The Woman Who Died a Lot

A Thursday Next Novel, Book 7

By: Jasper Fforde

Narrated by: Emily Gray

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Jasper Fforde's delightfully zany Thursday Next series shows no signs of slowing down with its seventh entry, The Woman Who Died a Lot.

Despite being semihappily semi-retired from SpecOps, Thursday accepts the head librarian position at the Swindon library. But soon threats from a supreme Deity, a mnemonomorph, and the nefarious Goliath corporation press Thursday back into active duty.

©2012 Jasper Fforde (P)2012 Recorded Books

Another great chapter in the Thursday Next series

Although I really miss the bookjumps into fiction, and meeting all the crazy characters from well-loved classical literature, Fforde still manages to entertain me with Thursday's adventures. If you're a fan, you'll enjoy this. NOT recommended if you haven't read the previous books. You simply won't understand what's going on. The good news is that this book sets us up for Fforde's next Next adventure - a jump into the dark reading material at the center of the universe. Can't wait!

middle-aged Thursday Next

I think this is fifth in the Thursday Next series. A worthy addition, tho the plot pattern is beginning to get familiar. other reviews have summarized well, I have 2 points to make:
1. Start at the beginning with the Eyre Affair, or as early in the series as you can. The first book introduces a bizarre and amusing world and the following couple books add some wild dimensions.
2. Emily Gray sounds like she's middle aged or beyond and perhaps appropriate for Thursday's time of life in this book. Her words are clipped and quick but excellently enunciated and I have no real complaint. But Elizabeth Sastre did the earliest narrations and her voice is a real treasure. Her voice is richer, like Glenda (witch of the north in Wizard of Oz) but sexier. Definitely more pleasant to hear and more appropriate for a young Thursday. I got the earlier books on cassette or CD from the library and the first 3 for sure are narrated by her. I notice some of the same books are by Emily Gray on Audible: get the Elizabeth Sastre versions if you can.

Amazing series, Perfect Narrator

The story is intelligent and original. Emily Gray reads it perfectly. I just love it.

Gray is the best

I love this performer. She makes each character unique. Her voice is pleasant and adds depth to the book. It is like you read it yourself. Except better accents.

Great continuation of the Thursday Next series

I wish I could rate this at 4.5 stars. It falls a bit short of 5 stars, but deserves better than a 4 star rating.

A must read for anyone following the series. But if you're following the series, you know you'll read this book eventually.

While the book before this (One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing) occurs almost completely in the book world, this one occurs almost completely in the real Thursday's world. The story was interesting throughout, and narration was perfect. I don't usually listen to an audiobook again immediately after finishing it, but this one was interesting enough that I did so, and managed to pick up some nuances I missed the first time around.

I would not recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read the Thursday Next series before, however. I started with one of the books in the middle and it took a while figuring out what was going on. Start with the first book for maximum enjoyment.

Excellent Series Addition

The Thursday Next series continues, as mind-boggling, entertaining and thought-provoking as always. Emily Gray's reading again makes the most outlandish situations seems perfectly reasonable. The humor is both timely and timeless. I loved reading the book and love the audio edition too; I have already listened to it a second time. As usual with Fforde's fiction the prose is so full of jokes, puns and references that it is almost impossible to catch everything the first time, especially when the reader/listener gets caught up in the plot. Essential for fans of the series.

Thursday Next and the Smiting of the Unjust

Not quite as good as some of Fforde's other books, this was still an entertaining story. A bit slow to get going, this is not the book for someone just being introduced to Jasper Fforde's multiverse. For those of us who are old hands though, the dazzling array of puns and allusions are great fun.

Since the disbanding of most of SpecOpps, Thursday is living in middle-aged retirement outside of Swindon with her husband Landon and their two children, Wednesday and Tuesday. Tuesday is a sixteen year old genius who is working on a shield to protect Swindon from the wrath of an angry god when not attending school and doing her best to do things a normal teenager would be expected to do. Wednesday is working at a do it yourself store and brooding over the loss of his future purpose.

Meanwhile Thursday ends up with a new job as a library director, has a problem with a mindworm that makes her think that she has a third child, and finds herself replaced by synthetic Thursdays made by Goliath. The reappearance of her old nemesis, Jack, now number 91 on the corporate ladder, adds to her problems, as does her rival, the ambitious Commander Phoebe Smalls

Recommended for Thursday Next fans.

We'll always remember Jenny

Fforde's interests as an author continue to take him in a different direction than some of his fans would perhaps desire. The focus on the book world, which made the first 5 books so memorable, is abandoned here for a closer examination of other parts of his quirky parallel universe. It's still wildly entertaining, and certainly moreso than book 6.

One constant thread through all Fforde's work is an interest in social satire. Beyond that it gets increasingly hard to classify his books as belonging to any particular genre. His inventiveness knows no bounds. It's somewhat interesting then to see that he's allowing Thursday Next to age and bear the consequences of all the injuries she's suffered over the years. It sort of puts a limit on how many books there can be within her fictional lifetime, unlike other protagonists who seem immune to the passage of time.

Fans of Fforde are already keenly aware that book 8 will be about the Dark Reading Matter. This book and the preceding one have done their part to telegraph the inevitability of that exploration. This book in particular does a fine job of setting up how that mysterious place might be approached. I only hope that after all his puttering around with exploring different ideas, that he comes up with a worthy story arc for his next dive into the Book World (and yes, that pun is intended).

Oh, and about Jenny, I... wait, I forgot. I'm sure it will come back to me in a moment.

Have really enjoyed the Thursday Next series

I am sad that I have listened to all the books and there isn't another one to start. For the last several months I have actually enjoyed my long commute to work. Jasper Fforde is brilliant and Emily Gray did a great job giving voice to all the characters. I give this series my highest possible recommendation. A wild, imaginative, mind-bending, reality-warping ride. Thank you!

Always a good read...

What made the experience of listening to The Woman Who Died a Lot the most enjoyable?

I really like the narrator, it's so important that the narrator does a good job.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Well, Thursday Next of course. She's a great detective.

What about Emily Gray’s performance did you like?

She does all the voices very well. They're all quite different.