Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Read: 30 Dec 2009

Jasper Fforde takes a break from his post-modern romp through Anglo-American literature to explore the world of color in his new book. And, my, how vibrant it is!

I've been a fan of Fforde for several years now. In a previous post, I mentioned how I've read his entire oeuvre and was eagerly awaiting this new book. I was fully expecting to see it in our local bookstores by next year still, but it seems I should've put more faith in our local bookstores because I was able to buy the book a couple of days ago. The extent of my fanhood is revealed by the fact that I finished this book just a day and a half after purchasing it, and that was amidst work and family demands.

So, what's the story?

In Fforde's new dystopian tale, we have a futuristic England ruled through Colourtocracy, where the social hierarchy is dependent on what color of the spectrum people can see. As with most dystopias, there is a stringent set of rules, embodied in the teachings of the inscrutable Munsell, and a supreme ruling body, found jointly in the equally inscrutable Head Office and its adjoining body, National Colour.

As with most dystopian stories, our main character, twenty-year old Eddie Russet, is an innocent follower of the system and its Rules. Eddie and his father find themselves transported to East Carmine, a small town in the fringes of their society: Eddie's father because East Carmine needs a new Swatchman (their equivalent of a doctor), and Eddie because he needs to Learn Humility due to an infraction that he committed. The move is a further humiliation to the Russet family, who had already lost some of their prestige when one of their ancestors married down-Spectrum. Of course, though Eddie is Red, pretty low on the chromatic social standing (Violets are the highest), at least he doesn't have it as bad as the Greys, who are considered as the menial and manual workforce of society.

However, hick town East Carmine isn't as boring as it seems. On their first day there, Eddie and his father are witness to a crime, which leads Eddie to unpleasant dealings with the town authorities, questions about the basis of the Rules and their entire society, death threats, and actual attempts on Eddie's life, not the least of which come from Jane, a mysterious and intractable Grey whom Eddie has fallen in love with.

That's the plot in a broad sweep, though I must say I read through the first 50 pages before I really got into the society Fforde created. But what I truly appreciate about this new book is his continuing commentary on social, moral, and even religious issues. Fforde's society is extremely weird, with its medicine and substance abuse through color (1.5.01.01.029: Abuse of medicinal hue is strictly forbidden) and its insane rules (9.3.88.32.025: The cucumber and the tomato are both fruit; the avocado is a nut. To assist in the dietary requirements of vegetarians, on the first Tuesday of the month a chicken is officially a vegetable). Yet, despite the strangeness, it's easy to see what Fforde is satirizing--the desire for sameness, the lack of thirst for knowledge in favor of familiar rules, the all-encompassing belief in a system despite its lack of logical basis, the unknown but supposedly infallible progenitor of the system, the communal gatherings to repeat and reinforce the set of rules--characteristics of an oppressive bureaucracy.

Fforde also takes potshots at the idea of marriage and progeny as instruments of social mobility. For instance, Eddie, despite his youth, is already making plans of marrying an Oxblood, because the Oxbloods need Eddie's Red sensitivity and the Russets need the Oxblood's money. And this is usually how matches are made in Eddie's world--like marry like. No marrying between complementary colors and avoid marrying down-spectrum.

And though the book initially reminded me of Lois Lowry's YA dystopian novel, The Giver, I found that Shades of Grey seems a bit more mature and serious than even Fforde's earlier works. I say this because Fforde has made his characters take realistic means in their plan to eventually bring down this bureaucracy. They are made to sacrifice and to work within and without the system.

But I found that the heavy issues were pleasantly packaged with Fforde's trademark humor. Apart from the witty quips, one-liners and wordplay, I've always had a fun time with Fforde's choice of names, because I suspect he has a fun time coming up with them, too. For instance: there's a Grey whose first name is Zane. There's also Dorian Grey. And, of course, Eddie's love interest is the Grey called Jane. (Or am I just stretching the Jean Grey of X-men fame reference here?) Anyway, I love the guessing and association. I also love how Fforde defamiliarizes ordinary things in our world and makes us see them from his characters' perspective, to humorous effect.

The story really picks up towards the end, though it isn't really an end since Shades of Grey is meant to be the first in a trilogy of books. Pretty neat, if you're a fan who looks forward to Jasper Fforde's books. And though I'm more inclined to his literature-based series, I'd say that Shades of Grey is still Fforde brilliance at work.

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