The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

 

Publication Date: July 19th, 2001

Read: March 31st - April 4th

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

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This book was...very weird. And I truly wish I could say that with more enthusiasm.

The Eyre Affair kind of bills itself as the story of what happens when Jane Eyre is kidnapped out of her titular novel. You would think if that's the inciting incident, we would see it happen before the first 20%, right? But no. It's not the inciting incident and it does not happen quickly. Instead, Jane Eyre is not kidnapped until right around page 300. It almost feels like a spoiler that she gets kidnapped in the first place, given how late in the game it happens.

As for the first 300 pages, some of them lay groundwork for the eventual kidnapping, but a lot of them are spent establishing a world and characters I really struggled to care about. This book is set in an alternate-universe version of the UK in the 1980s where the Crimean war has lasted for a century, people go door-to-door arguing their theories of Shakespeare's true identity, and dodos have been successfully cloned out of extinction and are now kept as pets. This is for the most part, all very quirky, which is fine, except this book is also very...bring your own whimsy. I really didn't expect to have to bring any whimsy of my own to this book, so this was a pretty strange reading experience for me. These quirky worldbuilding concepts keep being introduced, but all of the characters are very disillusioned and unimpressed with them, which simply left me unimpressed as well.

Additionally, another thing that kept me from having an emotional entry point into this book is that I did not enjoy Thursday as a character. I can admit that it's an interesting choice to write a very archetypically male type of character (grizzled, hyper-competent, emotionally-constipated war veteran that everyone's kind of obsessed with) as a woman, but unfortunately...I still just did not like Thursday. And it's not that I needed her to be likable, but I needed to care just a little bit about if she lived or died. And alas. I did not really. If she had died and been replaced by any other Literatec operative, I would have just shrugged.

It also doesn't help that pretty much every other woman character in this book feels stereotypical or flat. And the random fatphobia directed at Thursday's mother and aunt in the middle of the book was an uncomfortable reminder of the fact that this book was published in 2001.

Plus the villain was boring and one-dimensional and the random vampire side quest was...random.

Oh, and also! I have read Jane Eyre. I've noticed a lot of reviewers mention whether or not they previously read Jane Eyre, so I'll join in with my two cents. Personally, I like that no one can agree whether having read Jane Eyre helps or harms your likelihood of enjoying this book. I think for me it helped a little...sort of. I liked the parts of this book that were set inside the world of Jane Eyre more than the parts that weren't, because I liked reading Jasper Fforde writing Bronte's characters more than I liked reading him write about his own characters. Having read Jane Eyre didn't help me get through the first 300 pages, though.

Also, the way that characters experience books kind of like stage plays that they're constantly acting out reminded me of The Great Good Thing, which is a book I read a lot as a kid. Has anyone else heard of The Great Good Thing? I want to reread it sometime to see if it holds up.

In conclusion! I think The Eyre Affair sets itself up for a lot of instances of mismatched expectations and takes a really long time to find its footing. I think whether or not you can bring your own whimsy and vibe with this quirky-yet-joyless world and somewhat scattered, episodic plot will determine whether you enjoy this book. I largely did not enjoy this book. I considered rounding up my rating to 3 stars because I liked the last ~100 pages more, but I think my utter lack of enjoyment for the majority of the book just leaves me sitting way closer to 2 stars.

I've heard later books in the series are better and do a lot more with the premise of going into books to deal with literary crimes, so there is a small chance I will try at least the second book. But no promises.

Also, this book reminded me of the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, which made me wish I was rereading that series instead of reading this book. If you, like me, did not click with the Eyre Affair but liked the premise, you might like that series. The premise isn't exactly the same, but it has the "main character who is an elite operative traveling between universes/dimensions to solve kind of niche, bookish crimes" aspect. Also, I think the romance in the Invisible Library, while not revolutionary by any means, is WAY better than whatever Thursday and Landen have going on.