(Book) The Eyre affair written by Jasper Fforde

I could find only one word to describe this book – rollicking. Its one hell of a ride as you read the book. You need to suspend belief and historical knowledge to really enjoy this immersive world where there are literary detectives, thieves who steal characters right from novels, cops who travel through time and the Crimean war is still on, with ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ playing a major role in the narrative and a world where mobs owing allegiance to different literary characters fight it out with guns blazing

When you look back after you have finished with the novel, you realize that it’s a mish-mash of many genres – fantasy, satire, science fiction, detective, crime, romance and some elements that you cannot quite define, a mish-mash that surprisingly works brilliantly.

You are entertained right from the start, right from when the unbelievable world becomes accessible from the very first page. Its got dollops of humour, crisp dialogues and even crisper action and not for one minute do you get bored. Revelations about this strange but entertaining world come every chapter, keeping you literally turning the pages asking for more. What's more – the core of the story, which is the detective part is based on a solid structure.

And keeping you company all along the way is the quirky, eccentric, lovable Tuesday Next, who as the blurb informs you is without equal, fear or boyfriend!!! She is the literary detective who can swing a mean gun as well when needed. It is her adventure story and she stumbles from one into the next with amazing regularity and each more entertaining than the next, as she unravels and solves a crime that threatens to engulf the world.

Saying more would spoil the fun…just go ahead and read the book. As for me, I am going to hunt for the other Tuesday Next books…

Labels: Books, fantasy, satire, science-fiction

posted by Protik Basu @ 7:06 PM