by Jasper Fforde (Viking: New York, 2005)
This is the first of Fforde’s books that I’ve read. I do own a copy of The Eyre Affair, but I haven’t read it yet.
Jasper Fforde
What does one call this work, genre-wise? It’s a mystery. It’s contemporary urban in setting. But with its literary conceit of treating nursery rhyme & tale characters as part of society, it could be called a fantasy. And considering the way the author skewers the whole matter of true-crime writing, fictionalizing and dramatizing, it could certainly be categorized as satire. Whatever you end up calling it, I call it a romping fun read.
Detective Inspector Jack Spratt of Reading, England investigates crimes involving nursery tale characters. He gets no respect, and is continually being upstaged in the public eye by a flamboyant rival detective. So, when Humpty Dumpty has a great fall, Jack plods his way through the investigation. He gradually pieces together the plot that led to the egg’s demise, assisted by his contrary Detective Sergeant. (Okay, nowhere in the book is she actually called “contrary,” but since she bears the name “Mary Mary,” what else is one to think?)
To talk about the plot would be to give away half the fun. So I won’t do that.
But as I neared the end of the book, I did start thinking how fun a movie adaptation of this would be. Not a kid’s movie, though they might enjoy it, but also not a bitter, cynical “adult” film either. Kenneth Branaugh, I thought, would be great to cast – either as Jack’s rival Friedland Chymes (a very Gilderoy Lockhart type role) or (in a counter-casting move) as Jack himself. What fun it would be to see up on the screen a world where ordinary humans mix with antrhopmorphized pigs, five foot something walking eggs, blue aliens, and a magic beanstalk? A lot of fun. In the meantime, here’s this book. GO ENJOY IT!
