Time Travel discussion

The Eyre Affair

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. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. Amidst all this, Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude . . .

Hades' real target is the beloved Jane Eyre, and it's not long before he plucks her from the pages of Bronte's novel. Enter Thursday Next. She's the Special Operative's renowned literary detective, and she drives a Porsche. With the help of her uncle Mycroft's Prose Portal, Thursday enters the novel to rescue Jane Eyre from this heinous act of literary homicide. It's tricky business, all these interlopers running about Thornfield, and deceptions run rampant as their paths cross with Jane, Rochester, and Miss Fairfax. Can Thursday save Jane Eyre and Bronte's masterpiece? And what of the Crimean War? Will it ever end? And what about those annoying black holes that pop up now and again, sucking things into time-space voids . . .

Suspenseful and outlandish, absorbing and fun, The Eyre Affair is a caper unlike any other and an introduction to the imagination of a most distinctive writer and his singular fictional universe.

Discussion begins January 1st. Try to keep spoilers behind spoiler tags. Happy reading!

I have recently finished reading this, and my suggestion is to go into it like you would to see an over the top, slapstick comedy-the whole thing is a lot of tongue in cheek fun.

Heather(Gibby) wrote: "I have recently finished reading this, and my suggestion is to go into it like you would to see an over the top, slapstick comedy-the whole thing is a lot of tongue in cheek fun."

I’ve only read one of his books, Shades of Grey, and it had a lot of humor in it. I enjoyed it.

I started last night.

I finished and I enjoyed the book. The book wasn’t really about time travel but had some time travel in it.

Are we the only two who have read it?

I sent for the second book in the series, although I didn't love it, sometimes you need a goofy read in between some heavier reads.

Well, I read it and loved it, but in 2009. I didn't like the next ones in the series near as much and quit before the series was finished.

I read the whole series many years ago. Fforde is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoy his erudition and his sense of humor.

I read it. It was a slow start; the humor kept me going. I enjoyed the ending and have started reading the second book in the multiple book series. He appears to be quite a prolific writer.

I finished The Eyre Affair and enjoyed it. I bought a collection of the complete series. I am on the third book in the series now.

I read The Eyre Affair a year or two after it came out, then the rest of the series as it was released. Really enjoy the way Fforde plays with the visual elements of text, though IIRC, I think that comes out more in the later books (I'm like halfway through my reread of Eyre Affair).