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The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel Audiobook
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(3.00) - 54,887 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
The first in a series of outlandishly clever adventures featuring the resourceful, fearless literary detective Thursday Next—a New York Times bestseller!In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy—enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel—unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.
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"This book is pure fun. As others have pointed out , it takes a few pages to get really interesting, but at a certain point it becomes real good business. The alternative world where Richard III is performed by actors chosen from the public itself, who knows the play by heart, talking street machines recite Shakespeare, Baconians knock on your door instead of Jehovah's witnesses, and there are Expressionist and Romantic Street gangs, is only part of the fun. The villiain in this book, Acheron Hades, is also brilliant- with his silly minions and his huge ego, is at the same time cartoonish and sinister. Looking forward to reading more books in this series."
— Rozonda (4 out of 5 stars)
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“Jasper Fforde’s first novel, The Eyre Affair, is a spirited sendup of genre fiction—it’s part hardboiled mystery, part time-machine caper—that features a sassy, well-read ‘Special Operative in literary detection’ named Thursday Next, who will put you more in mind of Bridget Jones than Miss Marple. Fforde delivers almost every sentence with a sly wink, and he’s got an easy way with wordplay, trivia, and inside jokes…Fforde’s verve is rarely less than infectious.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion, and biblio-wit, The Eyre Affair combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but its quirky charm is all its own.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Neatly delivers alternate history, Monty Python-esque comedy skits, Grand Guignol super villains, thwarted lovers, po-mo intertextuality, political commentary, time travel, vampires, absent-minded inventors, a hard-boiled narrator, and lots, lots more…Suspend your disbelief, find a quiet corner and just surrender to the storytelling voice of the unstoppable, ever-resourceful Thursday Next.”
— Washington Post -
“[The Eyre Affair] is a blend of suspense and silliness, two parts fantasy (think Alice in Wonderland meets Superman), two parts absurdity (think Carl Hiaasen) and one part mystery (Agatha Christie meets Sue Grafton).”
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch -
“Fforde’s imaginative novel will satiate readers looking for a Harry Potter-esque tale…The Eyre Affair’s literary wonderland recalls Douglas Adams’s Hitchhikers series, the works of Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen’s The Kugelmass Episode.”
— USA Today -
“Neatly delivers alternate history, Monty Pythonesque comedy skits, Grand Guignol supervillains, thwarted lovers, po-mo intertextuality, political commentary, time travel, vampires, absent-minded inventors, a hard-boiled narrator, and lots, lots more. . . . Suspend your disbelief, find a quiet corner and just surrender to the storytelling voice of the unstoppable, ever-resourceful Thursday Next.
— The Washington Post -
Fforde’s imaginative novel will satiate readers looking for a Harry Potter-esque tale. . . . The Eyre Affair’s literary wonderland recalls Douglas Adams’s Hitchhikers series, the works of Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen’s The Kugelmass Episode.
— USA Today -
[Thursday Next is] part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew, and part Dirty Harry.
— Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times -
Delightfully clever . . . Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit, The Eyre Affair combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but its quirky charm is all its own.
— The Wall Street Journal -
Jasper Fforde’s first novel, The Eyre Affair, is a spirited sendup of genre fiction—it’s part hardboiled mystery, part time-machine caper—that features a sassy, well-read ‘Special Operative in literary detection’ named Thursday Next, who will put you more in mind of Bridget Jones than Miss Marple. Fforde delivers almost every sentence with a sly wink, and he’s got an easy way with wordplay, trivia, and inside jokes. . . . Fforde’s verve is rarely less than infectious.
— The New York Times Book Review -
Jasper Fforde’s genre-busting, whoppingly imaginative first novel, The Eyre Affair, is packed with literary allusions . . . .Thanks to Fforde’s terrific imagination, this definitely will not be the winter of our discontent.
— The Miami Herald -
For sheer inventiveness his book is hard to beat. The Eyre Affair is an exuberant mélange of crime, comedy and alternative history.
— Houston Chronicle -
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde could hardly be more delightful. . . . It takes a bold adventurer to play fast and loose with literature, and that’s what we have in Thursday Next and Fforde.
— Newsday -
[Fforde] delivers multiple plot twists, rampant literary references and streams of wild metafictional invention in a novel that places literature at the center of the pop-cultural universe. . . . It all adds up to a brainy, cheerfully twisted adventure.
— Time Out New York -
A blend of suspense and silliness, two parts fantasy (think Alice in Wonderland meet Superman), two parts absurdity (anything by Carl Hiaasen) and one part mystery (Agatha Christie meets Sue Grafton).
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch -
Her name is Next. Thursday Next. And her story is as amusing and intriguing as the summary of her story told within the pages of The Eyre Affair. Next is a literary detective in a world so enamored with the written world that Shakespeare’s Richard III is staged nightly as if it were The Rocky Horror Picture Show . . . . The novel’s writing flows and the imaginative twists and turns in Next’s world are handled smoothly.
— Sun-Sentinel
Awards
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Winner of a 2003 YALSA Alex Award
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A New York Times bestseller
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Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
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Nominated for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award
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A 2006 Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee
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A 2003 Dilys Award Nominee
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A 2002 Locus Award Nominee
The Eyre Affair Listener Reviews
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" Odd - but once you get past the basic premise it is not bad... "
— Adrian, 2/7/2014 -
" HATED this book. Was intrigued by the premise, but towards the middle realized it was horribly written and I couldn't wait to be done with it. Again, HATED IT. "
— Shyanna, 1/28/2014 -
" Summertime. What else can I say in my defense? "
— Janice, 1/22/2014 -
" This is one of the most creatively written books I have ever read. "
— Jenn, 1/17/2014 -
" Great humor, clever connections to literary works. Well worth a read. "
— Fred, 1/11/2014 -
" After 60 pages this title did nothing for me. I'm not a Jane Eyre fan and don't care whether she marries Rochester or not. Unique plot and some unexpected twists that may keep others reading. Fforde's word skill was adequate enough that I may try his book Shades of Grey in the future. "
— Tom, 1/4/2014 -
" Loved it. Up there with Terry Pratchitt and Robert Asprin. "
— Katie, 12/30/2013 -
" A good bit of fun. More fun if you've read the books they've discussed. Not a great book, but good for its genre, and it executes well the sort of alternative universe where it takes place, which cannot be said for all books who attempt this. "
— Lynda, 12/28/2013 -
" This is my favorite series. I love Jasper Fforde. "
— Diette, 12/15/2013 -
" After a few chapters of this book I thought I might die, so I stopped reading. Perhaps I missed something life-changing, but I'm willing to risk that I didn't. "
— Andi, 11/30/2013 -
" I'm conflicted. It was really fun, clever, I gobbled it right up -- but I agree with the other reviewers that the characters lacked heart. "
— Katie, 4/23/2013 -
" A great and interesting read! Definitely not to be taken too seriously, but fun. "
— Anna, 1/11/2013 -
" Clever, funny and an easyish read. Will read more by the same. "
— Adrian, 11/25/2012 -
" Made me appreciate all my high school english classes. "
— Jennifer, 9/14/2012 -
" a very fun book. perfect to bring to the beach. "
— Hershey, 9/3/2012 -
" Finally read this book. On to the next in the series? Perhaps! "
— Jeff, 6/15/2012 -
" Cool series for litatery fans - travel through other famous novels and frames the world itself as beign set in a literary rality. Fun and intellectual. "
— Dawn, 1/19/2012 -
" After inadvertently jumping into this series at Book 7 (The Woman Who Died A Lot), I started back here at the beginning. I liked this one a lot - funny, clever, intelligent. 5 more to go! "
— Ben, 11/2/2011 -
" Cute - though for a book that wallows in English literature jokes, it's surprising how awfully it is written. Good gift for former English majors and a nice way to pass an afternoon, but little more. "
— Toby, 10/31/2011 -
" The one that started it all! Considering I'm still devouring every word Mr. Fforde has written since then, you could say I liked it. You could even say I loved it. ;) If you haven't yet had the pleasure of discovering the joy that is Jasper Fforde, then do yourself a favour and read him! "
— Christina, 5/20/2011 -
" A fun read especially if you delight in wordplay. "
— Sheila, 5/20/2011 -
" Got a kick out of this one. Sure, it's silly, but you have to admire an author who can get away with naming an antagonist Jack Schitt.<br/><br/>Over the top with literary allusions and ridiculosity, this one's a keeper. "
— Sean, 5/19/2011 -
" This is a great book. Fantasy, mix-ed up history, wit and charm. It's a wanna-read-all-night book! "
— Rosamond, 5/16/2011 -
" I'm going to read this for the mystery book discussion group I participate in at BookPeople here in Austin. <br/>I've read one or two of this author's books - he's pretty clever. "
— Scott, 5/15/2011 -
" You will never look at Jane Eyre the same again after reading this amazing book! "
— T&C, 5/12/2011 -
" Interesting enough book, but not interesting enough to read the entire series. The author tried to cover too many plots, literary references and relationships. And the time jumping bit left too much unexplained. <br/> <br/>That said, it did keep me involved in the story. "
— Julie, 5/10/2011 -
" All of the Thursday Next books were great! Bit off the wall, but thoroughly enjoyed them. Hoping Jasper Fforde will continue the series. "
— Lori, 5/10/2011
About Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring vacantly out the window and arranging words on a page. He is the author of the Nursery Crime and Thursday Next series.
About Susan Duerden
Susan Duerden is an actress and an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. Her reading of The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht earned her an AudioFile Best Voice Award and a Booklist Editors’ Choice Award. She has won ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. Here career spans film, television, theater, voice-overs, and animation. She has played critically acclaimed and award-winning theatrical roles on London’s West End and Off Broadway; acted in the features Lovewrecked and Flushed Away; and held a recurring role on ABC’s Lost.