Title: SHADES OF GREY – The Road to High Saffron
Author: Jasper Fforde
Paperback: Penguin (from around AU$30.00)
Language -English
ISBN: 978-0340963036 and 978-0340963043 (pbk.)
“The youthful stationmaster wore a Blue Spot on his uniform and remonstrated with the driver that the train was a minute late, and that he would have to file a report.
The driver retorted that since there could be no material difference between a train that arrived at a station and a station that arrived at a train, it was equally the stationmaster’s fault.
The stationmaster replied that he could not be blamed, because he had no control over the speed of the station; to which the engine driver replied that the stationmaster could control its placement, and that if it were only a thousand yards closer to Vermillion, the problem would be solved.
To this the stationmaster replied that if the driver didn’t accept the lateness as his fault, he would move the station a thousand yards farther from Vermillion and make him not just late, but demeritably overdue. “
This is not a book for the faint hearted, nor will it suit those who take life and literature too seriously. I must admit, as a Jasper Fforde aficionado, I gulped it down, but in so doing failed to understand the half of it and had to re-read it all over again with my brain in whatever passes for first gear. All of Ffordes books are crammed with ironic allusions, word-play, puns, footnotes and literary devices to delight the most dedicated lover of mind games and social satire.
Imagine say 1984 written by Douglas Adams in tandem with Monty Python, Spike Milligan, and Vincent Van Gough. This has resulted in a dystopian novel describing a world which, centuries after Something That Happened, has evolved into a colortocracy, with its rigid rules and regulations based upon the precepts of Munsell. Social status is based entirely on perception of color and every living being is bar-coded. People wear a small badge or “spot” to indicate their hue perceptivity. In a world where our very DNA has evolved to effect even colour perception, learn the meaning of caste by colour; why the greys are the scorned servant class; what it takes to breed ones family class up-colour, why red and blue can never marry, why spoons cannot be manufactured, why no one who has been scheduled for “re-boot” ever returns from Emerald City, and how the seeds of anarchy are sprouting in the fringe village of East Carmine.
The hero, Eddie Russet, has been ordered to accompany his father, the swatchmaker, to East Carmine to conduct a chair census in order to attain more humility. Eddie is a true hero of fantasy…an innocent and with a mind peculiarly resistant to the brainwashing effect of The Rules. If he is not careful of his company and his activities with Jane, the Grey with the retroussé nose, he risks losing more merits and this in turn puts him in danger of “re-boot” … a greater danger than even he can imagine; without being a spoiler, somewhat reminiscent of Soylent Green.
Fforde has created new words to apply to his new world and many of these are destined to become a part of our language … chromogencia, colorman, swatchmaker, leapback, yateveo loopholery, biegemarket to name a few … His new novel has taken the reviewers’ world by storm and he is near the top of the list for the most reviewed book for 2010. Even amongst the critics, there are few who are critical.
“‘If you enjoyed laughing in the face of death, you might like to have a crack at High Saffron. One hundred merits, and all you have to do is take a look.’
‘I understand there’s a one hundred percent fatality rate?’
‘True. But up until the moment of death there was a one hundred percent survival rate. Really, I shouldn’t let anything as meaningless as statistics put you off.’”
This is a breathtaking literary kaleidoscope and an indictment of mindless conformity. I dare you to take up the challenge.
Reviewed by Heather Stone
This entry was posted by Heather Stone on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Book Reviews.
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