One of Our Thursdays Is Missing

Jasper Fforde

The written, fictional Thursday Next is sitting around in her little read book, ready to go into action with the other characters when a reader decides to pick up their novel. Their readership is on the decline, but there are still some out there in RealWorld. Although she wasn't able to get a job with Jurisfiction like the real Thursday, this Thursday works for the accident investigation department. Recently she has discovered the real Thursday is missing from both RealWorld and BookWorld. She wishes she could be more like the real Thursday rather than the way the real Thursday wants her to be.

Thursday is called in when a book crashes down in the newly remade BookWorld. She has a new stand-in to cover while she is on her mission. A new assistant joins her - Sprocket, the wind up robot. She goes to the crash site in Fiction and starts digging. The book is almost gone, the ISBN scrubbed, and few identifiable pieces available. She can't understand what is happening and now has a puzzle. While on the mission, she peeks into RealWorld to see if she can get a clue of the real Thursday's current status - still missing.

In order to solve the puzzle and protect the peace talks currently happening in BookWorld, fictional Thursday travels throughout BookWorld and into RealWorld. She may be a softer, more dignified version of Thursday, but she still has to solve puzzles and find out what is happening. If she's lucky, she find a clue to where real Thursday is as well.

The first half of One of Our Thursdays Is Missing is slow. I only kept going because, well, this is Thursday Next. Once the fictional Thursday visits RealWorld and becomes more like the real Thursday the book picks up. There is some word play in Jasper Fforde's latest book in the Thursday Next series. The "encyclopedia" entries at the beginning of each chapter are humorous. Yet One of Our Thursdays Is Missing is a bit of a disappointment overall.

I like the newly remade BookWorld. It's fun to watch Fforde play with genres and how they are constantly changing. The peace talks mentioned are between Racy Novel and Women's Fiction. There is a mimefield in Comedy that should be avoided. Past Racy Novel is Outdated Religious Dogma. Thursday and her characters live on the edge of Fantasy. The landmarks, streets, train stations, etc, are named after famous authors. Fforde includes a map in the front of One of Our Thursdays Is Missing. Also included in the first American edition is a post card showing the village of Syntax. I still haven't untangled the phrase on the sign.

This book is still a must for anyone who has kept up with Thursday Next after the first novel. But don't start with it. Go back and read The Eyre Affair instead.

The Eyre Affair
Lost in a Good Book
The Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten
First Among Sequels
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing