Shades Of Grey Analysis

Shades of Grey

★★★★☆

Author: Jasper Fforde

Amber Birks Imagine living in a society in which your social ranking depends solely on the colours you can perceive. Imagine only being able to see one colour, two colours or even none at all. This is the world we are introduced to in Jasper Fforde’s novel Shades of Grey. Following the popular dystopian trend, Fforde brings us into yet another post-apocalyptic society. However, Shades of Grey combines fresh, unique ideas such as a society built upon colour; supernatural flora and fauna such as man-eating trees and furniture-devouring roads; and peculiar predicaments such as the scarcity of spoons (due to a law forbidding their manufacturing), one's most prized possession. Did you know that spoons make the perfect heirlooms and are a go-to gift for your potential wife? Well,

However, to get to that point in the story, you have to read almost the entire book. But don’t you fret! Shades of Grey is imaginative, humorous and last but not least, what makes it a work of art – audaciously odd. There are so many eccentricities and quirks in the novel that although quite complex and puzzling at times, you are still able to breeze through the entire story in no time. The novel begins at a slightly slow pace, however this is done extremely deliberately. Fforde is able gives us a real taste of the world Eddie and Jane live in, and takes the time to thoroughly develop the characters. As a reader, you are able to relate to the characters, especially Eddie, whose actions and thoughts are easily understandable even though he lives in a future society completely different from our own. He’s middle class, curious, determined and courageous. His eagerness for explanations and his smooth acceptance of the truth behind the lies of the Colortocracy is captivating as we are swept into the same curiosity that he possesses. Although quite ordinary, Eddie is quite an appealing