REVIEW: "The Well of Lost Plots", Jasper Fforde
Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah
Review Copyright 2004 Robert M. Slade
If you are not a big fan of reading, don't read Jasper Fforde. You'll
find his books silly and probably irritating.
If you like reading; if you enjoy getting lost in a good book; if you
wonder where ideas for books come from and how they get developed; if you
would like to "improve" the ending of your favourite book or if you are
willing to defend the sanctity of a book ending that you don't
particularly like (and if you are willing to fight for either position);
if you have ever imagined the deeper personality or biography of
characters in a children's story; if you like playing around with words
and ideas (and can find the fun in extended jokes about grammar); then by
all means read Jasper Fforde's books. They are an absolute delight.
There are a great many books that feature writers, and a great many that
discuss the mechanics of writing. Fforde's books are about reading: the
process of it, the identification with characters, the preferences readers
develop, as well as the sheer joy of the act of reading.
If you have read a lot of books, and particularly the classics, then you
will recognize situations and characters referenced in Fforde's work. If
you haven't read them, the bits relevant to the story will be explained.
I probably don't know enough about Dickens to get some of *those*
references, but there is ample material to enjoy regardless. Knowing
rather a lot about Austen, I can tell that I'm not missing anything
important in the Dickens references because none of the Austen references
require outside knowledge.
Fforde has written four books, all featuring the character Thursday Next.
In the first, she is a detective in a policing agency specializing in
literary crimes. This is in an alternate universe where, in 1985, people
really do take literature seriously, the Germans briefly occupied Britain
during the Second World War, the Crimean War is still going on, airships
are common but jets are unknown, mammoths migrate through villages and
genetically modified dodos are popular pets, and a massive corporation is
trying to solidify its hold on the populace and increase already obscene
profits with no regard for how the corporation and its activities actually
affects people. Some things don't change.
In the second book, Thursday manages to enter the world of books
themselves, becoming a trainee in the agency that polices literature. In
the third (this one), she spends most of her time in literature. I
haven't read the fourth yet.
The books are a series, but they are also a collection of vignettes. Much
of the material can be read in any order for the fun and silliness.
Reading the books in proper sequence is a definite plus, since you'll know
the overall plot, but isn't entirely necessary. In fact, Fforde's command
of continuity is a bit weak. In the first book Next's brother is lost in
a battle when she takes a load of wounded to safety and never finds him
again when she goes back for him: in the third the brother is remembered
as having been killed in front of her eyes. But then, someone is messing
with her memory anyway, so Fforde has an excellent way to paper over such
lapses, although that device doesn't work quite so well when it comes to
discrepancies in the layout of the Great Library or when the Sunderland
last flew.
The plot is not exactly surreal, but definitely absurd. Thursday's father
is a member of a time-traveling police agency, except that he doesn't
exist since his own group prevented him from being born when he went
rogue. Non-existence doesn't prevent him from popping up at odd moments.
I could say that I've included this particular book in the review series
because of the insitution of a whole technology around the creation of
written works, including version histories of the book operating system,
complete with a wonderful analogy to the impending upgrade of the Internet
Protocol prompted by resource exhaustion. There is even a security threat
related to the upgrading of a monoculture. However, in reality, I just
really like this book and wanted to say so.
%A Jasper Fforde www.jasperfforde.com
%C 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH England
%D 2003
%G 0-340-82592-8
%I Hodder and Stoughton/Headline
%O +44(0)1235400414 fax: +44(0)1235400454 ord...@bookpoint.co.uk
%O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340825928/robsladesinterne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340825928/robsladesinte-21
%O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340825928/robsladesin03-20
%P 360 p.
%T The Well of Lost Plots
====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rsl...@vcn.bc.ca sl...@victoria.tc.ca rsl...@sun.soci.niu.edu
On two occasions I have been asked (by members of Parliament!),
`Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures,
will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to
apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such
a question. - Charles Babbage 1791-1871
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade