Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: February 01, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 538299
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Jasper Fforde has done it again in this genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainment. After two rollicking New York Times bestselling adventures through Western literature, resourceful literary detective Thursday Next definitely needs some downtime. And what better place for a respite than in the hidden depths of the Well of Lost Plots, where all unpublished books reside? But peace and quiet remain elusive for Thursday, who soon discovers that the Well is a veritable linguistic free-for-all, where grammasites run rampant, plot devices are hawked on the grey market, and lousy books—like the one she has taken up residence in—are scrapped for salvage. To make matters worse, a murderer is stalking the personnel of Jurisfiction and it’s up to Thursday to save the day. A brilliant feat of literary showmanship filled with wit, fantasy, and effervescent originality, this Ffordian tour de force is the most exciting Thursday Next adventure yet.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Like all of Fforde's books, this one doesn't present itself well for and easy summary. In fact because the plot is not really a plot but more like a 'stream of unconsciousness' or a Marx Brothers movie, it's best to just flow along and not worry about a 'plot' as such.
This is 'situational' writing. Fforde puts Thursday in a situation, and then spends the rest of the book, getting her out of all kinds of plots that do or do not have anything to do with the situation. In this book Thursday, who is pregnant (by her non-existent husband, Landon), goes to hide in the book world from her antagonist Hades sister, who is trying to wipe out Thursday's memory. Got that?
A good part of the book is used to set-up his second series 'nursery crime division' which she does as, uh... read the book. Just let me say that it's all verbal fun and verbage.
Rated by buyers -
Jam packed with plot and characters, this book is almost too clever for it's own good.About two thirds of the way through I gave up trying to tie all the loose ends together and just let myself be swept along by the flow of ideas and images - and I really enjoyed the ride.
The jokes are mostly literary but there are some lovely original characters, like the heroine Thursday Next and her wonderfully bumbling pet dodo, Pickwick.
I won't give this book five stars because I suspect that Thursday isn't strong enough to survive without the plots and characters borrowed from other writers.
Rated by buyers 
-
Undercover operative.
Or perhaps between covers, as there is a lot of hiding out in books and exploring the alternate fictional reality for new agent Next.
A detective of course, in these non-realistic fluffier type mysteries has to have a murder (or several), and that is certainly what she gets, in amongst the book shows and libraries of anything, and bad guys out to get her.
Quirky, but the mystery part isn't too interesting.
3 out of 5
Rated by buyers 
-
Wonderful - the author invites us into a fascinating world that is both recognizable and original. The characters are clever, ingenious, warm, endearing and captivating - the multi-plots weave their way around the story line apparently writing themselves and the subsequent book to come. All the while this delightfully engaging complexity dances around a mystery that can be solved by the attentive reader but still surprises. This is a book writers book to read. Habitually, after my very first reading, I purchase the book on Cd and listen to it again while driving. All of this author's books are great - may Jasper Fford live forever so that the series never ends - did I say it was wonderful?
Rated by buyers -
All of the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde are rollicking literate adventures through a parallel universe of Jurisfiction Detectives and Special Operations work around the slightly wonky town of Swindon, England. As a fan of airships, speeding motorcars, literary references and toast with jam, I find the series worth reading over and over until the subsequent Next installment.
Find other books like this one:
