The Big Over Easy

Book: The Big Over Easy
Author: Jasper Fforde
Audience: Adult
In an Eggshell: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall- and it was no accident

Two days after meeting the author, I finished the book (slightly behind schedule). It was a fun read, although I have to say it wasn't as good as the Thursday Next series. However, it was actually the first book he wrote, so it's a good sign that his later writings have improved.

Like I mentioned in the Fforde entry below, in this book Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and Detective Sergeant Mary Mary (as in "quite contrary") investigate the death of Humpty Dumpty. Jack's work has long been hampered by the state of modern crime-solving. The readability of an investigation once it is published in Amazing Crime Stories has become more important than finding the truth. Twists, turns, not too many cliches, and a detective with unique and interesting foibles will all help a case get recognition, funding, and a fair trial. It doesn't hurt to be part of the powerful and selective Guild of Detectives, either, which Jack is not, but the pompous but popular Friedland Chymes is. All sorts of fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters are mixed into an otherwise normal portrayal of Reading (rhymes with wedding), a town west of London. Normal, except for the anthropomorphized pigs. And a revered but never explained artifact called the Sacred Gonga. And the presence of really boring aliens who love paperwork and Fawlty Towers. So maybe normal is the wrong word. But like with the Thursday Next series, the combination of the mundane, the fantastic, and the just plain batty is good for all sorts of chuckles, and the occasional guffaw. Don't look for tight plotting or edge-of-your-seat suspense; just laugh when it's funny. If you don't think it's funny, you should put it down.

Puns, plays on words, and plays on well-known characters and stories abound, and they're much more over-the-top than in Thursday Next. Mr. Fforde shared an interesting tidbit of his writing process relating to all the story references. He wrote The Big Over Easy first, followed by The Fourth Bear. At this point, he had used up most of the fairy tales and nursery rhymes he knew, so he moved on to literary characters in his next book. Knowing that this one could very well end up on the unpublished shelf with the first two freed him up to write whatever he wanted, however silly or outlandish it was. And thus The Eyre Affair was born. See what nice trivia you can pick up at author appearances? Great for impressing your friends and co-workers. As long as they're big bookworms like you.