Review: The Big Over Easy

I wanted a way to help me keep track of the books I read and my thoughts on them. So I've decided to use the blogging medium for this purpose. Who knows if this will develop the on-again, off-again relationship I seem to have with my blog.

Anyway, the book to be reviewed is The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde.

I found this book by chance. Former work colleagues went on a trip to Ireland and when they came back had created a travelblog, called The Eyre Affair, a reference to one of Fforde's earlier works. I found The Eyre Affair while perusing the shelves at an Chapters bookstore. I flipped through a few other of Fforde's titles and came to The Big Over Easy. I read the back and I was smitten. Since reading Wicked, I have grown an affection for "riffs" on traditional stories.

Using the children's nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty, as a base for the story Fforde writes a wonderful whodunnit. The main characters are Detective Inspector Jack Spratt, director of the Nursery Crimes Division of the Reading Police Department and Detective Sargent Mary Mary, Spratt's partner. They are charged with finding Humpty's killer. However, as with every good mystery, the story takes many turns and not everything is as it appears as Spratt and Mary crawl further down the rabbit hole.

The story is filled with many literary allusions and references. Fforde definitely rewards geeks who read carefully and can pick up his many literature inside jokes. His use of words and ironic sense makes the book a hilarious read. The "news blurbs" that open each chapter are very funny and help to create a deep and real world. This is another reason why I loved Fforde's work. He is able to balance both the fantastical and the real and thus create a great book.