Lost in a Good Book

Lost in a Good Book is Fforde's next fast-paced escapade in the story of literary detective Thursday Next. Like the first book, The Eyre Affair, the book mingles adventure with references and characters from well-known classic literature. Luckily you don't have to have read all the classic literature referenced, you'll still understand the story. And, of course, his high and low brow puns.

In Lost in a Good Book world Fforde fleshes out the world presented in The Eyre Affair. He enhances it with literary figures who dip in and out of reality. They deliver the lines given to them by their respective authors, then off they go and live their lives. In this case Thursday ends up as the apprentice to Miss Havisham, from Great Expectations. This is so she can enter “The Raven” and rescue her husband. How Fforde came up with this and his other ideas is remarkable. He has a vivid imagination and a fluid and smooth writing style. It feels old fashioned but modern too.

I enjoyed this novel more than his first. He enhances and expands the imagery and world building . The Eyre Affair has a plot driven by external events, such as the Crimean War. Lost in a Good Book is much more insular. The plot takes place either within books or via the actions of the characters from the books. However, apart from Thursday and Miss Havisham most of these other characters are underdeveloped and lack depth. They are there as plot devices. They do interesting things rather than being interesting themselves. Fforde compensates for this with a highly articulate and engaging style.

Also, at times the various sub-plots don't always mesh together particularly well. Various story strands are at first confusing and need re-reading to grasp how they have been resolved or how they fit into the story. This jerks the reader out of the novel.

But these are minor criticisms and if you liked the first book then you'll love Lost in a Good Book too. Fforde shows he's excellent at composing off-the-wall imaginative stories which span many genres. Get lost in a good book by reading Lost in a Good Book!