Preview
  • One of Our Thursdays is Missing

  • A Novel
  • By: Jasper Fforde
  • Narrated by: Emily Gray
  • Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (954 ratings)

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One of Our Thursdays is Missing

By: Jasper Fforde
Narrated by: Emily Gray
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Publisher's summary

Deftly blending such genres as mystery, science fiction, and classic literature, Jasper Fforde’s gleefully irreverent New York Times best-selling Thursday Next novels defy categorization. In this sixth installment, the threat of all-out Genre war looms over BookWorld. But with the real Thursday Next retired in the real world, the Council of Genres has no other choice than to tap the fictional Thursday to save the day. Her mission as emissary is to prevent the brewing war—but her task is made more difficult by a hidden foe manipulating events.

©2011 Jasper Fforde (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
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Editorial reviews

Over the past decade, British novelist Jasper Fforde has established himself as the undisputed master of metafictional suspense stories. Though he is now in the middle of several completely different series of books, the original series of Thursday Next novels continues to be the crown jewel in his career. One of Our Thursdays Is Missing is the sixth book in this series as well as the second book in the sub-series known as BookWorld, a sub-series for which Fforde has said he plans to write two additional books. So this sixth effort is deeply embedded within the mythology and history of the Ffordian universe, but can also stand alone as a less than troublesome listen for those unfamiliar with the previous adventures of Thursday Next.

Emily Gray once again assumes the daunting task of Fforde’s enormous cast of well-known literary characters, and once again proves equal to such a tremendous challenge. Gray also narrated the first book in this sub-series, as well as two other Nextian Fforde novels. At this point, the Real Thursday Next has mostly retired from both literary celebrity and private investigation. When she goes missing, the Written Thursday must step up to take on the Real Thursday’s quirky assortment of obligations, from peace talks between Comedy and Romance genres to side-stepping the agents of mega-corporation Goliath, as well as quietly launch the investigation to find the Real Thursday. Only the Written Thursday is of course not as quick-witted and savvy as the Real Thursday, and mishaps abound.

The acrobatic narration required for this most recent installment is a feat that Gray accomplishes with remarkable dexterity and precision. Fforde’s broadly wicked sense of humor is not lost whatsoever in the telling, and Gray deftly lands his volley of intelligent punch lines with a loving familiarity that neither resorts to the cheesy nor beats a dead horse. Also worth paying special attention to is her interpretation of the Written Thursday’s new sidekick, Sprocket, an obsolete mechanical man who serves as her butler when they are not busy being on the run from a diverse set of mysterious enemies. Fforde is ultimately trying to address the important matter of what constitutes a happy ending, and uses all his beloved old tricks to sort out the answer. Emily Gray fortunately keeps pace with him every thrilling step of the way. Megan Volpert

What listeners say about One of Our Thursdays is Missing

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

As always Jasper Fforde weaves a fantastic story

Bravo!!! I have loved this series from first word to last. Although this book has taken a significant turn the characters are fantastic and the plot line is riveting. I have not ever read a series I like so much and that keeps me smiling or outright laughing at all of the literary references. It makes you believe that a real "book world" must exist or how else would authors actually come up with plot lines!

We find ourselves in the next generation of Thursday Next novels. I can not wait for the "Next" installment!

The only thing I really missed this time around was the cheshire cat - he is always one of my favorite characters............

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and wildly creative

A fun and funny read - weaving so many genres, tongue in cheek humor and action into this entertaining and wildly creative read!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love the madness!

I'm still mourning the late great Douglas Adams, so discovering Jasper Fforde was a gift ... a writer nearly as deliciously daft in a different way. This IS a compliment, trust me. I have loved the whole series and wait with bated breath in the hope that there will be another one. Although my favorite is still "First Among Sequels," this is now my almost as favorite. Parts of it are so funny and so witty that I kept listening to them over and over again. There is a scene with Raskolnikov from "Crime and Punishment" that may be amongst the funniest literary pieces I've ever read and I am a voracious reader. This is really really good. The reader is good, the author is wonderful, the story is a delight from beginning to end. I listened to the book twice in a row, then again after a couple of weeks and once more, just for icing. I'll probably listen to it again. I've also read it in print. I can't recommend it highly enough.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful

Imagine a marvelous librarian tells you a story that reminds you of Kilgore Trout, Hitchiker's Guide, Alice Through The Looking Glass and some Phantom Tollbooth thrown in. It kept me up late. Now I have to read them all. I wonder if this one would make more sense if I had begun at the beginning.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightfuly Absurd

Where does One of Our Thursdays is Missing rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This one ranks in my top ten.

What did you like best about this story?

Absurd and creative wordplay, I had to buy the Kindle version to see for myself all of the jokes.

Which character – as performed by Emily Gray – was your favorite?

Sprocket was my favorite. He just truly sounds like a Cog Based Butler should.

Who was the most memorable character of One of Our Thursdays is Missing and why?

Thursday Next is the most memorable, since I already knew her, followed by Sprocket.

Any additional comments?

I'm a big fan of alternate reality fiction. The Eyre Affair was quite a thriller, and just enough "öff" for my tastes. I spottted Missing and got it even though it is out of sequence. I often laughed out loud, and thoroughly enjoyed every second of this one.Emily Gray brings all of the characters to life, I think perfectly.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Nice return to the BookWorld

I love Jasper Fforde's books, and buy them as soon as they come out, for the most part, but I wasn't sure about this one. The last TN book wasn't quite as fun for me - Thursday has gotten a bit too good at what she does and cynical about life, I enjoyed her more when she was having to discover everything about the BookWorld and motherhood and such.

However - this story was a great return. The Written Thursday was great - a nice return to the feeling of discovery the first books had. W.Thursday was fallible, made rookie style mistakes and all the other things that were endearing about younger Thursday.

*Possible Spoiler*

I'm still a touch disappointed that Fforde didn't pick up the Sherlock Holmes/Temperance Brennan series hook he laid down at the end of First Among Sequels. I thought that had promise. Maybe he'll pick it up again later with the Real Thursday. One can only hope. :)

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Love the far out concepts

Jasper Fforde is brilliant at conjuring up concepts about genres vs genres and genres vs real life. Thinking that the unread characters from books go wild seeking characters so they could "suck the reading light out of them." Too funny.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great even if you've only read some of the series

I read the first book and liked it. I accidentally thought this one was next and it was a happy accident. This book is great, and I've no trouble following it having only read the first in the series. It's very clever and the literary references are fairly accessible and missing some won't ruin your ability to follow the story.

I highly recommend this one if you liked #1 but found others in the series too slow or too obscure.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Delightful Irreverence Not Quite Enough

I love the political commentary and irreverence presented in these novels. The characters are highly entertaining. Fforde has an unusually gifted imagination and must be remarkably well-read given the wide variety of literary references. However, I found this one to be just a little too much in that I wish there were fewer storylines happening at the same time. I found it a little hard to remain concentrated throughout the story.

(Please note that I have (accidentally) read these books out of order, and read this one second. I likely ended up a little more easily confused than the true series aficionados.)

The narrator is wonderful. I even went in search of other books she had narrated, I liked her so much.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love it!

Emily is again terrific as Thursday and others. There are lots of odd empty spaces in the overall narration that have nothing to do with her performance. Someone needs to go through this one again and take out all the empty spaces. Otherwise a ripping yarn and totally fun.

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