Rating: 2 stars
Cover synopsis: Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality, and literature is taken very, very seriously. When someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature, it's up to Special Operative Thursday Next to track down the villain and enter a novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide.
The synopsis of this book sounds pretty silly. But it got rave reviews and was a New York Times Bestseller. The Wall Street Journal calls it "Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer" rolled into one. How could I resist?
Turns out, it is as silly as the synopsis. It was really unbelievable. People are time traveling, cloning and popping in and out of books for no apparent reason. Then Fforde throws in vampires, werewolves, bullet-proof villains and mad scientists. Really? With each turn of the page my eye-rolling got bigger. I'm all for creativity, but this was downright outlandish.
I did, however, enjoy the storyline of Thursday's lost love, and how she helps reconcile Jane Eyre. Though, it's worth noting that the book may be called "The Eyre Affair," but Bronte's novel doesn't even come into play until chapter 27 -- page 264. Sigh.
