The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

If you have ever read a novel by Jasper Fforde, you realize that it is hard to know what to make of him. I’m certain that friends of his must have said the same thing, even after spending time with him face to face. When I encountered the first of his famous Thursday Next series, The Eyre Affair, I was convinced I had chanced upon another of those critically acclaimed novelists who flop in the realm of actually selling books. Little did I know that Fforde’s bizarrely delightful writings would find a niche in postmodern literature, securing each of the subsequent books in the series a place on bestseller lists.

In my last post, I mentioned that I’m on the lookout for books for readers, those books which utilize as pieces of a puzzle all the literary information a reader has stored in their memory. Fforde is brilliant at this, but unlike Alexander McCall Smith, he has trouble bridging the gap for the casual reader.

The Fourth Bear, second in his Nursery Crime series, may be one of the least obscure books Fforde has yet written, though it still generously gave the reader literary allusions aplenty. In fact, at surprisingly frequent intervals throughout the story, the author makes fun of himself and the very act of writing a novel. In this and The Big Over Easy (first in the series), Fforde rewards readers of his other books with payoff plotlines including characters introduced in earlier works, but they can certainly be read alone. And I highly recommend that you do so.

If you haven’t read the Thursday Next books, you won’t be lost in these quirky tales incorporating suspenseful mystery and nursery rhyme, but you will enjoy the author’s clever melding of worlds. While I found The Big Over Easy a superior work (The Fourth Bear seemed a bit too hastily finished), both are worth taking a look, whether you are the escapist reader or a serious student of literature.

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances by Alexander McCall Smith

I am always on the lookout for books which appeal to readers. These books are of genres which somehow say to the bookworm or the overeducated, “Look, what you have learned is not useless – it’s helping you to understand this story!” When such a work is fictional, the result is far more gratifying. The Portuguese Irregular Verbs series by Alexander McCall Smith represents three such books, appealing to literary, philosophical, and anthropological understandings. At the same time, any student of human nature would be thrilled by the whimsical interactions of the characters in this and other McCall Smith works.

As a huge fan of the delightful characters in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, I picked up this slender piece of fiction at a used book store, eager to encounter others of the author’s works. The author understands people, that much is certain. As adept at noting the finer points of human relationship in England, Germany, and Columbia as he is with his Botswana tales, McCall Smith brilliantly weaves a tale not so much about story as it is about people. Don’t read this book looking for a linear, western plot, rather enjoy each individual character and culture peculiarity.

I look forward to reading the other two short novels in this series, and will be certain to report on them to you.

Wicked and Luther

Just over a week ago, I finally finished reading Gregory Maguire’s Wicked. It had taken me over two years to read it. This was not because it was uninteresting, but simply because even the softcover of the book was so huge, and it didn’t fit into my suitcase very well.

Maguire has a delightful understanding of L. Frank Baum’s Oz, reminding us that even fantasy characters are not so different from us, and that there is no true Utopia while humans still live there, at least not on this side of death. His explorations of the philosophy of what makes good versus evil are well described and thought provoking. Focusing on a hapless woman whose every intention for good brought evil to those she was near, Maguire brought to mind a not-so-fictitious character I have also encountered recently.

The movie Luther is about the spiritual and political journey of Martin Luther, as his passionate theology sparked the Protestant Reformation. It’s a brilliant movie, adding depth to a legendary character much like Wicked does. The road was far from smooth for Luther, whose beliefs were misinterpreted by many, leading to thousands of deaths during his lifetime and his published prejudice against the Jews was later quoted by Hitler as support for his holocaust. And yet, few in the church would argue that Luther was “wicked”, a force for evil in this world.

I realize that comparing a fictional character and a real-life worldchanger may be a far stretch, but bear with me. Both “characters” sought the greater good, which was at a surprising cost. How could one be considered wicked while the other benevolent? In Maguire’s book, the Witch sought good of her own creation. She depended upon her own abilities and her own self. When she failed, she failed alone. Martin Luther passionately trusted the God he was serving. He was fully aware of the failings of his humanity, and trusted God to bring about the good which he so desired to see. His very trust that he was incapable led him to entrust the mission to God, who truly made it happen, despite human failing.

Perhaps then, it is a relief to know that we are all “wicked”, but a loving God can keep us from falling, as well.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

(Jude 1:24-25 ESV)