursday Next series in the next year... I'll be reading it.
Recommend if you like Austen. It has strong language in it (She is a police officer). You should have read the classics. You should also understand literary speak like puns, allusion, etc. Much like Terry Pratchett. Would consider it to be like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
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