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Thursday Next #6
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Fantasy (2011)The newest tour de force from The New York Times bestselling author of Thursday Next and Shades of Grey.
Jasper Fforde's exuberant return to the fantastical BookWorld opens during a time of great unrest. All-out Genre war is rumbling, and the BookWorld desperately needs a heroine like Thursday Next. But with the real Thursday apparently retired to the Realworld, the Council of Genres turns to the written Thursday.
The Council wants her to pretend to be the real Thursday and travel as a peacekeeping emissary to the warring factions. A trip up the mighty Metaphoric River beckons-a trip that will reveal a fiendish plot that threatens the very fabric of the BookWorld itself.
Once again New York Times bestselling author Jasper Fforde has a field day gleefully blending satire, romance, and thriller with literary allusions galore in a fantastic adventure through the landscape of a frisky and fertile imagination. Fans will rejoice that their favorite character in the Fforde universe is back.
Watch a Video
Jasper Fforde's exuberant return to the fantastical BookWorld opens during a time of great unrest. All-out Genre war is rumbling, and the BookWorld desperately needs a heroine like Thursday Next. But with the real Thursday apparently retired to the Realworld, the Council of Genres turns to the written Thursday.
The Council wants her to pretend to be the real Thursday and travel as a peacekeeping emissary to the warring factions. A trip up the mighty Metaphoric River beckons-a trip that will reveal a fiendish plot that threatens the very fabric of the BookWorld itself.
Once again New York Times bestselling author Jasper Fforde has a field day gleefully blending satire, romance, and thriller with literary allusions galore in a fantastic adventure through the landscape of a frisky and fertile imagination. Fans will rejoice that their favorite character in the Fforde universe is back.
Watch a Video
362 pages, Hardcover
First published March 8, 2011
About the author
Jasper Fforde
51 books12.5k followersFforde began his career in the film industry, and for nineteen years held a variety of posts on such movies as Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment. Secretly harbouring a desire to tell his own stories rather than help other people tell their's, Jasper started writing in 1988, and spent eleven years secretly writing novel after novel as he strove to find a style of his own that was a no-mans-land somewhere between the warring factions of Literary and Absurd.
After receiving 76 rejection letters from publishers, Jasper's first novel The Eyre Affair was taken on by Hodder & Stoughton and published in July 2001. Set in 1985 in a world that is similar to our own, but with a few crucial - and bizarre - differences (Wales is a socialist republic, the Crimean War is still ongoing and the most popular pets are home-cloned dodos), The Eyre Affair introduces literary detective named 'Thursday Next'. Thursday's job includes spotting forgeries of Shakespeare's lost plays, mending holes in narrative plot lines, and rescuing characters who have been kidnapped from literary masterpieces.
Luckily for Jasper, the novel garnered dozens of effusive reviews, and received high praise from the press, from booksellers and readers throughout the UK. In the US The Eyre Affair was also an instant hit, entering the New York Times Bestseller List in its first week of publication.
Since then, Jasper has added another six to the Thursday Next series and has also begun a second series that he calls 'Nursery Crime', featuring Jack Spratt of The Nursery Crime Division. In the first book, 'The Big Over Easy', Humpty Dumpty is the victim in a whodunnit, and in the second, 'The Fourth Bear', the Three Bear's connection to Goldilocks disappearance can finally be revealed.
In January 2010 Fforde published 'Shades of Grey', in which a fragmented society struggle to survive in a colour-obsessed post-apocalyptic landscape.
His latest series is for Young Adults and include 'The Last Dragonslayer' (2010), 'Song of the Quarkbeast' (2011) and 'The Eye of Zoltar' (2013). All the books centre around Jennifer Strange, who manages a company of magicians named 'Kazam', and her attempts to keep the noble arts from the clutches of big business and property tycoons.
Jasper's 14th Book, 'Early Riser', a thriller set in a world in which humans have always hibernated, is due out in the UK in August 2018, and in the US in 2019.
Fforde failed his Welsh Nationality Test by erroneously identifying Gavin Henson as a TV chef, but continues to live and work in his adopted nation despite this setback. He has a Welsh wife, two welsh daughters and a welsh dog, who is mad but not because he's Welsh. He has a passion for movies, photographs, and aviation. (Jasper, not the dog)
Series:
* Thursday Next
* Nursery Crime
* Shades of Grey
After receiving 76 rejection letters from publishers, Jasper's first novel The Eyre Affair was taken on by Hodder & Stoughton and published in July 2001. Set in 1985 in a world that is similar to our own, but with a few crucial - and bizarre - differences (Wales is a socialist republic, the Crimean War is still ongoing and the most popular pets are home-cloned dodos), The Eyre Affair introduces literary detective named 'Thursday Next'. Thursday's job includes spotting forgeries of Shakespeare's lost plays, mending holes in narrative plot lines, and rescuing characters who have been kidnapped from literary masterpieces.
Luckily for Jasper, the novel garnered dozens of effusive reviews, and received high praise from the press, from booksellers and readers throughout the UK. In the US The Eyre Affair was also an instant hit, entering the New York Times Bestseller List in its first week of publication.
Since then, Jasper has added another six to the Thursday Next series and has also begun a second series that he calls 'Nursery Crime', featuring Jack Spratt of The Nursery Crime Division. In the first book, 'The Big Over Easy', Humpty Dumpty is the victim in a whodunnit, and in the second, 'The Fourth Bear', the Three Bear's connection to Goldilocks disappearance can finally be revealed.
In January 2010 Fforde published 'Shades of Grey', in which a fragmented society struggle to survive in a colour-obsessed post-apocalyptic landscape.
His latest series is for Young Adults and include 'The Last Dragonslayer' (2010), 'Song of the Quarkbeast' (2011) and 'The Eye of Zoltar' (2013). All the books centre around Jennifer Strange, who manages a company of magicians named 'Kazam', and her attempts to keep the noble arts from the clutches of big business and property tycoons.
Jasper's 14th Book, 'Early Riser', a thriller set in a world in which humans have always hibernated, is due out in the UK in August 2018, and in the US in 2019.
Fforde failed his Welsh Nationality Test by erroneously identifying Gavin Henson as a TV chef, but continues to live and work in his adopted nation despite this setback. He has a Welsh wife, two welsh daughters and a welsh dog, who is mad but not because he's Welsh. He has a passion for movies, photographs, and aviation. (Jasper, not the dog)
Series:
* Thursday Next
* Nursery Crime
* Shades of Grey
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,949 reviews
August 9, 2020
What were the pearls and ingenuities of these novels that will very probably be reread to discover all the overlooked hidden easter eggs?
The chrono guard protecting the consistency of everything, satirizing all kinds of similar special forces in the history of Sci-Fi, fantasy, military, spy, agent, and thriller novels.
It´s a bit biopunky, as genetic engineering is highly developed with Neanderthals, mammoths, and dodos with less advanced computers and has some Steampunk elements in it.
The Goliath corporation, what a contrast to the average common evil empires in serious novels, but they effectively do the same, just a bit less evil and funnier.
Literature is of great importance for the society, a bit as if sports, politics, faith, and economics would be combined in our world and close to everyone would be interested in it in some way.
Ultimate breaking the fourth wall: Innuendos, connotations, references, exaggerations, and neologies about so much regarding literature, genres, the writing process, and, primary, outstanding milestone novels. Jurisfiction for the execution of working plots, bookworms as one of the best allegories of bad writing, and many other elements are examples of the special language used to describe the world.
Bookworld and great library: A parallel universe created out of the ideas of all authors that ever lived, including all manuscripts and ideas that never got finished or published.
Bookjumping, jumping at the point one imagines oneself while reading, is one of the most fitting descriptions of getting lost in a book I´ve ever read.
Genre wars, the fusion of elements of not easy to consolidate literary genres and the chaos this causes, are a kind of backfiring attempt to breed hybrids, convention busting babies of completely different parents.
I would go so far as to say that much can be learned by this series, be it about creative writing, the sense and nonsense of literature, and especially how one initializing, creative idea can be turned in such a groundbreaking series.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
The chrono guard protecting the consistency of everything, satirizing all kinds of similar special forces in the history of Sci-Fi, fantasy, military, spy, agent, and thriller novels.
It´s a bit biopunky, as genetic engineering is highly developed with Neanderthals, mammoths, and dodos with less advanced computers and has some Steampunk elements in it.
The Goliath corporation, what a contrast to the average common evil empires in serious novels, but they effectively do the same, just a bit less evil and funnier.
Literature is of great importance for the society, a bit as if sports, politics, faith, and economics would be combined in our world and close to everyone would be interested in it in some way.
Ultimate breaking the fourth wall: Innuendos, connotations, references, exaggerations, and neologies about so much regarding literature, genres, the writing process, and, primary, outstanding milestone novels. Jurisfiction for the execution of working plots, bookworms as one of the best allegories of bad writing, and many other elements are examples of the special language used to describe the world.
Bookworld and great library: A parallel universe created out of the ideas of all authors that ever lived, including all manuscripts and ideas that never got finished or published.
Bookjumping, jumping at the point one imagines oneself while reading, is one of the most fitting descriptions of getting lost in a book I´ve ever read.
Genre wars, the fusion of elements of not easy to consolidate literary genres and the chaos this causes, are a kind of backfiring attempt to breed hybrids, convention busting babies of completely different parents.
I would go so far as to say that much can be learned by this series, be it about creative writing, the sense and nonsense of literature, and especially how one initializing, creative idea can be turned in such a groundbreaking series.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
April 25, 2017
I have a confession: I read this half hoping to hate it so I could make some space on the physical library shelves. Alas, there is no way I could consign it to "the narrative doldrums of the suburbs." The reading references are too clever, the mystery too intriguing and the character-building too well-done. Don't tell Friday, but I think I might have to toss 'Something Rotten' instead.
I haven't read Thursday Next in about ten years, so I wasn't sure how confused I'd be. I remember a lingering sense of enjoying some of the series, but with other parts leaving a strange, vaguely unpleasant aftertaste. Happily, the mechanisms of BookWorld came back to me quickly, and Thursday (the written one) was kind enough to give background, in the guise of orienting a new stand-in Thursday, Carmine O'Kipper (you may now groan).
The meta-literary elements included in the story are surprisingly insightful, and frequently amusing as well. There's a moment early on when Thursday explains book detail to Carmine:
"Every novel as only as much description as is necessary. In years past, each book was carefully crafted to an infinitely fine degree, but that was in the days of limited reader sophistication. Today… Most books are finished by the readers themselves."
"The Feedback Loop?"
"Precisely. As soon as the readers get going, the feedback loop will start back washing some of their interpretations into the book itself... readers often add detail by their own interpretations."
It's that kind of insight that adds fun layer to the stories. In this book, BookWorld is rebuilt early on, restructuring the Book Universe along the lines of the Geographic model. It means Thursday will need to travel by physical means to get from one genre to the next instead of the more ambiguous 'reading in' technique. What this means for the reader is a fun little tour through BookWorld as Thursday (the written one) investigates a book accident. After crossing through Thriller, she heads into Conspiracy, where she runs into Sprocket, a robot about to be stoned by residents as a spy.
The written Thursday is very aware of her inadequacies compared to the legendary Thursday Next, but feels she brings emotional depth to Thursday's story. Others might characterize her as "the dopey one who likes to hug a lot." As she investigates the crashed book, she discovers that the real Thursday hasn't been seen in a suspicious number of days. The real Thursday is needed to broker peace talks between Racy Novel and Feminism/Dogma genres who are about to be in a cross-genre war.
The mystery here is fairly--narratively, at least--straightforward. The humor often has me smiling, particularly Agent Square from Flatland as he coaches Thursday (the written one), Sprockett's expressive eyebrow, a devastating minefield, the ongoing joke of keeping track who is speaking when there aren't any conversational markers, and the threat of a 'Bobby Ewing' ending. Despite all that, parts are definitely brainy and expositionary, and so it is surprisingly easy to fall asleep to for a four-star book. That said, it's definitely worth keeping.
I haven't read Thursday Next in about ten years, so I wasn't sure how confused I'd be. I remember a lingering sense of enjoying some of the series, but with other parts leaving a strange, vaguely unpleasant aftertaste. Happily, the mechanisms of BookWorld came back to me quickly, and Thursday (the written one) was kind enough to give background, in the guise of orienting a new stand-in Thursday, Carmine O'Kipper (you may now groan).
The meta-literary elements included in the story are surprisingly insightful, and frequently amusing as well. There's a moment early on when Thursday explains book detail to Carmine:
"Every novel as only as much description as is necessary. In years past, each book was carefully crafted to an infinitely fine degree, but that was in the days of limited reader sophistication. Today… Most books are finished by the readers themselves."
"The Feedback Loop?"
"Precisely. As soon as the readers get going, the feedback loop will start back washing some of their interpretations into the book itself... readers often add detail by their own interpretations."
It's that kind of insight that adds fun layer to the stories. In this book, BookWorld is rebuilt early on, restructuring the Book Universe along the lines of the Geographic model. It means Thursday will need to travel by physical means to get from one genre to the next instead of the more ambiguous 'reading in' technique. What this means for the reader is a fun little tour through BookWorld as Thursday (the written one) investigates a book accident. After crossing through Thriller, she heads into Conspiracy, where she runs into Sprocket, a robot about to be stoned by residents as a spy.
The written Thursday is very aware of her inadequacies compared to the legendary Thursday Next, but feels she brings emotional depth to Thursday's story. Others might characterize her as "the dopey one who likes to hug a lot." As she investigates the crashed book, she discovers that the real Thursday hasn't been seen in a suspicious number of days. The real Thursday is needed to broker peace talks between Racy Novel and Feminism/Dogma genres who are about to be in a cross-genre war.
The mystery here is fairly--narratively, at least--straightforward. The humor often has me smiling, particularly Agent Square from Flatland as he coaches Thursday (the written one), Sprockett's expressive eyebrow, a devastating minefield, the ongoing joke of keeping track who is speaking when there aren't any conversational markers, and the threat of a 'Bobby Ewing' ending. Despite all that, parts are definitely brainy and expositionary, and so it is surprisingly easy to fall asleep to for a four-star book. That said, it's definitely worth keeping.
February 2, 2015
Dear Jasper Fforde:
Please stop being awesome. It's hard to have a favorite author who when people ask you "What's the book about?" you have to go into a 10 minute explination of how this is book 6 of a series and there's people that travel between books, and there's The Bookworld and there's Spec Ops and on and on and then they look at you oddly and then leave. If your books weren't so awesome I wouldn't be so awkward, but I feel I have to share, because... they're awesome. I am seriously, literally awed by them. The fact that there's not only an obscure Python joke(Fang) but also what seems to be a reference to Serenity(Gatsby(you'll see what I mean eventually)) make this book great, but what also makes the book great is the fact that it's amazing and fantastic and there's a lot about story in it and I have no idea how she crossed the bridge(Don't tell me, I want to figure it out(No, Seriously, Don't tell me)).
So, Jasper: Please stop being awesome. Or at least write things that when I describe them to people as "1984 but written by Wodehouse" they'll understand what I mean. Oooh, I know: Please re-write reality so that people are more aware of things I like. Thank you.
Also: Please write an episode of Doctor Who, that would be the greatest/geekiest thing in the world to me.
Please stop being awesome. It's hard to have a favorite author who when people ask you "What's the book about?" you have to go into a 10 minute explination of how this is book 6 of a series and there's people that travel between books, and there's The Bookworld and there's Spec Ops and on and on and then they look at you oddly and then leave. If your books weren't so awesome I wouldn't be so awkward, but I feel I have to share, because... they're awesome. I am seriously, literally awed by them. The fact that there's not only an obscure Python joke(Fang) but also what seems to be a reference to Serenity(Gatsby(you'll see what I mean eventually)) make this book great, but what also makes the book great is the fact that it's amazing and fantastic and there's a lot about story in it and I have no idea how she crossed the bridge(Don't tell me, I want to figure it out(No, Seriously, Don't tell me)).
So, Jasper: Please stop being awesome. Or at least write things that when I describe them to people as "1984 but written by Wodehouse" they'll understand what I mean. Oooh, I know: Please re-write reality so that people are more aware of things I like. Thank you.
Also: Please write an episode of Doctor Who, that would be the greatest/geekiest thing in the world to me.
October 4, 2021
Previous rating: 3 stars. (I must have been high on really poor quality stuff when I first read this book.)
New rating: 4.5 stars. (Seen the light I have. Go me and stuff.)
➽ And the moral of this reread is: the smuggling of metaphors + Get Bitten Senseless by Bourne package holidays + metonyms and synecdoches and met labs, oh my + gettingwasted hyphenated + a very pissed-off Harry Potter + the Narrative Clunker Unit + Risibility, Mirthrate and mimefields + the great Farquitt Snoozathon + the Lady of Shalott and David Hasselhoff tapestries (don't ask) + Red Herrings vs. red herrings + hummus situations + Men in Black Tartan Plaid + HAHAHAHAHA + the Large Metaphor Collider + Irritable Vowel Syndrome + Cherry Fondue (most definitely not what you think it is. Ha!) + Supply and Gigglistics + rhetorical worms and demolition-grade epizeuxis + soft-rhyming AAs vs. heavy-duty AABCCBs + the war between Racy Novel and Women's Fiction + Squid procedurals and Decapod Gumshoes =
P.S. I want a machine that can transform dark humor into sarcasm (and back again) for Christmas. Just so you know.
👋 To be continued and stuff
· Book 1: The Eyre Affair ★★★★★
· Book 2: Lost in a Good Book ★★★★★
· Book 3: The Well of Lost Plots ★★★★★
· Book 4: Something Rotten ★★★★★
· Book 5: First Among Sequels ★★★★
· Book 7: The Woman Who Died a Lot ★★★★
· Book 8: Dark Reading Matter · to be published
[June 2011]
I just love Jasper Fforde. I have read all his books and the Thursday Next series is my favorite. I had pre-ordered this book as I had been eagerly waiting for it for so long. I can't say the book was a huge disappointment but disappoint me it did. The main problem here is that the main character isn't the real Thursday Next but her BookWorld version. The idea isn't bad in itself but the character just isn't as interesting as the real Thursday. There are some good 'Ffordesque' jokes and situations but the book seems to lack Fforde's eccentricity and inventiveness. I'll probably read the next installment in the series if there is one (I know I won't be able to resist) but if it is anything like this book, I probably won't bother anymore after that.
New rating: 4.5 stars. (Seen the light I have. Go me and stuff.)
➽ And the moral of this reread is: the smuggling of metaphors + Get Bitten Senseless by Bourne package holidays + metonyms and synecdoches and met labs, oh my + getting
P.S. I want a machine that can transform dark humor into sarcasm (and back again) for Christmas. Just so you know.
👋 To be continued and stuff
· Book 1: The Eyre Affair ★★★★★
· Book 2: Lost in a Good Book ★★★★★
· Book 3: The Well of Lost Plots ★★★★★
· Book 4: Something Rotten ★★★★★
· Book 5: First Among Sequels ★★★★
· Book 7: The Woman Who Died a Lot ★★★★
· Book 8: Dark Reading Matter · to be published
[June 2011]
I just love Jasper Fforde. I have read all his books and the Thursday Next series is my favorite. I had pre-ordered this book as I had been eagerly waiting for it for so long. I can't say the book was a huge disappointment but disappoint me it did. The main problem here is that the main character isn't the real Thursday Next but her BookWorld version. The idea isn't bad in itself but the character just isn't as interesting as the real Thursday. There are some good 'Ffordesque' jokes and situations but the book seems to lack Fforde's eccentricity and inventiveness. I'll probably read the next installment in the series if there is one (I know I won't be able to resist) but if it is anything like this book, I probably won't bother anymore after that.
October 20, 2011
It's been a while since I started the Thursday Next series, and the other books in the series weren't that fresh in my mind, so I was a little overwhelmed by references to ideas and events introduced in previous books. Plus, this work was a little slow to get established for me because I wasn't ready for our main character to be, perhaps, a different character than the other Thursday novels. My final minor gripe with this book, which I nevertheless enjoyed, is what seems to be an overwhelming amount of detail trying to explain how things work in Book World rather than just stating the implausible as fact and letting our imaginations fill in the gaps. (In the Book World this would be called the reader feedback loop.)
Still the book is fun overall, and some of the new characters are quite likeable. After all, everybody needs a butler, especially one with a penchant for creative cocktail combinations. If life weren't so short it would be fun (in an OCD-ish sort of way) to go through this work and highlight the references to other works of literature, and then if life were even longer to be able to read the works that Fforde is referring to.
Still the book is fun overall, and some of the new characters are quite likeable. After all, everybody needs a butler, especially one with a penchant for creative cocktail combinations. If life weren't so short it would be fun (in an OCD-ish sort of way) to go through this work and highlight the references to other works of literature, and then if life were even longer to be able to read the works that Fforde is referring to.
February 2, 2011
I really enjoy Jasper Fforde's romps through BookWorld. Call me a book nerd, but I just really enjoy it. The Thursday Next series is awesome, and this book is no exception. It's set from the point of view of the Written Thursday Next, who is trying to find the RealWorld Thursday Next.
Some quotes that entertain my dorky, readerly sense of humor:
p 4 - "I opened the door to find three Dostogerskivites staring at me from within a dense cloud of moral relativism."
p 7 - "Not many people traveled to the RealWorld, and those who did generally noted two things: one, that it was hysterically funny and hideously tragic in almost equal measure, and two, that there were far more domestic cats than baobobs, when it should probably be the other way around."
p 13 - "About ten degrees upslope of Fiction, I could see our nearest neighbor: Artistic Criticism. It was an exceptionally beautiful island, yet deeply troubled, confused and suffused with a blanketing layer of almost impenetrable bullshit."
"But the brightest and biggest archipelago I could see upon the closed sea was the scattered group of genres that made up Nonfiction. ... On one side of the island the Cliffs of Irrationality were slowly being eroded away, while on the opposite shore the Sands of Science were slowly reclaiming salt marsh from the sea."
p 52 "'What's it like living in Vanity?' ... 'We tend not to use the term Vanity anymore. It sounds derogatory. We refer to it as Self-Published or Collaborative, and you'd be surprised just how much good prose is interspersed with that of an uneven nature.' This was true. Beatrix Potter, Keats and George Eliot had all been self-published, as was the first issue of Alice in Wonderland. I looked across to where the island of Vanity lay just off the coast beyond the Cliff of Notes."
p 69 "She wasn't the only one to be physically morphed by reader expectation. Miss Havisham was now elderly whether she liked it or not, and Sherlock Holmes wore a deerstalker and smoked a ridiculously large pipe. The problem wasn't just confined to the classics. Harry Potter was seriously pissed off that he'd have to spend the rest of his life looking like Daniel Radcliffe."
p 133 "'The less people who know, the better.' 'Fewer. The fewer people who know, the better.' 'That's what I meant.' 'That's what who meant?' 'Wait -- who's speaking now?' 'I don't know.' 'You must know.' 'Damn. It must be me -- you wouldn't say 'Damn,' would you?' 'I might.' We both stood there for an empty moment, waiting for either a speech marker or a descriptive line. It was one of those things that happened every now and again in BookWorld -- akin to an empty, pregnant silence in the middle of an Outland dinner party."
"The cabbie made some inquiries and found that a truckload of 'their' had collided with a trailer containing 'there' going in the opposite direction and had spread there contents across the road. 'Their will be a few hiccups after that,' said the cabbie, and I agreed. Homophone mishaps often seeped out into the real world and infected the Outlanders, causing theire to be all manner of confusion."
p 188 "'There is much unexplained in the world. It behooves one to be wary at all times. Just when you think you've got the hang of it, along comes string theory, collateralized debt obligations or Bjork's new album, and bam! You're as confused as you were when you first started.'"
Some quotes that entertain my dorky, readerly sense of humor:
p 4 - "I opened the door to find three Dostogerskivites staring at me from within a dense cloud of moral relativism."
p 7 - "Not many people traveled to the RealWorld, and those who did generally noted two things: one, that it was hysterically funny and hideously tragic in almost equal measure, and two, that there were far more domestic cats than baobobs, when it should probably be the other way around."
p 13 - "About ten degrees upslope of Fiction, I could see our nearest neighbor: Artistic Criticism. It was an exceptionally beautiful island, yet deeply troubled, confused and suffused with a blanketing layer of almost impenetrable bullshit."
"But the brightest and biggest archipelago I could see upon the closed sea was the scattered group of genres that made up Nonfiction. ... On one side of the island the Cliffs of Irrationality were slowly being eroded away, while on the opposite shore the Sands of Science were slowly reclaiming salt marsh from the sea."
p 52 "'What's it like living in Vanity?' ... 'We tend not to use the term Vanity anymore. It sounds derogatory. We refer to it as Self-Published or Collaborative, and you'd be surprised just how much good prose is interspersed with that of an uneven nature.' This was true. Beatrix Potter, Keats and George Eliot had all been self-published, as was the first issue of Alice in Wonderland. I looked across to where the island of Vanity lay just off the coast beyond the Cliff of Notes."
p 69 "She wasn't the only one to be physically morphed by reader expectation. Miss Havisham was now elderly whether she liked it or not, and Sherlock Holmes wore a deerstalker and smoked a ridiculously large pipe. The problem wasn't just confined to the classics. Harry Potter was seriously pissed off that he'd have to spend the rest of his life looking like Daniel Radcliffe."
p 133 "'The less people who know, the better.' 'Fewer. The fewer people who know, the better.' 'That's what I meant.' 'That's what who meant?' 'Wait -- who's speaking now?' 'I don't know.' 'You must know.' 'Damn. It must be me -- you wouldn't say 'Damn,' would you?' 'I might.' We both stood there for an empty moment, waiting for either a speech marker or a descriptive line. It was one of those things that happened every now and again in BookWorld -- akin to an empty, pregnant silence in the middle of an Outland dinner party."
"The cabbie made some inquiries and found that a truckload of 'their' had collided with a trailer containing 'there' going in the opposite direction and had spread there contents across the road. 'Their will be a few hiccups after that,' said the cabbie, and I agreed. Homophone mishaps often seeped out into the real world and infected the Outlanders, causing theire to be all manner of confusion."
p 188 "'There is much unexplained in the world. It behooves one to be wary at all times. Just when you think you've got the hang of it, along comes string theory, collateralized debt obligations or Bjork's new album, and bam! You're as confused as you were when you first started.'"
May 1, 2011
I'm torn as to how to review this latest Jasper Fforde entry. I've enjoyed all of the Thursday Next series, from The Eyre Affair onward, mostly because they've made me laugh and they've rewarded me for having a nimble mind and a knowledge of history and culture.
After the last book, which seemed to neatly tie everything up, I was wondering what Fforde had in mind to keep the story fresh. Well, he has a nice twist, but it almost feels like a different series. Instead of focusing on Thursday and the gang, the protagonist of this book is the written Thursday. In other words, this heroine is not our Thursday, but A Thursday...the protagonist of the fictional Thursday Next series. We got to see more of BookWorld, but less of Jurisfiction, more of how BookWorld works, but less of the characters of a rich world of literature.
The written Thursday isn't very interesting, which is a problem for a first-person narrator, but the addition of her "butler" was a master stroke. The page comes alive when he's there; sadly, the written Thursday doesn't have any snappy banter with anyone else, so when Sprocket isn't in a scene, the story lags a bit.
Thus, while this was my least favorite of the Thursday Next books, it's still better than 95% of what's out there. Good, but not great. Cozy, but a little snoozy.
After the last book, which seemed to neatly tie everything up, I was wondering what Fforde had in mind to keep the story fresh. Well, he has a nice twist, but it almost feels like a different series. Instead of focusing on Thursday and the gang, the protagonist of this book is the written Thursday. In other words, this heroine is not our Thursday, but A Thursday...the protagonist of the fictional Thursday Next series. We got to see more of BookWorld, but less of Jurisfiction, more of how BookWorld works, but less of the characters of a rich world of literature.
The written Thursday isn't very interesting, which is a problem for a first-person narrator, but the addition of her "butler" was a master stroke. The page comes alive when he's there; sadly, the written Thursday doesn't have any snappy banter with anyone else, so when Sprocket isn't in a scene, the story lags a bit.
Thus, while this was my least favorite of the Thursday Next books, it's still better than 95% of what's out there. Good, but not great. Cozy, but a little snoozy.
March 6, 2014
*rubs handies together*
haha - there is a map of Fiction Island at the front.
This book has been bundled with SPECIAL FEATURES including: The Making of... wordamentary, deleted scenes, alternative endings and much more.
So this is how it starts...
The BookWorld Remade
Everyone remembers where they were when the BookWorld was remade. I was at home 'resting between readings', which is a polite euphemism for 'almost remaindered'.
and this is how it ends...
'Humans,' said Sprockett, 'are the most gloriously bizarre creatures.'
'Yes,' I said with a smile, 'they certainly are.'
This year's Fforde Ffiesta in Swindon is 28-29 May 2011.
haha - there is a map of Fiction Island at the front.
This book has been bundled with SPECIAL FEATURES including: The Making of... wordamentary, deleted scenes, alternative endings and much more.
So this is how it starts...
The BookWorld Remade
Everyone remembers where they were when the BookWorld was remade. I was at home 'resting between readings', which is a polite euphemism for 'almost remaindered'.
and this is how it ends...
'Humans,' said Sprockett, 'are the most gloriously bizarre creatures.'
'Yes,' I said with a smile, 'they certainly are.'
This year's Fforde Ffiesta in Swindon is 28-29 May 2011.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2014
How often does a popular series switch-out the protagonist in Book 6?
I can't think of another example.
Jasper Fforde is a very clever, imaginative, witty and playful writer. Books 1-3 in this Thursday Next series are brilliant. Book 4 was very good, but not quite as sparkling. Book 5, the last in the series before this, was the weakest by a considerable margin. It felt... flatter than what had gone before.
"Has he lost it?" I worried.
"Does this mark the beginning of the end?" I fretted.
Then came his marvellous Shades of Grey (not part of this series) - unfortunately released just prior to the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon, making it the most retrospectively the worst titled book in years (sorry, Jasper). Regardless of the title, that book is a peach - very different to his usual style, but a real gem.
But still I found myself nervous returning to the Thursday Next series - I ordered this one in and my wife started reading it, but she couldn't get into it and dropped out after 100 pages or so (but she is pregnant again and has the attention span of a gnat with ADHD).
So at Chapter 1, I was sceptical.
Then I realised that he'd switched-out the protagonist - which made me more sceptical, it seemed a bit of a gamble, an admission that he'd run out of ideas with Thursday and needed to do something big to freshen it up.
I mean - can you imagine Rowling focusing a book on a random character like Luna's POV? Or Butcher doing a Dresden file about Sanya?
What allows Fforde to get away with it is the specifics of the trade, his layered conceptual world-building, and a certain amount of sheer ballsiness.
The Thursday Next books are all about book-hopping. Being able to jump into the world of a book, and the world of the Great Library that links them all together. In OoOTIM (which doesn't exactly flow as an acronym), Fforde reboots the 'book world' into a whole globe of genre islands, rather than a symbolic library. And then he takes the idea that someone has written books about the adventures of Thursday Next, which means there is now a Real Thursday, and the Fictional Thursday who 'acts' her in the book. The main plot of this book is the idea that the Real Thursday has gone missing, and Fictional Thursday is drawn into her world, trying to track her down, and - as nobody can tell them apart - impersonating Real Thursday to try save the day.
There's a fair amount of identity crisis played - I am a really Fictional Thursday, or am I Real Thursday who thinks she's Fictional Thursday?
But there's also a rather wonderful meta-text spin thing going on. It's clear at the beginning that the books about Real Thursday which have been written within the universe, which Fictional Thursday 'acts' in, are not the same books which we, the readers, have read up to this point. So we've got multiple layers of 'Thursday's Story' - but Fictional Thursday is, by various means, making changes to the story she acts, to make them closer to the 'truth' of the versions we've read. If that sounds like a head-spinner, when I got the gist of where he was going with it (the Toast Marketing Board!) it put a delighted smile on my face.
I'm not sure how well I've conveyed the cleverness - but the overall tone and style is playful and witty - near death experience via mime, pompous dodo, clockwork butler sidekick, the real name of Jack Schitt... there's a lot of good scenes to carry the clever ideas.
So yeah. If you've never read any Thursday Next books - don't start here - but if you dropped the series after Book 5 (like me) - please take this as a hearty reassurance that the man has got his mojo back.
After this I read: The Long Goodbye
I can't think of another example.
Jasper Fforde is a very clever, imaginative, witty and playful writer. Books 1-3 in this Thursday Next series are brilliant. Book 4 was very good, but not quite as sparkling. Book 5, the last in the series before this, was the weakest by a considerable margin. It felt... flatter than what had gone before.
"Has he lost it?" I worried.
"Does this mark the beginning of the end?" I fretted.
Then came his marvellous Shades of Grey (not part of this series) - unfortunately released just prior to the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon, making it the most retrospectively the worst titled book in years (sorry, Jasper). Regardless of the title, that book is a peach - very different to his usual style, but a real gem.
But still I found myself nervous returning to the Thursday Next series - I ordered this one in and my wife started reading it, but she couldn't get into it and dropped out after 100 pages or so (but she is pregnant again and has the attention span of a gnat with ADHD).
So at Chapter 1, I was sceptical.
Then I realised that he'd switched-out the protagonist - which made me more sceptical, it seemed a bit of a gamble, an admission that he'd run out of ideas with Thursday and needed to do something big to freshen it up.
I mean - can you imagine Rowling focusing a book on a random character like Luna's POV? Or Butcher doing a Dresden file about Sanya?
What allows Fforde to get away with it is the specifics of the trade, his layered conceptual world-building, and a certain amount of sheer ballsiness.
The Thursday Next books are all about book-hopping. Being able to jump into the world of a book, and the world of the Great Library that links them all together. In OoOTIM (which doesn't exactly flow as an acronym), Fforde reboots the 'book world' into a whole globe of genre islands, rather than a symbolic library. And then he takes the idea that someone has written books about the adventures of Thursday Next, which means there is now a Real Thursday, and the Fictional Thursday who 'acts' her in the book. The main plot of this book is the idea that the Real Thursday has gone missing, and Fictional Thursday is drawn into her world, trying to track her down, and - as nobody can tell them apart - impersonating Real Thursday to try save the day.
There's a fair amount of identity crisis played - I am a really Fictional Thursday, or am I Real Thursday who thinks she's Fictional Thursday?
But there's also a rather wonderful meta-text spin thing going on. It's clear at the beginning that the books about Real Thursday which have been written within the universe, which Fictional Thursday 'acts' in, are not the same books which we, the readers, have read up to this point. So we've got multiple layers of 'Thursday's Story' - but Fictional Thursday is, by various means, making changes to the story she acts, to make them closer to the 'truth' of the versions we've read. If that sounds like a head-spinner, when I got the gist of where he was going with it (the Toast Marketing Board!) it put a delighted smile on my face.
I'm not sure how well I've conveyed the cleverness - but the overall tone and style is playful and witty - near death experience via mime, pompous dodo, clockwork butler sidekick, the real name of Jack Schitt... there's a lot of good scenes to carry the clever ideas.
So yeah. If you've never read any Thursday Next books - don't start here - but if you dropped the series after Book 5 (like me) - please take this as a hearty reassurance that the man has got his mojo back.
After this I read: The Long Goodbye
March 29, 2011
Oh, I just loved this book. From beginning to its very wonderful end.
I’m in love with Jasper Fforde. He’s got a brilliant imagination and he’s hilarious, so wickedly funny!
At first I was puzzled and missed the “real” Thursday and the “real” Pickwick, but I quickly got on board with this romp. I ended up loving the written Thursday and I loved Sprockett, her butler. I got reminded of the previous books as I read, especially in the little blurbs that start each chapter.
A fun and clever book. A great comfort read and a perfect escape book. For me, a major mood booster too.
I love the “book world” and I adore maps. And at the beginning of the book there is a map of fiction island and it’s incredibly entertaining. I referred to it frequently, as much as I do maps of actual places when I read non-fiction and historical fiction books. I appreciated that clowns were placed in the horror genre and the sub-islands are a particular delight. In addition to the map, there are also several other drawings by Fforde.
In this book, Fforde manages to poke fun at everything from teenagers to Rubik’s Cubes, including books, genres, self-publishing, fan fiction, movies, television, technology, and so much else about life, including the whole world and all people, and in this book an awful lot about e-books, and his own previous Thursday Next books too, and all of it so amusing. It’s a blast to read. I smiled or chucked on nearly every page, and there were so very many quotes I wanted to quote in my review, so much of the book; for instance pages 291 to 294 almost in their entirety, but had I started quoting a huge part of the book would have made it into my review, so I decided to completely restrain myself, and leave the pleasure for others to read the book for themselves.
This sixth Thursday Next book is a winner. I hope there are more books in the series, but if not, this one works well enough as a final book. For me: a complete joy.
I’m in love with Jasper Fforde. He’s got a brilliant imagination and he’s hilarious, so wickedly funny!
At first I was puzzled and missed the “real” Thursday and the “real” Pickwick, but I quickly got on board with this romp. I ended up loving the written Thursday and I loved Sprockett, her butler. I got reminded of the previous books as I read, especially in the little blurbs that start each chapter.
A fun and clever book. A great comfort read and a perfect escape book. For me, a major mood booster too.
I love the “book world” and I adore maps. And at the beginning of the book there is a map of fiction island and it’s incredibly entertaining. I referred to it frequently, as much as I do maps of actual places when I read non-fiction and historical fiction books. I appreciated that clowns were placed in the horror genre and the sub-islands are a particular delight. In addition to the map, there are also several other drawings by Fforde.
In this book, Fforde manages to poke fun at everything from teenagers to Rubik’s Cubes, including books, genres, self-publishing, fan fiction, movies, television, technology, and so much else about life, including the whole world and all people, and in this book an awful lot about e-books, and his own previous Thursday Next books too, and all of it so amusing. It’s a blast to read. I smiled or chucked on nearly every page, and there were so very many quotes I wanted to quote in my review, so much of the book; for instance pages 291 to 294 almost in their entirety, but had I started quoting a huge part of the book would have made it into my review, so I decided to completely restrain myself, and leave the pleasure for others to read the book for themselves.
This sixth Thursday Next book is a winner. I hope there are more books in the series, but if not, this one works well enough as a final book. For me: a complete joy.
January 5, 2012
The thing I like best about this one, apart from the witty references to current concepts like FanFic and Harry Potter, is that we get to start at the beginning and watch our dear Thursday find herself all over again.
The written Thursday lives in the shadow of the real Thursday, a woman of worldwide fame in both real and book worlds. She starts off rather timid and by the end has learned to trust herself.
Sprockett the clockwork Jeeves is a wonderful character. And the mimefield is absolutely terrifying.
The written Thursday lives in the shadow of the real Thursday, a woman of worldwide fame in both real and book worlds. She starts off rather timid and by the end has learned to trust herself.
Sprockett the clockwork Jeeves is a wonderful character. And the mimefield is absolutely terrifying.
February 6, 2022
How enchanting to fall back into Jasper Fforde's 'Thursday Next' Universe! Even before reading a single sentence I was delighted to find a wonderfully detailed map of Fiction Island in the now rebuilt BookWorld, which is divided into genres and sub-genres, where clowns are placed in Horror and everyone must converse in verse in Poetry.
The actual plot is straight-forward, but it's the author's sheer creativity, sense of fun and the oh-so-many literary references which make Fforde's books so compelling, even if my self-published novels would be consigned to a far-flung corner of Vanity Island.
My favourite new character in this book is Sprocket, a 'cogwork' butler with an eyebrow pointer which indicates his emotions and who possess a fine repertoire of unusual cocktails to offer at the drop of a hat.
Well-paced, unbelievably clever and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the use of language and all things literary.
The actual plot is straight-forward, but it's the author's sheer creativity, sense of fun and the oh-so-many literary references which make Fforde's books so compelling, even if my self-published novels would be consigned to a far-flung corner of Vanity Island.
My favourite new character in this book is Sprocket, a 'cogwork' butler with an eyebrow pointer which indicates his emotions and who possess a fine repertoire of unusual cocktails to offer at the drop of a hat.
Well-paced, unbelievably clever and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the use of language and all things literary.
March 29, 2016
Book 6 in the Thursday Next series. Do not read without reading the previous books, this is definitely NOT a stand-alone.
With each Thursday Next book I'm falling harder and harder. Fforde has intricately crafted a deep and complex world here. Thursday Next - a woman with the power to travel into books, and bring characters from books out into the real world - is an amazing heroine.
I admire Thursday Next very much. A strong, older (in this book she's in her mid-50s), smart, kick-ass, world-weary, happily married mother of two. She is smart. She knows how to shoot. She dresses frumpily and has only normal looks. A very well-done female protagonist by a male author. Major kudos to Fforde for his creation.
This book doesn't feature Thursday Next, but instead the WRITTEN version of Thursday Next. I know that doesn't make any sense if you haven't read the books, but trust me, it's pretty awesome.
Written to be a kindler, gentler, hippie-version of the real Thursday Next, Written Thursday Next just spends her day-to-day life trying to keep her books in running order. She lets people step on her a bit and is insecure. Of course she's in love with Landen, Thursday's husband, but she has no Landen since in the books he was killed off. This makes her sad and unable to date without feeling immense guilt.
No one is more surprised than the Written Thursday when she is approached by the bigwigs to solve a bit of a mystery. She's failed her Jurisfiction exam, she was deemed to "soft" and not decisive enough to be an agent. But she quickly figures out that she was chosen to investigate specifically BECAUSE they think she's incompetent.
Then things get weird(er)...
This is an amazing series. Smart, funny, with high, anxiety-producing stakes. I am on the edge of my seat with worry when Thursday, either the real one - or in this case the written version - is in trouble. A book series for book lovers, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves books and has a sense of humor. See my status updates for writing samples.
Also, this book introduced the character of Sprockett, a cogwork butler who won my heart. He is so charming, thoughtful, pensive, and polite that by the middle of the book I was fantasizing about having my own cogwork butler/friend to help me through life. His relationship with Written Thursday builds through the book and is very touching. He's an amazing character.
I also loved watching meek, spineless, insecure Written Thursday start to grow some ovaries and start kicking ass and taking names in this book. She slowly, so slowly, starts to develop a sense of purpose and self-worth. It was riveting and very well done. I was cheering her on every step of the way.
Tl;dr - a wonderful series. Start with Book 1: The Eyre Affair. A series for book-lovers with a sense of humor. Well worth reading.
P.S. Great title. One of Our Thursdays is Missing. Brilliant - I love it. Actually, all the books in this series have pretty great names.
P.P.S. This book is illustrated AND has a map of Book World in it. Extra points! I really get a kick out of having illustrations in an adult book.
With each Thursday Next book I'm falling harder and harder. Fforde has intricately crafted a deep and complex world here. Thursday Next - a woman with the power to travel into books, and bring characters from books out into the real world - is an amazing heroine.
I admire Thursday Next very much. A strong, older (in this book she's in her mid-50s), smart, kick-ass, world-weary, happily married mother of two. She is smart. She knows how to shoot. She dresses frumpily and has only normal looks. A very well-done female protagonist by a male author. Major kudos to Fforde for his creation.
This book doesn't feature Thursday Next, but instead the WRITTEN version of Thursday Next. I know that doesn't make any sense if you haven't read the books, but trust me, it's pretty awesome.
Written to be a kindler, gentler, hippie-version of the real Thursday Next, Written Thursday Next just spends her day-to-day life trying to keep her books in running order. She lets people step on her a bit and is insecure. Of course she's in love with Landen, Thursday's husband, but she has no Landen since in the books he was killed off. This makes her sad and unable to date without feeling immense guilt.
No one is more surprised than the Written Thursday when she is approached by the bigwigs to solve a bit of a mystery. She's failed her Jurisfiction exam, she was deemed to "soft" and not decisive enough to be an agent. But she quickly figures out that she was chosen to investigate specifically BECAUSE they think she's incompetent.
Then things get weird(er)...
This is an amazing series. Smart, funny, with high, anxiety-producing stakes. I am on the edge of my seat with worry when Thursday, either the real one - or in this case the written version - is in trouble. A book series for book lovers, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves books and has a sense of humor. See my status updates for writing samples.
Also, this book introduced the character of Sprockett, a cogwork butler who won my heart. He is so charming, thoughtful, pensive, and polite that by the middle of the book I was fantasizing about having my own cogwork butler/friend to help me through life. His relationship with Written Thursday builds through the book and is very touching. He's an amazing character.
I also loved watching meek, spineless, insecure Written Thursday start to grow some ovaries and start kicking ass and taking names in this book. She slowly, so slowly, starts to develop a sense of purpose and self-worth. It was riveting and very well done. I was cheering her on every step of the way.
Tl;dr - a wonderful series. Start with Book 1: The Eyre Affair. A series for book-lovers with a sense of humor. Well worth reading.
P.S. Great title. One of Our Thursdays is Missing. Brilliant - I love it. Actually, all the books in this series have pretty great names.
P.P.S. This book is illustrated AND has a map of Book World in it. Extra points! I really get a kick out of having illustrations in an adult book.
April 19, 2023
Well it's been a while since I read a Thursday Next so it took some time to get into the story and it took me even longer because it was so complicated. Who was narrating? Our Thursday, a written Thursday, a stand-in for a written Thursday. It made my head spin.
I have to say this has been my least favourite so far. I thought the plot overly complicated. I've lobed the previous ones partly because of all the literary references and how JF cleverly works characters from well known works into the plot. This fell far short of the usual brilliance for me at least.
I did love Sprockett and once I'd figured out what was going on I enjoyed it. Just not as much as the others.
Only one more to read now though and that does make me sad.
I have to say this has been my least favourite so far. I thought the plot overly complicated. I've lobed the previous ones partly because of all the literary references and how JF cleverly works characters from well known works into the plot. This fell far short of the usual brilliance for me at least.
I did love Sprockett and once I'd figured out what was going on I enjoyed it. Just not as much as the others.
Only one more to read now though and that does make me sad.
December 17, 2015
Meine etwas kuriose Fforde-Theorie, dass die geraden Bände besser wären, hat sich erneut bestätigt. Teil 6 ist wieder grandios sowohl von den Ideen als auch vom zusammenhängenden spannenden grossartigen Plot. Die echte Thursdaynext ist verschwunden und die geschriebene Romanfigur Thursday bestreitet die Handlung. Dieser Band fackelt wieder mal ein wundervolles Ideenfeuerwerk ab, ein paar davon muss ich einfach spoilern: Die geografische Neugestaltung der Buchwelt hat viele Reize und birgt sensationelle neue Ideen: Die Elendsviertel der Verschwörungsliteratur mit dem Neue Weltordnungsplatz, Selbstverlage sind auf einer Insel und die Hauptprotagonisten werden wie Asylanten behandelt, Metaphern werden aus dem Lyrikland wie Crystal Meth geschmuggelt und in Laboren zusammengekocht. Terroristen aus der Scharfen Literatur drohen ihre Nachbarländer Religiöses Dogma und FemLit mit schmutzigen Bomben zu bewerfen, die in jedem Buch überflüssige Sexszenen verteilen können.
Auch die philosophische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema wie die Lesererwartung Einfluss auf die Figuren nimmt, ist herrlich.. Sherlock muss für immer mit Pfeiffe herumlaufen und Harry Potter ist stinksauer, weil er Zeit seines Lebens wie Daniel Ratcliffe aussehen muss.
Da gibt es postsyntaktische Belastungsstörungen, Linke, die die Genres abschaffen wollen, da Genregrenzen die Kretivität behindern und Konservative, die für mehr Kontrolle sind. Und dann gibt es noch die Bobby Ewing Erzählprozedur ... Ihr hört richtig, das können sich alle, die Dallas bis zum Ende gesehen haben, lebhaft vorstellen. Viele aktuellen und historischen Bücher werden wieder logisch konsistent und wunderbar in die Handlung eingebunden, manchmal frage ich mich wirklich, was der Autor einwirft, um auf sowas zu kommen. Auf jeden Fall arbeitet er mit der Kreativitätsmethode Synectics das ist klar.
So nun habe ich genug gespoilert - Fazit: Wenn ich meine Lieblingsbücher 2015 nicht schon abgeschlossen hätte, dieses müßte ich unbedingt noch aufnehmen.
Auch die philosophische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema wie die Lesererwartung Einfluss auf die Figuren nimmt, ist herrlich.. Sherlock muss für immer mit Pfeiffe herumlaufen und Harry Potter ist stinksauer, weil er Zeit seines Lebens wie Daniel Ratcliffe aussehen muss.
Da gibt es postsyntaktische Belastungsstörungen, Linke, die die Genres abschaffen wollen, da Genregrenzen die Kretivität behindern und Konservative, die für mehr Kontrolle sind. Und dann gibt es noch die Bobby Ewing Erzählprozedur ... Ihr hört richtig, das können sich alle, die Dallas bis zum Ende gesehen haben, lebhaft vorstellen. Viele aktuellen und historischen Bücher werden wieder logisch konsistent und wunderbar in die Handlung eingebunden, manchmal frage ich mich wirklich, was der Autor einwirft, um auf sowas zu kommen. Auf jeden Fall arbeitet er mit der Kreativitätsmethode Synectics das ist klar.
So nun habe ich genug gespoilert - Fazit: Wenn ich meine Lieblingsbücher 2015 nicht schon abgeschlossen hätte, dieses müßte ich unbedingt noch aufnehmen.
June 15, 2011
I could say this is a "return to form" for Fforde because I haven't enjoyed a book of his this much since Something Rotten (I disliked First Amongst Sequels and felt lukewarm about the two books in the Nursery Crime series)...but this book is a lot different than the other books in the Thursday Next series. It may be the most metafictional commercial fiction book ever written. The other books in the series seemed like they were written for those who were big readers, but this one also feels like a "writer's book."
Thursday Next isn't actually the protagonist in this one. Instead, the protagonist is a woman who "plays" her in the books in the series. I mentioned that it was very meta. Also, this book explores BookWorld in much more detail than any of the books that have come before it.
Although I enjoyed the book immensely, my quibbles were its convoluted plot and massive cast of characters. It was often difficult to keep track of who was who. Maybe it would have been easier if I had read the other books in the series recently considering the book seems to feature nearly all of the characters from the other books, along with many new ones.
Thursday Next isn't actually the protagonist in this one. Instead, the protagonist is a woman who "plays" her in the books in the series. I mentioned that it was very meta. Also, this book explores BookWorld in much more detail than any of the books that have come before it.
Although I enjoyed the book immensely, my quibbles were its convoluted plot and massive cast of characters. It was often difficult to keep track of who was who. Maybe it would have been easier if I had read the other books in the series recently considering the book seems to feature nearly all of the characters from the other books, along with many new ones.
November 3, 2021
An engaging, mind-bending romp, as always. I was SO relieved to discover Diving into Thursday's actual book series gave this installment a whole added level of Meta and lots of fun, self-deprecating asides about the author. And I love Sprocket and dearly hope we see him again!
Yet another MacHalo BR of Madcap Mania!
Yet another MacHalo BR of Madcap Mania!
September 19, 2012
As you can tell I am not reading this series in order. I read the first book, to see what it was like and enjoyed it because of the literary references. Then when my coworker, Doug B. (he's the one who introduced me to this series), told me I should read this one next, and that I could borrow it from him, I didn't hesitate.
To be perfectly honest, it took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on, but once I understood, I enjoyed the book, as it was very meta and a bit bizarre, two things I really enjoy on their own. I also enjoyed the details of Book World, even though at times it almost seemed too detailed.
However, the one thing I didn't like was the long list of characters. It felt cumbersome to keep them all straight in my head as they interacted with each other.
All in all, a decent fast paced read that entertained me while I traveled, as the wordplays and use of language is really well done throughout both books that I have read thus far.
To be perfectly honest, it took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on, but once I understood, I enjoyed the book, as it was very meta and a bit bizarre, two things I really enjoy on their own. I also enjoyed the details of Book World, even though at times it almost seemed too detailed.
However, the one thing I didn't like was the long list of characters. It felt cumbersome to keep them all straight in my head as they interacted with each other.
All in all, a decent fast paced read that entertained me while I traveled, as the wordplays and use of language is really well done throughout both books that I have read thus far.
October 7, 2022
Leave it to Jasper Fforde to lift you up from any bad mood – war at our doors, inflation, pandemic… There’s always Thursday Next. Or maybe not! In this installment we follow not her, but the written Thursday who is somewhat milder than her real-life counterpart, trying to find the latter who went missing. If you know you know, this one is pretty much as perfect as the books in the series that came before and I have to admit that I slightly prefer the written Thursday to real Thursday. My other two favorite characters were the Mediocre Gatsby and Sprocket the android butler. There’s one more book left to complete the series, I’ll start re-reading and trying to catch all the references I missed on my first read!
November 28, 2018
The least entertaining of the series, yet still more entertaining than most books.
February 14, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this continuation of Thursday's story (which Thursday, you ask? Hm!). I always plan to read these books, unsure if I'll want to continue, and I always finish them wanting to continue, so I will be reading book 7, and I'm sad that's the last one, at least for now. These books are always so much fun, such easy reads, and so entertaining. As always, I love the allusions and the humor, the subtle digs and social commentaries (like the fact that the Sargasso Sea is near Fan Fiction...), and other elements that come up in each book. There's even a map in this edition! The map itself is extremely humorous and very telling.
What I didn't like about this book is that it pretty much takes place in the BookWorld and barely in the real world. That frustrates me because I love Fforde's take on the real world much more than the BookWorld although both worlds highlight his creativity and sense of humor nicely. What I did like was that Fforde finally comments on the convoluted plots in a satirical way, which made me smile. This one has a nice ending, not a cliffhanger ending, but I know there's a book 7, so I can only assume it'll be very different than this and take on a new plot, which I'm looking forward to. I want more Thursday (which one?? Hm...) and more Outland. Either way, I'm reading it, and I'm sure I'll be waiting for Book 8 if Fforde ever gets to write it! In the meantime, I also have a copy of Shades of Grey that I got at a used bookstore that I'm excited to read eventually too!
I recommend this book to Thursday Next fans. I don't think it would be appealing if it was your first encounter with Thursday and her story!
What I didn't like about this book is that it pretty much takes place in the BookWorld and barely in the real world. That frustrates me because I love Fforde's take on the real world much more than the BookWorld although both worlds highlight his creativity and sense of humor nicely. What I did like was that Fforde finally comments on the convoluted plots in a satirical way, which made me smile. This one has a nice ending, not a cliffhanger ending, but I know there's a book 7, so I can only assume it'll be very different than this and take on a new plot, which I'm looking forward to. I want more Thursday (which one?? Hm...) and more Outland. Either way, I'm reading it, and I'm sure I'll be waiting for Book 8 if Fforde ever gets to write it! In the meantime, I also have a copy of Shades of Grey that I got at a used bookstore that I'm excited to read eventually too!
I recommend this book to Thursday Next fans. I don't think it would be appealing if it was your first encounter with Thursday and her story!
January 20, 2019
I really enjoy Jasper Fforde’s writing. It sparkles. The problem is I don’t often find him in local bookstores, and Barnes and Noble appeals only to the lowest common denominator. In any case, I’ve read five of his novels and have been consistently impressed by his wit and humor. One of Our Thursdays Is Missing is part of his Thursday Next series. Although I haven’t done this, I recommend starting from the beginning and following the books in order. (I don’t, for reasons explained on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World). If you don’t, you can, to use one of Fforde’s titles, get lost in a good book.
Thursday Next is a literary detective. She has to prevent criminals from messing with the plots of books. The first volume, for instance, involved Jane Eyre. A parody of the hard-boiled detective genre, Fforde’s books are filled with clever images, imaginative characters, and many plot twists. This particular novel has so many twists that it’s rather hard to follow at places. It may very well be that I’ve missed something because I haven’t read the two novels between the first in the series and this one. Towards the end it seemed a bit too drawn out, but the first half of the book just shines.
Fforde has created a world within a world (within a world, more precisely) and has peopled it with enjoyable characters that you come to care about although they declare themselves to be fictions. There are so many characters, however, that it helps to read the books fairly close in time; it has been over a year since I read the next Next novel (I read the last one before this, the penultimate one) and details had become hazy. Fforde rewards the reader, however, with both style and panache. There’s also a serious plot here. One that calls for a literary detective…
Thursday Next is a literary detective. She has to prevent criminals from messing with the plots of books. The first volume, for instance, involved Jane Eyre. A parody of the hard-boiled detective genre, Fforde’s books are filled with clever images, imaginative characters, and many plot twists. This particular novel has so many twists that it’s rather hard to follow at places. It may very well be that I’ve missed something because I haven’t read the two novels between the first in the series and this one. Towards the end it seemed a bit too drawn out, but the first half of the book just shines.
Fforde has created a world within a world (within a world, more precisely) and has peopled it with enjoyable characters that you come to care about although they declare themselves to be fictions. There are so many characters, however, that it helps to read the books fairly close in time; it has been over a year since I read the next Next novel (I read the last one before this, the penultimate one) and details had become hazy. Fforde rewards the reader, however, with both style and panache. There’s also a serious plot here. One that calls for a literary detective…
July 12, 2013
Jasper Fforde is a man after my own heart. Firstly, he loves books. That's clear in the non-stop literary references that joyously abound in his novel "One of Our Thursdays is Missing". Secondly, he has a warped sense of humor, one that I appreciate. (If you love British humor like Monty Python, you will undoubtedly enjoy Fforde.)
Keep in mind, "OOOTIM" is part of a series (#7, I believe), one that I have not read prior to this one, and while the world he creates is an elaborate one, and the characters all have wonderful back-stories that I have apparently missed by not reading the previous books in the series, it did not detract from my enjoyment of this book at all.
The plot is too nonsensical to get into, but by way of explaining the basic premise of Fforde's series, I will say that it follows the sci-fi/fantasy motif inspired by fellow British authors Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Fforde's books are set in Bookworld, a vast (planet? alternate universe? dimensional plain?) in which every fictional character that has ever existed in print lives out their (semi-immortal) lives, when they're not "acting" out their parts in their respective books for readers in Realworld (i.e. our world). Readership is the lifeblood of Bookworldians. To have a low readership is to be a part of the "lower" classes in Bookworld. To be unread is unthinkable.
Most of Fforde's books are set on Fiction Island, which is comprised of numerous provinces based on genre. Crime, on the western coast of Fiction Island, borders Comedy to the east, which borders Horror. South of Horror is Fantasy and SF. North of Comedy is Racy Novel, bordered on its west by Womens' Fiction. The northeasternmost section of Fiction Island is Dogma. Cutting its way roughly down the center of the island is the majestic Metaphoric River.
Every once in a while, problems do occur on Fiction Island. Murders, abductions, and whatnot. The most recent trouble is brewing hostilities between Racy Novel's forces and those of Women's Fiction. War is on the horizon, and nobody wants that. Thankfully, the Fiction Island police force, the Jurisfiction, has sent in their best agent, Thursday Next (who also happens to be an actual human from the Realworld.) She has, unfortunately gone missing and is presumed dead. This leaves Thursday Next, her "written" self, to find the real Thursday and, in the meantime, stop an impending war.
I could gush on how much I love this book, but you'll do yourself a big favor by just going to the library or bookstore and picking up a copy yourself. Seriously, I can't recommend Fforde enough...
Keep in mind, "OOOTIM" is part of a series (#7, I believe), one that I have not read prior to this one, and while the world he creates is an elaborate one, and the characters all have wonderful back-stories that I have apparently missed by not reading the previous books in the series, it did not detract from my enjoyment of this book at all.
The plot is too nonsensical to get into, but by way of explaining the basic premise of Fforde's series, I will say that it follows the sci-fi/fantasy motif inspired by fellow British authors Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Fforde's books are set in Bookworld, a vast (planet? alternate universe? dimensional plain?) in which every fictional character that has ever existed in print lives out their (semi-immortal) lives, when they're not "acting" out their parts in their respective books for readers in Realworld (i.e. our world). Readership is the lifeblood of Bookworldians. To have a low readership is to be a part of the "lower" classes in Bookworld. To be unread is unthinkable.
Most of Fforde's books are set on Fiction Island, which is comprised of numerous provinces based on genre. Crime, on the western coast of Fiction Island, borders Comedy to the east, which borders Horror. South of Horror is Fantasy and SF. North of Comedy is Racy Novel, bordered on its west by Womens' Fiction. The northeasternmost section of Fiction Island is Dogma. Cutting its way roughly down the center of the island is the majestic Metaphoric River.
Every once in a while, problems do occur on Fiction Island. Murders, abductions, and whatnot. The most recent trouble is brewing hostilities between Racy Novel's forces and those of Women's Fiction. War is on the horizon, and nobody wants that. Thankfully, the Fiction Island police force, the Jurisfiction, has sent in their best agent, Thursday Next (who also happens to be an actual human from the Realworld.) She has, unfortunately gone missing and is presumed dead. This leaves Thursday Next, her "written" self, to find the real Thursday and, in the meantime, stop an impending war.
I could gush on how much I love this book, but you'll do yourself a big favor by just going to the library or bookstore and picking up a copy yourself. Seriously, I can't recommend Fforde enough...
April 15, 2011
As in the rest of the series, the latest volume in the Thursday Next oeuvre is fast moving, hysterically funny, and amazingly clever, but this time it’s also surprisingly moving. The fictional Thursday Next from the previous sequel is the lead, and in her struggles to save the intrepid real world Thursday Next by trying to figure out what her real world self would do, the fictional Thursday Next is oddly more sympathetic than her living, breathing counterpart.
One of Our Thursdays is Missing is set almost completely in Book World—the place where all the books we read are acted out, where Jane Eyre can cavort with Harry Potter or Hamlet or geologist Charles Lyell, where Rubik’s Cubes cannot be scrambled, where fan fiction versions of popular characters walk around as thin as paper, and where Mediocre Gatsby, Rupert Bond, and Tracy Capulet resent their more famous siblings. It’s a ridiculously fun alternate reality for book lovers.
All of the Thursday Next books are real treats, and so densely ingenious that I never want to read more than a chapter at a time. That means they spend a long time on my night stand, and now that this one is finished I feel bereft. The Thursday Next series is my favorite of Fforde’s books. Shades of Grey with its thoroughly imagined culture based on color perception was enticing enough to keep me reading, and the Nursery Crimes series is almost as clever and funny as Thursday Next, but in both cases I missed the literary illusions and of course the quick-witted, resourceful character of the fictional and real world Thursday Next.
One of Our Thursdays is Missing is set almost completely in Book World—the place where all the books we read are acted out, where Jane Eyre can cavort with Harry Potter or Hamlet or geologist Charles Lyell, where Rubik’s Cubes cannot be scrambled, where fan fiction versions of popular characters walk around as thin as paper, and where Mediocre Gatsby, Rupert Bond, and Tracy Capulet resent their more famous siblings. It’s a ridiculously fun alternate reality for book lovers.
All of the Thursday Next books are real treats, and so densely ingenious that I never want to read more than a chapter at a time. That means they spend a long time on my night stand, and now that this one is finished I feel bereft. The Thursday Next series is my favorite of Fforde’s books. Shades of Grey with its thoroughly imagined culture based on color perception was enticing enough to keep me reading, and the Nursery Crimes series is almost as clever and funny as Thursday Next, but in both cases I missed the literary illusions and of course the quick-witted, resourceful character of the fictional and real world Thursday Next.
June 6, 2011
I like the Thursday Next world, and had high hopes for this book, but it reads like a pale copy of the earlier ones (and considering it focuses on the character Thursday Next and not the real one, perhaps that was the intended effect). There are lots of colorful characters and settings; BookWorld converted into an Escher sphere and A Clockwork Butler stand out. The mysterious plot isn't solved until the end. This book was in places a chore to read, and must have been a chore to write, lending further credibility that the author is trying to kill off this series for good but can't bring himself to disappoint the readers (or is unwilling to shoot the 24k goose) and therefore is trying to snuff it out with disappointing sales. I'm not giving up on Fforde - his other books continue to be excellent - but I would rather he take a decade and return to Next with an unjaundiced muse than keep up with a series that's played itself out. Did I enjoy this book? Yes, but I enjoy books better that aren't tedious in places. If you have limited reading time and a lot of books to cover, you might want to put this in the "I'll get back to it later" pile.
July 6, 2020
This was a good time, but I wasn't ever able to lose myself in it. Seems fitting for a book I put on my Must Read list in 2011, and then didn't get to for nine years. Jasper Fforde is always at worst just a good time for me, but sometimes his stuff ascends to the brilliant level; this just wasn't that for me.
This book, to my surprise, doesn't even follow Thursday, but the written Thursday, formerly known as Thursday5, who failed her Jurisfiction training, and is now playing Thursday in the Bookworld. Almost the whole book takes place in the Bookworld. The real Thursday seems to have gone missing, and Jurisfiction has secretly asked Thursday to look into it. Also, Thursday is assigned to investigate the crashing of a book (they float sometimes, don't worry about it) and make sure there was nothing nefarious about it (there is). And lastly, there is a Genre War brewing between Women's Fiction and Racy Novel, and Thursday (the real one) was supposed to broker the peace talks. On top of all this, written Thursday is dealing with insurrection in her series, and a potential love interest who just won't leave her alone.
If you liked the previous Thursday Next novels, you will like this one. I missed the real Thursday, but I appreciated the new perspective written Thursday brought to her life and to Bookworld (her scenes with Landen and the kids were very poignant) and . The mystery was suitably clever, but I wasn't particularly engaged with it. I also found myself really bothered this time around by the entire notion of the Bookworld. It's always bugged me a little that giving the characters so much agency basically negates the role of an author, which is something that I find personally bothersome, but it really got to me this time. So all the cleverness related to the Bookworld (he has soooo much detailed worldbuilding, and most of it is jokes also) just didn't hit me as hard as it could.
The stuff with the mimes was great, though.
Jasper, where is Nursery Crime #3?
This book, to my surprise, doesn't even follow Thursday, but the written Thursday, formerly known as Thursday5, who failed her Jurisfiction training, and is now playing Thursday in the Bookworld. Almost the whole book takes place in the Bookworld. The real Thursday seems to have gone missing, and Jurisfiction has secretly asked Thursday to look into it. Also, Thursday is assigned to investigate the crashing of a book (they float sometimes, don't worry about it) and make sure there was nothing nefarious about it (there is). And lastly, there is a Genre War brewing between Women's Fiction and Racy Novel, and Thursday (the real one) was supposed to broker the peace talks. On top of all this, written Thursday is dealing with insurrection in her series, and a potential love interest who just won't leave her alone.
If you liked the previous Thursday Next novels, you will like this one. I missed the real Thursday, but I appreciated the new perspective written Thursday brought to her life and to Bookworld (her scenes with Landen and the kids were very poignant) and . The mystery was suitably clever, but I wasn't particularly engaged with it. I also found myself really bothered this time around by the entire notion of the Bookworld. It's always bugged me a little that giving the characters so much agency basically negates the role of an author, which is something that I find personally bothersome, but it really got to me this time. So all the cleverness related to the Bookworld (he has soooo much detailed worldbuilding, and most of it is jokes also) just didn't hit me as hard as it could.
The stuff with the mimes was great, though.
Jasper, where is Nursery Crime #3?
February 26, 2011
The written Thursday Next has a lot to handle. Since the destruction of Thursday1-4, Thursday5 has become the only written Thursday Next with five books falling to her. She views it her duty to due justice by the real Thursday Next, which none of her fellow book characters like. Under the regime of the previous Thursday they were allowed to run whatever scams and deals they felt like, secure in the knowledge of a strong reader base due to the amounts of sex and violence. That reader base is gone. There are now only a few die hard readers, leading the books to become more in danger. But the Bookworlds love of the real Thursday should keep their place at the far end of speculative fiction and fantasy. Of course, all these changes would be easier if the real Thursday would stop by and give a thumbs up to quell the rising discontent, especially at the arrival of Thursday's new understudy, Carmine.
Sadly, the understudy is a must, because while failing to be a Jurisfiction agent, Thursday has managed to get a little power investigating Bookworld accidents... one of which takes her across the remade Bookworld to conspiracy, where she not only finds something fishy, but she realizes people are thinking she's the real Thursday, not the written one. To add further confusion, she has ended up with the real Thursday's Jurisfiction badge, because the truth could be stranger than anything those conspiracy nuts could dream up. With doubt lingering as to where the real Thursday is and if the written Thursday might only think she's written and actually be real, Thursday, whichever she might be, views it her duty to get to the bottom of things with her trusty new sidekick, Sprocket, the automaton butler. But there are people who don't want the truth uncovered, mysterious Men in Plaid, and there's the peace talks with Racy novel coming at the end of the week that if Thursday isn't there for, could mean all out war. Sneaking off to the real world, Thursday finally meets the love of her life, Landen, omitted from the books for copyright reasons. It would be so tempting to stay, blue fairy it and become the real Thursday, whether she is or not. But the "Thursday" in whichever Thursday she is, won't allow questions to be left unanswered. So back in the Bookworld, secrets must be uncovered, the truth found and Thursday's identity solved.
Jasper Fforde books are usually very meta, but I think I've reached my threshold. This book was a Thursday Next book without Thursday Next. Instead we follow around the written Thursday, who, while thankfully is not contemplating her navel too much, is still just not Thursday enough. Even if she's able to confuse the other characters in the book, you could tell she wasn't the genuine article. There was just too much that bothered me in the book to make this an enjoyable read. The major gripe I have is the entire reinvention of the Bookworld. Instead of the Bookworld we knew and loved with the great library and jumping from book to book, now we have an actual world, there's even a map. Couple this with Thursday not really being Thursday and it's like Fforde is starting back at the beginning. I don't want to start back at the beginning! I have grown to know and love the characters and the world he has created, only to have him completely destroy it. Characters we cared for are now through the looking glass and act as vapid and self obsessed "actors." Turning everything on it's head we get too much Bookworld and not enough real world. You need grounding to make something this far out there work, and without Laden and the kids, there is no grounding. Plus the whole reason for the Racy Novel war, which has been brewing for a long time, seems to only work within the new world structure with a globe and geography... which leads me to wonder, why was there a war looming before the reinvention? But worst of all? The cliffhanger from previous novel is still unresolved with this "filler" book. There was no tying up of loose ends, just a lot of jokes and asides that led nowhere.
Now, my mini-rant above, doesn't mean that there wasn't things that I enjoyed. There was a through plot, which some of his previous books have lacked, it just wasn't the one I wanted. I also love how he is will to take the piss out of himself with the self mocking tone indicating that his books have an inherent crappiness that leads to them being remaindered. Of course he also hints, that these are almost proto novels, his books aren't done, and it will take written Thursday's intervention for the books to evolve into the books we know and love. The Thursday Next books aren't "there" yet, but one day, they will be. I also liked the little Agatha Christie Death on the Nile parody as well as Jenny's existence being established. It was also nice to see Fforde reaching out to currently popular genres like Steampunk and Fan Fic, which, while Fan Fic does verge on the line of plagiarism, I like that the island was a fun and happy place, if lacking depth. It kind of reminded me of a Con. But at the end of the day, the little things didn't help the big things. I hope that the next Thursday Next book actually has Thursday and not some pale imitation. Each book has been a little weaker, and a little more a shadow of the initial genius of The Eyre Affair, and maybe it's time to put Thursday out to pasture, because if this "reinvention" was a way to try to invigorate the series, it failed. If given the choice though, I still think he should focus on writing the follow up to Shades of Grey, the best book he's ever written and one of my favorites of all time.
Sadly, the understudy is a must, because while failing to be a Jurisfiction agent, Thursday has managed to get a little power investigating Bookworld accidents... one of which takes her across the remade Bookworld to conspiracy, where she not only finds something fishy, but she realizes people are thinking she's the real Thursday, not the written one. To add further confusion, she has ended up with the real Thursday's Jurisfiction badge, because the truth could be stranger than anything those conspiracy nuts could dream up. With doubt lingering as to where the real Thursday is and if the written Thursday might only think she's written and actually be real, Thursday, whichever she might be, views it her duty to get to the bottom of things with her trusty new sidekick, Sprocket, the automaton butler. But there are people who don't want the truth uncovered, mysterious Men in Plaid, and there's the peace talks with Racy novel coming at the end of the week that if Thursday isn't there for, could mean all out war. Sneaking off to the real world, Thursday finally meets the love of her life, Landen, omitted from the books for copyright reasons. It would be so tempting to stay, blue fairy it and become the real Thursday, whether she is or not. But the "Thursday" in whichever Thursday she is, won't allow questions to be left unanswered. So back in the Bookworld, secrets must be uncovered, the truth found and Thursday's identity solved.
Jasper Fforde books are usually very meta, but I think I've reached my threshold. This book was a Thursday Next book without Thursday Next. Instead we follow around the written Thursday, who, while thankfully is not contemplating her navel too much, is still just not Thursday enough. Even if she's able to confuse the other characters in the book, you could tell she wasn't the genuine article. There was just too much that bothered me in the book to make this an enjoyable read. The major gripe I have is the entire reinvention of the Bookworld. Instead of the Bookworld we knew and loved with the great library and jumping from book to book, now we have an actual world, there's even a map. Couple this with Thursday not really being Thursday and it's like Fforde is starting back at the beginning. I don't want to start back at the beginning! I have grown to know and love the characters and the world he has created, only to have him completely destroy it. Characters we cared for are now through the looking glass and act as vapid and self obsessed "actors." Turning everything on it's head we get too much Bookworld and not enough real world. You need grounding to make something this far out there work, and without Laden and the kids, there is no grounding. Plus the whole reason for the Racy Novel war, which has been brewing for a long time, seems to only work within the new world structure with a globe and geography... which leads me to wonder, why was there a war looming before the reinvention? But worst of all? The cliffhanger from previous novel is still unresolved with this "filler" book. There was no tying up of loose ends, just a lot of jokes and asides that led nowhere.
Now, my mini-rant above, doesn't mean that there wasn't things that I enjoyed. There was a through plot, which some of his previous books have lacked, it just wasn't the one I wanted. I also love how he is will to take the piss out of himself with the self mocking tone indicating that his books have an inherent crappiness that leads to them being remaindered. Of course he also hints, that these are almost proto novels, his books aren't done, and it will take written Thursday's intervention for the books to evolve into the books we know and love. The Thursday Next books aren't "there" yet, but one day, they will be. I also liked the little Agatha Christie Death on the Nile parody as well as Jenny's existence being established. It was also nice to see Fforde reaching out to currently popular genres like Steampunk and Fan Fic, which, while Fan Fic does verge on the line of plagiarism, I like that the island was a fun and happy place, if lacking depth. It kind of reminded me of a Con. But at the end of the day, the little things didn't help the big things. I hope that the next Thursday Next book actually has Thursday and not some pale imitation. Each book has been a little weaker, and a little more a shadow of the initial genius of The Eyre Affair, and maybe it's time to put Thursday out to pasture, because if this "reinvention" was a way to try to invigorate the series, it failed. If given the choice though, I still think he should focus on writing the follow up to Shades of Grey, the best book he's ever written and one of my favorites of all time.
September 4, 2011
Original post at One More Page
I was planning to put off reading Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next book until I found the time to reread the first five books. It's been years since I last read any of them, so I thought I'd appreciate reading this latest one better if I read the first ones again. Never mind that there are five of them and it would take significant time off my real TBR. But then I got sick a few weeks before I had to fly to Europe, which got me worried about all kinds of things especially because of that trip to Europe. I needed a book to get my mind off the possibilities that my 48-hour on/off fever could mean, so I finally decided to unearth TN #6 out of the TBR pile. If there was an ultimate escape novel, I figured Thursday Next should be one.
Some spoilers for the first five books -- be warned!
So the last time Thursday Next was in the Book World, she ended up looking for a replacement for her character in her series because the original fictional Thursday Next was too violent to be her. One of Our Thursdays is Missing is told from this new fictional Thursday's point of view -- a gentler, bohemian character who never tries to make waves even if it means being the boring Thursday Next that no one likes. But when she gets called by the Jurisfiction to investigate a crashed TransGenre Taxi. Fictional Thursday Next finds herself in the middle of a mystery that gets her involved in all sorts of fictional drama, and a robot butler to boot. With the real Thursday Next missing, it's up to fictional Thursday Next to save the day.
I think it was Aaron who mentioned the perfect word to describe the Thursday Next series: it's so meta. The first five Thursday Next books are pretty much meta-fiction - fiction about fiction. It's what makes all the books so much fun to read especially for book-lovers, because we're basically reading about books that we may or may not have read. And just as when you think that Jasper Fforde has no way to impress longtime fans of the series, he does something completely surprising and makes it work. If the first five books were meta-fiction, the sixth book is meta-Thursday Next. Meta-meta-fiction - that's what this is. Kind of hard to wrap my mind around it, but it still works. One of Our Thursdays is Missing has all elements of a Fforde novel: seemingly random characters, odd accidents, mystery, murder, all wrapped in a fun, seemingly absurd package. Jasper Fforde is a genius, I tell you. :)
This book cheered me up so much while I was sick, especially after reading lines like these:
I fell asleep several times while I was reading this. I wonder who was hitting the Snooze button.
Hee hee!
I was a bit afraid that it would be hard to get back into the series again especially since it's been so long since I read the first five books, but given that this book is narrated by the fictional Thursday Next, I didn't have such a hard time. I don't recommend starting the series with this book, though, but there is no need to reread the other books to make sense of this one.
One of Our Thursdays is Missing probably isn't as witty as the first four books (best one for me is still Something Rotten ), but it's a good and fun addition to an already awesome series. :) The question is: will there be a next Thursday Next book? I sure hope so! :)
I was planning to put off reading Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next book until I found the time to reread the first five books. It's been years since I last read any of them, so I thought I'd appreciate reading this latest one better if I read the first ones again. Never mind that there are five of them and it would take significant time off my real TBR. But then I got sick a few weeks before I had to fly to Europe, which got me worried about all kinds of things especially because of that trip to Europe. I needed a book to get my mind off the possibilities that my 48-hour on/off fever could mean, so I finally decided to unearth TN #6 out of the TBR pile. If there was an ultimate escape novel, I figured Thursday Next should be one.
Some spoilers for the first five books -- be warned!
So the last time Thursday Next was in the Book World, she ended up looking for a replacement for her character in her series because the original fictional Thursday Next was too violent to be her. One of Our Thursdays is Missing is told from this new fictional Thursday's point of view -- a gentler, bohemian character who never tries to make waves even if it means being the boring Thursday Next that no one likes. But when she gets called by the Jurisfiction to investigate a crashed TransGenre Taxi. Fictional Thursday Next finds herself in the middle of a mystery that gets her involved in all sorts of fictional drama, and a robot butler to boot. With the real Thursday Next missing, it's up to fictional Thursday Next to save the day.
I think it was Aaron who mentioned the perfect word to describe the Thursday Next series: it's so meta. The first five Thursday Next books are pretty much meta-fiction - fiction about fiction. It's what makes all the books so much fun to read especially for book-lovers, because we're basically reading about books that we may or may not have read. And just as when you think that Jasper Fforde has no way to impress longtime fans of the series, he does something completely surprising and makes it work. If the first five books were meta-fiction, the sixth book is meta-Thursday Next. Meta-meta-fiction - that's what this is. Kind of hard to wrap my mind around it, but it still works. One of Our Thursdays is Missing has all elements of a Fforde novel: seemingly random characters, odd accidents, mystery, murder, all wrapped in a fun, seemingly absurd package. Jasper Fforde is a genius, I tell you. :)
This book cheered me up so much while I was sick, especially after reading lines like these:
The Snooze button was reserved only for dire emergencies. Once utilised, a reverse throughput capacitor on the ImaginoTransference engines would cause the reader instantaneous yawning, drowsiness and then sleep...To discourage misuse, every time the button was pressed one or more kittens were put to death somewhere in the Book World. (p. 26-27)
I fell asleep several times while I was reading this. I wonder who was hitting the Snooze button.
Harry Potter was seriously pissed off that he'd have to spend the rest of his life looking like Daniel Radcliffe. (p. 75)
Hee hee!
"The Great Gatsby drives taxis in his spare time?"
"No, his younger and less handsome or less intelligent brother -- the Mediocre Gatsby." (p. 273)
I was a bit afraid that it would be hard to get back into the series again especially since it's been so long since I read the first five books, but given that this book is narrated by the fictional Thursday Next, I didn't have such a hard time. I don't recommend starting the series with this book, though, but there is no need to reread the other books to make sense of this one.
One of Our Thursdays is Missing probably isn't as witty as the first four books (best one for me is still Something Rotten ), but it's a good and fun addition to an already awesome series. :) The question is: will there be a next Thursday Next book? I sure hope so! :)
May 8, 2011
After five books in a series, readers may find themselves getting tired of the series’ protagonist. I remember that in later books in the Harry Potter series I began to find him annoying. And often in long-running mystery series I need to take a break for a while from the character before returning. At the same time, however, I still care about the character and do want to know more. I’m just saturated.
Jasper Fforde, being the brilliant man that he is, solves this problem in his sixth Thursday Next book. He gives us a Thursday Next novel without Thursday, or at least without the original Thursday. Instead we get one of the fictional Thursdays as the main character, providing us with a fresh perspective while still feeling like we’re visiting an old friend. Genius!
Of course this sort of trick can only work in the highly original Bookworld that Fforde has created. In the first four books of the series, Thursday (the original) travels in and out of fiction, policing both the real world as a SpecOps (special operations) officer and as an agent of Jurisfiction in the world of novels. In the fifth book, we meet the Thursday’s fictional counterparts (the fictional versions of the first four books in the series) allowing Fforde to write a Thursday book without Thursday for the sixth.
Yes, it hurts the brain a little to think about it, but it’s such an exquisite pain.
If you’re a fan of time travel paradoxes, meta-fiction, absurd humor and strong female protagonists, then you MUST read the Thursday Next novels. Now. Seriously. What are you still doing here?
Jasper Fforde, being the brilliant man that he is, solves this problem in his sixth Thursday Next book. He gives us a Thursday Next novel without Thursday, or at least without the original Thursday. Instead we get one of the fictional Thursdays as the main character, providing us with a fresh perspective while still feeling like we’re visiting an old friend. Genius!
Of course this sort of trick can only work in the highly original Bookworld that Fforde has created. In the first four books of the series, Thursday (the original) travels in and out of fiction, policing both the real world as a SpecOps (special operations) officer and as an agent of Jurisfiction in the world of novels. In the fifth book, we meet the Thursday’s fictional counterparts (the fictional versions of the first four books in the series) allowing Fforde to write a Thursday book without Thursday for the sixth.
Yes, it hurts the brain a little to think about it, but it’s such an exquisite pain.
If you’re a fan of time travel paradoxes, meta-fiction, absurd humor and strong female protagonists, then you MUST read the Thursday Next novels. Now. Seriously. What are you still doing here?
May 27, 2011
We love the word play and literary jokes in this series, so always read them out loud. In this one Thursday Next, the protagonist, runs into a "mime field," for example, where she has to laugh and applaud or the mimes start getting aggressive. However, this installment was pretty slow-going. It took at least half the book to set up the plot, and it was too full of meta-explanations about the Bookworld and its functions and politics. There was lots of running around from genre to genre which seemed mostly for the sake of setting up genre jokes, and lots of navel-gazing by this book's Thursday, who was the written Thursday - or maybe not - since the human Thursday whose life she enacts in fiction has gone missing. And if that sentence doesn't make any sense to you, then welcome to the book - or the series. I don't think anyone could dive into this book without reading the previous five.
We stuck with it, and chuckled out loud a couple of times, but dearly hope that the next Thursday Next book is a little more fast-paced and less concerned with complex and unnecessary meta-level subplots.
Sample quote from Bradshaw's Bookworld Companion, which heads up every chapter:
Off the coast lies Vanity Island, and off Vanity lies Fan Fiction. Beyond Fan Fiction is School Essays and beyond that Excuses for Not Doing School Essays. The latter is often the most eloquent, constructed as it is in the white-hot heat of panic, necessity and the desire not to get a detention (p. 328).
We stuck with it, and chuckled out loud a couple of times, but dearly hope that the next Thursday Next book is a little more fast-paced and less concerned with complex and unnecessary meta-level subplots.
Sample quote from Bradshaw's Bookworld Companion, which heads up every chapter:
Off the coast lies Vanity Island, and off Vanity lies Fan Fiction. Beyond Fan Fiction is School Essays and beyond that Excuses for Not Doing School Essays. The latter is often the most eloquent, constructed as it is in the white-hot heat of panic, necessity and the desire not to get a detention (p. 328).
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