Fiction/Mystery/Humor/Unclassifiable: SOMETHING ROTTEN

THE BARE FACTS
Title: Something Rotten
Author: Jasper Fforde
Publisher: Viking
Date of Publication: 2004
Pages: 389
Grade That Means Nothing Coming From Me: B

SO BASICALLY, IT’S ABOUT…
Detective Thursday Next leaves the Book World to return to Swindon and de-eradicate her husband Landen once and for all.

WHY’D YOU WANNA READ THAT?
Well, I read the first three books in the series, so it seemed like the logical next step.

AND HOW’D THAT WORK OUT FOR YOU?
Worked out fine for me. Might not work out so good for you, since there’s a very real chance you won’t know what the heck is going on. Ostensibly mysteries, Fforde’s books combine police procedural, alternative history, fantasy, obscure literary references, and that peculiarly British brand of dry humor into a great big mishmash. To truly know what the heck is happening with our heroine, Thursday Next, you probably have to start with her first adventure, The Eyre Affair (in which she rescues Jane Eyre – the character -- from the clutches of a nasty criminal), and follow her into her experiences in Jurisfiction, policing the many crimes taking place within books (this being the subject of the next two volumes, Lost In a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots). Because by the time you get to this book, she has been through an awful lot. And everything has been so carefully plotted out, elements from the first book finally pay off here. There is the feeling of a stunt about the whole endeavor, but it’s a really impressive stunt.

When I finished Something Rotten, my initial feeling was that this wasn’t Fforde at his best. Very good, but not quite the dizzying heights of Lost in a Good Book. But it has stuck with me since then, and I think that’s because it’s the capstone to what the Alien people would call a quadrilogy. (Because I turn to the makers of science fiction franchises for all my four-dollar words.) It has the burden of tying up a lot of loose ends, incorporating characters and situations from three previous books, and still functioning on its own. And it does all pay off. That’s a real credit to Thursday Next, a terrific heroine and a strong anchor in a very chaotic universe, as well as a credit to Fforde’s inventiveness, and the way he manages to create satirical situations that he’s taking very seriously at the same time. I have no idea where his brain came up with some of this stuff, but it’s fun just to ride along.

Fforde is hinting that future books will be stand-alone adventures, which certainly makes sense, given how hard he must have worked to put everything together. But it’s also a shame, because the scale he’s working on in these books is often breathtaking. You hate to see someone aiming small after seeing what they can do big.

SHOULD I READ THIS?
This is definitely a series that you should start at the beginning. Like coming in at the midway point of a TV season, this is probably a book you could enjoy cold if you just resigned yourself to the fact that some things aren’t going to make sense. You also have to like books. Not just plots and stories, but the very construction of books. Movies and TV shows often break the fourth wall, but Fforde’s series piles self-reference upon self-reference, the literary equivalent of standing between two mirrors and watching yourself reflected into infinity. But the entire four-book series is such an intricately-plotted, cleverly-intertwined reading experience (the best analogue I can give you is Douglas Adams), I think you’re doing yourself an injustice if you don’t make the attempt. There is nothing like it in fiction today. Read it – after you’ve read the first three. It’s worth the effort.

Shane Wilson is a writer and contributing editor to The Greenroom.