Whenever one of my favorite authors begin a new series or a new book, it becomes a test to see how much I really like the author. By reading another book or another series by the same author, it allows a reader to view the writer differently. You can discover whether you really enjoy that authors writing, or whether it is the characters and/or plot of one particular book or series that you like. Sometimes, you can tell whether you like the writing or just the story, but other times you can’t.
About three years ago, I read my first book by Jasper Fforde. The book was called The Eyre Affair and featured a woman named Thursday Next. I first read this book because of the obvious connection to Jane Eyre, which is one of my favorite books. I loved the world Fforde had created with that first book and have since read all of the other books in that series. I was very disappointed when he announced that he wasn’t going to write another Thursday Next books, but he was starting a new series that features Jack Spratt, a character who appeared in Thursday’s world.
So, after waiting over a year and then breaking down and reading the first book in the new series, I was very disappointed. The Big Over Easy is not even close to being as good as the Thursday Next series. It is not as engaging as Thursday’s books. I had no problem putting this book down and walking away from it. I actually read an entire other book before going back to the story of Humpty Dumpty’s death.
Seeing the characters from nursery rhymes-such as Mary Mary (quite contrary) and the Gingerbread Man (they finally caught him)-living as normal people was a great premise, but Fforde’s writing fell flat when hinting at what nursery rhyme some of the characters were from. Other Me didn’t even recognize Mary Mary from her rhyme until I pointed it out to her. As for myself, I got most of the character references, but I’m sure I missed some of them. This book also wasn’t as funny as the Thursday series was.
Maybe it’s wrong to compare this book to another series, but even without the comparison this book is not engaging. I didn’t get caught up in the plot or the characters and, even though it was a very far out ending, I still guessed what it was. I both love and hate when I can do that. Every once in a while I’m still surprised by an ending, but the more I read the easier it is to guess where the author is going with a plot. It’s that whole “there are only seven plots” theory working in overdrive.
Oh well. I gave Fforde a chance and was vastly disappointed. I don’t think I’ll be reading the second book in this series, but he has announced another installment in the Thursday Next series so I can just wait for that one.
