Thursday, meet Thursday

Those who have read this blog before know of my love for the extremely creative and very unique novelist Jasper Fforde. (He's so unique, his last name needs 2 F's!) (Actually, I think that's Welsh.) Anyway, the latest Thursday Next book is out and it's a treat of creative weirdness.

By now, I really hope everyone knows who Thursday Next is: the Spec Ops agent in an alternative-universe Britain who also fights crime inside novels. (See what I mean about the creativity!) In our last meeting with Thursday, in First Among Sequels, several years had passed and Thursday was older as were her children, Friday, Tuesday, and Jenny. The book ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger as Thursday was pulled back into the world of Jurisfiction one last time.

One of Our Thursdays is Missing takes everything you know about Thursday Next, the Bookworld, and Jurisfiction, and turns it all inside out and upside down. After 5 books, I wasn't sure where Fforde could go, and he's totally surprised me by reinventing the series and looking at things from a whole new point of view.

Yes, the main character in this book is still Thursday Next. But not that "real-life" Thursday Next that we've come to know and love after several books. This is Thursday's doppelganger; the "fictional" Thursday Next who in First Among Sequels was so hippy-dippy. She's less so here, but still retains an essential sweetness and naivete. I think this is very clever of Fforde - it gives the Thursday series a new breath of life and allows the reader to see Thursday and her adventures from a new point of view - even though it's sort of the same point of view.

But Fforde also plays around with the Bookworld and gives it form and shape. Whereas previous incarnations of the Bookworld focused more on the library and Jurisfiction, this novel looks more at the Bookworld and at the "characters" (literally!) who populate it.

This book is a crazy fun-house ride of amazing. There is a plot surrounding the mystery of the missing Thursday Next (the "real-life" one), but it's almost secondary to exploring and learning about the Bookworld from a fictional person's point of view. Plus, the plot is fairly convoluted and I think I'm going to have to read the book again to really get what was going on!

For fans of the series, you've probably already picked this book up. For new readers, I wouldn't recommend starting here. I think you should begin with the first Thursday Next novel - The Eyre Affair. This book changed how I read books forever - I now cannot read any book without thinking of all the things that are going on behind the scenes. I can't recommend this series enough - but begin with the first book and then work your way up to One of Our Thursdays is Missing. I think you will appreciate it a lot more. Speaking of, I may have to begin again with the first book and reread the series this summer myself! It's always a crazy-fun time with Jasper Fforde and I highly recommend all of his books.