Shades of Grey: A Novel

by Jasper Fforde

The New York Times bestseller hailed as “a rich brew of dystopic fantasy and deadpan goofiness” (The Washington Post) from the author of the Thursday Next series and Red Side Story.

Welcome to Chromatacia, where the societal hierarchy is strictly regulated by one's limited color perception. In this world, you are what you can see. But Eddie Russet wants to move up. When he and his father relocate to the backwater village of East Carmine, his carefully cultivated plans to leverage his better-than-average red perception and marry into a powerful family are quickly upended.

Eddie must contend with lethal swans, sneaky Yellows, inviolable rules, an enforced marriage to the hideous Violet deMauve, and a risky friendship with an intriguing Grey named Jane who shows Eddie that the apparent peace of his world is as much an illusion as color itself. Will Eddie be able to tread the fine line between total conformity — accepting the path, partner, and career delineated by his hue —and his instinctive curiosity that is bound to get him into trouble?

• ISBN10: 0143118587
• ISBN13: 9780143118589
• Publish Date: 1 March 2011 (first published 31 December 1925)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Penguin Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780143118589

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I'm going to do a crap job of reviewing this, because there's just too much to say, but if Monty Python did a movie adaptation of Orwell's 1984, it would look just like Shades of Grey.  Unfortunately, as much as I love Fforde's writing, I loathed 1984.

Shades of Grey takes place many centuries in the future, presumably in what is the UK.  The world is run by the collective and people are ranked by what color of the spectrum they can see (and they can only see one).  Everyone bows to the infallible word of Munsell, but rather than being a technologically advanced society, the collective embraces a progressively severe form of ludditism (it's a word, I looked it up), where every set number of years they have a "leapback" where more and more technology is forbidden, and by tech I mean things like bicycles.  The MC, Eddie Russet, and his father are sent to the outer fringes of their world by the collective so Eddie can do a chair census and learn humility.  While there he learns a lot more than humility.

The writing is classic Fforde.  In my one and only status update for the book, I said it felt like I was trapped in a Dali painting; between the pure absurdity and the color centric society, it's still the most apt comparison.  Everything about the story is absurd, from the biggest threat to the collective being swan attacks, to the fact that it's illegal to make spoons but not illegal to own them.

I didn't like science fiction as a genre when I started this book and even though I enjoyed Shades of Grey as much as I possibly could given my total dislike of the premise, I still don't like science fiction.  But I want to be clear that this is not the book's fault: Fforde's writing is excellent, the story filled with absurd humour and a plot that sneaks up on you and leaves you stunned; this is the book that teachers should be using instead of 1984; students would learn the same lessons about the evils of communism and fascism and 'Big Brother' but enjoy it a hell of a lot more.

Weighing my bias against SF and 1984 in particular with the very excellent writing on Fforde's part, I split the difference and went with a three star rating.  This is the first of a trilogy and even though this one had an ending that left me sputtering, I doubt very much I'll read the rest.

[Hillary]

http://www.adventuresinneverneverland.com/2013/02/14/shades-of-grey-boy-jasper-fforde/

[Eve1972]

Enjoyed this one a lot more then I thought I would!