"The Fourth Bear" by Jasper Fforde

- March 31, 2009

Read: 3/29/09

5/5 stars

I heart Jasper Fforde. As in, seriously.

When I was young and stupid (heehee), I used to read the all the novels of a single writer I could get my hands on. This is why I've read all of Sidney Sheldon's works up until Memories of Midnight, when i decided that I better find some other fare.

So, after high school, I never really collected any author's works in totality, the only exception being Jane Austen. Aside from her, the most I'd do is collect all the titles in an SF&F series, like David Eddings' The Mallorean or Terry Brooks' Scions of Shannara (both of which are follow-up series, by the way, of an initial successful series). However, I never felt the need to collect everything written by Eddings or Brooks. And I continued in this manner, sampling different authors or picking out their representative works, until I met Jasper Fforde.

My exposure is to Anglo-American literature, and I maintain that if you're familar enough with Anglo-American lit and post-modernism, it's hard not to like Fforde. So, from his Thursday Next series to his Jack Spratt novels, I have dogged Fforde.

The Fourth Bear was the last Fforde book that I hadn't read (discounting Shades of Grey due to come out December this year which, of course, I'm eagerly looking forward to). In this second book of the Nursery Crime series, we finally meet the infamous Gingerbreadman, often referred to in the other Fforde books as a serial killer and deranged psychopath. Moreover, the mystery of the fourth bear, hinted at in the first Nursery Crime book, The Big Overeasy, is definitely resolved here. As usual, we have the detectives Jack Spratt and his subordinate Mary Mary trying to solve a complicated case that involves the death of Goldilocks, the escape of the Gingerbreadman, grand conspiracies involving the Quangle-Wangle empire, and some very huge cucumbers.

Far-fetched? Definitely. But that's what I love about Fforde. No matter how far-fetched it is, he takes you along for the ride.

So what else is there to love about him? The humor. The tongue-in-cheek, poke-fun-at-the-serious-literary-establishment, literature-rife, metafictive humor. Some examples:

At a writer's convention, Jack asks Marcus, a pompous, multi-awarded novelist, whether Marcus' new novel is selling. The response:

"Good Lord, no!" replied Marcus in a shocked tone, "Selling more than even a few copies would render it...popular. And that would be a death knell for any serious auteur..."

When deciding whether he should be kind to his shrink or give her the hard truth so he could save his career as a detective, Jack's thoughts were:

"Still, this was his career in the balance. If he didn't deal with her, the Jack Spratt series was likely to stop abruptly at the second volume. No third book and definitely no boxed set."

Interestingly, there has been no third book so far.:) Perhaps this is because his Nursery Crime series didn't attain the popularity of the Thursday Next books. Nevertheless, as a stalwart fan, I think that both Jack Spratt novels still have the Fforde branding that one can find in the Next series.

So, if you can handle zany plots told in an intelligent voice, using humor at the expense of literary characters and post-modernism, or if you're just a plain fan of Jasper Fforde, go pick up this book.

Other interesting Fforde-related sites:

The Fourth Bear sub-features site - where you can check out the special features of the book and other things related to it. Oh, I also find the "boss approaching" feature on the top of the page hilarious. Click the button and try it. Excellent if you're cyberslacking at the office.:)

How much of a Hamlet are you? - I heart Hamlet, too, both play AND character. So, this is a quiz that I've been pimping to my co-teachers and students, especially when we get around to discussing Hamlet.