The book equivalent of Marmite
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You will either love or hate the work of Jasper Fforde. Please don't get me wrong, it is a brilliantly written book and stuffed full of imagination. But this sort of writing comes in two flavours: That of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchit and that of Jasper Fforde. I prefer the former as I found the latter too much to handle (like the Naked Gun films). That is not to say he is a bad writer, just not for me. Please My Fforde write me one without nursery rhythm characters. I can however see why others would enjoy it.
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surreal brilliance
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This was the first Fforde I read. Bought as a holiday read, on impulse because of the cover and the synopsis on the back; You could hear the film noir muted trumpet playing in the background! What a revelation this man is. He truly is a mix of Python, Adams & Pratchett. No spoilers from me, the synopsis here should be enough to draw you in; it is the death of Humpty Dumpty after all! The humour is imaginative and surreal and some of the nursery rhyme based jokes are put in like throw away lines, but they're just too clever for that (just think about Jack Spratt's nursery rhyme). Have now read some of the Thursday Next as well, also highly recommended and every bit as imaginative and surreal. Fforde is certainly not mainstream, but he is a genius and if those 2 things appeal to you, then go ahead, buy it, you really will have a gem in your hands. I really need more than 5 stars available for this man.
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Excellent hokum
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The unfortunate Detective Inspector Jack Spratt, head of the Reading Police Department's Nursery Crime Division is in bad odour, not merely because he has failed to get any of his cases dramatised on television or even published in Amazing Crime Stories, but also because his recent prosecutions failed. His attempt to get the Three Pigs convicted on the grounds that boiling Mr Wolff alive had been premeditated and beyond the reasonable force required to protect themselves, was thrown out by a jury (the youngest pig had refused to squeal on the others). "Those pigs should have fried," Jack mutters. Then there was the farmer's wife who beat a cruelty charge for cutting mice tails off with a carving knife. But everything changes when, accompanied by a new sidekick, Sergeant Mary Mary[correct], he takes on the case of the death of a certain egghead called Humpty Dumpty who seems to have died from injuries sustained from a fall from a nearby wall. Before long Jack and Mary are deeply embroiled in high society skulduggery. The amazing thing is that Jasper Forde manages to sustain this highly enjoyable hokum for 400 pages without going off the boil. Very funny.
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A Cracking Good Read!
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Jasper Fforde is one of those authors I am extremely happy to have stumbled upon as I would never have found his books in a million years otherwise. A handy "3 for 2" offer at a high street book store soon sorted that out though!
The Big Over Easy is the first in a series of books by Fforde based around Reading's Nurcery Crime Division. The NCD is headed up by Detective Inspector Jack Spratt (with two t's) and it is their job to take care of any crimes involving nursery rhyme characters (who seem to frequent Reading). The department is laughably underfunded and understaffed and seen, by pretty much everyone else in the police force, as a bit of a joke.
This book centres around the investigation into the murder of Humpty Dumpty who was found in pieces at the bottom of a wall one night. Joined on the case by Detective Sergent Mary Mary, Jack Spratt follows the clues and leads while encountering other nursery characters and getting more and more baffled.
The book is wonderfully silly and had be laughing out loud many times, even when I re-read it oh holiday this year. A great book that's easy to read, I'd recommend this to anyone with a sense of humour.
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The first of many hopefully
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I enjoyed this book. I like Fforde's quirky sense of humour and his extremely odd view of the world. The idea of the Nursery Crime Division, with characters such as Humpty Dumpty and Prometheus living next door to Mr and Mrs Joe Average, is appealing and a logical sequence from the literary crimes of his other fictional heroine Tuesday Next. Here, Jack Spratt tackles the death of Humpty Dumpty with his sidekick Mary Mary. I love the fifties style noir effects and the conscious deconstruction of textual practice, but it wasn't as strong a story as the Next books. Looking forward to the sequel as I'm sure they will improve.
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