The Woman Who Died a Lot / Jasper Fforde

The Woman Who Died a Lot
by Jasper Fforde
Thursday Next (8)

humor, science fiction

copyright 2012
read in April 2014

rated 9/10: really, really good

So many good points ! Where to start ?!

As I read The Woman I thought, This is the way that I would like to write ! As I read more I thought, There is no way I could write this well !

Humour with a science fiction basis. Some social satire... but more a social commentary. By which I mean, this book is not a biting satire of today's society. It is -- occasionally -- a gentle poke at the silliness of our world.

There is even a touch of non-intrusive author's opinion. What else is the role of the Enid Blyton activist, if not to present an author's opinion ? Yes, she allows the heroine to use her car. She also allows the heroine to step briefly outside the plot, to deliver an opinion which is otherwise irrelevant to the story.

The essential science is just as I like it: logically coherent, fast-tracked from future possibility and ludicrously unlikely. Just read the explanation as to why time travel has never worked... :-)

The author won a P.G. Wodehouse award for humour. Well deserved ! Like Wodehouse, Fforde writes an entertaining story. With delightful and likeable characters... Even the less likeable characters are, well, quite likeable :-)

There are several plot lines, independent yet linked. Each wrapped up in a perfectly satisfactory and suitably logical fashion. Logical within the essential characteristics of the Thursday Next world, that is.

Okay there are a couple of characters who provide deus ex machina support. Yet not with a sudden bolt of lightning... More of a touch of gentle support as the heroine reaches the end of her own resources.

As to the book series: this is the first that I have read and it's number eight. There are characters who have clearly developed over the several decades span of the books. They are not there simply because an appearance is required by their contracts. They each have a role to play.

The heroine has also aged, with the passing of time from book to book. Both age and previous injuries have slowed her body, if not her mind. Of course the walking stick and limp are essential to one of the plots...

Enough ! A very enjoyable book and I would like to spend all day discussing its various merits ! But I would rather finish this review -- and finish reading the book for a second time. A second reading and I am discovering even more to enjoy :-)

A great pleasure to discover such an enjoyable book. I look forward to reading the first in the series. Very soon.

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