Shades Of Grey - Jasper Fforde

I am a huge fan of Fforde's Thursday Next series but I was not so sure about diving into his latest release, Shades Of Grey. I admit that the Thursday Next series really hooked me with it's references to books and literature and after reading the summary of Shades Of Grey I thought it might be a little too "out there" for my tastes. I have to say now that I have finished the book I am glad that I took the risk and dove in.

In Shades Of Grey Fforde has created a world based on our own (loosely!) but where the hierarchy of the community is based on their vision and what types, and amounts, of different colours they can see. The main character of the book, Eddie Russett, is classified as a Red - not as high up as a Purple but definitely not as low down as the Grey's who are unable to see colour in any great detail.

As I was reading this one I felt there were a lot of similarities with the latest Margaret Atwood books I have read, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. All books take elements from our current world but project them into a future that has twisted and turned. I felt Fforde offered a lot more humour in his vision than Atwood though!

The first half of the book just flew by for me - I was really enjoying how Fforde was introducing and explaining the world he had created and there was so much to take in and process about how the community was structured. The middle section got a little bogged down I thought but the ending redeemed the book and has left the way wide open for the next two planned books in the series. Overall I really enjoyed this one - a great humorous read but also a very insightful commentary and reflection on our own current community and the way in which we "rate" and prejudice people and groups in society.

The Year Of The Flood - Margaret Atwood

Earlier this year I read Atwood's speculative novel, Oryx and Crake and while it wasn't the type or style of book I would normally pick up I found myself totally immersed in it. I quickly went to my library to get the next novel written about the same period in the earth's future/history, The Year Of The Flood and started reading it right away but I found that I needed to spend some time out of this version of the world and move on to some other reading for a while. I came back to it this past weekend and found myself just as absorbed as I had been when I first picked up Oryx and Crake.

It has been said that you can read these two books separately and in any order but I really felt I enjoyed The Year Of The Flood more for having read Oryx and Crake first. I felt that O&C gave a more general overview of the author's created world and what was happening within it while The Year Of The Flood provided a more focused perspective.

The Year Of The Flood starts off by introducing us to the God's Gardeners - an environmental religious group who believe that all life (animal, plant and human) is sacred and to be respected. Atwood does a fantastic job of describing the group and their intricacies and beliefs and each section of the novel is opened by a speech/sermon from the group's leader, Adam One and a hymn from the groups hymn book. I have to say I found these sermons a little annoying and preachy as the book went on (reminded me too much of being in church as a child!) but maybe that was the author's intent?? However, they did perform a function of showing the internal development of the group as well as the way they were being impacted on by people and the environment around them.

The Year Of The Flood also focuses more on female characters than O&C. The two main characters that are followed are Toby and Ren - two women who have joined the God's Gardeners group for different reasons. Toby is brought into the group as a form of safety after her parents have died and she is forced to work in an abusive and dangerous environment and Ren is brought to the group by her mother when she begins a relationship with one of the groups senior members, or "Adams". I thought with this focus on female characters I would have enjoyed Flood more but I have to say that I feel O&C is my favourite book out of the two. That is not to take anything away from Flood - it is another clever and intriguing book by Atwood. I can't believe the strength and bounds of this woman's imagination! Although some would say that some of the elements described in both these books could be scarily close to coming true in our own world - particularly in relation to the environmental aspects and the destruction of whole species and their habitats.

Atwood's writing, as always, is sharp and descriptive - her characters have depth and complexity - you care about what happens to them - good or bad.

The ending of the book is deliberately open - is Atwood planning a third book?? I hope so!

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

Although I am a HUGE Margaret Atwood fan and would list her as one of my favourite authors I have not read Oryx and Crake until now because I just did not think it would be a book that I would enjoy - at all. I was very, very wrong. I picked this up from my library one day after work this week and as I was a little early for my pilates class I started reading it in the car while I waited. I almost missed my pilates class - I just did not want to put this book down (that is one of my only gripes with pilates - I can't read while doing it!).

Since finishing the book this morning I have been browsing Atwood's site for the book and reading some of her interviews and thoughts about the novel and her process of writing it - I always find these insights from authors interesting. I was particularly interested to hear Atwood describe Oryx and Crake as speculative fiction - not science fiction. I like this distinction because it make sense to me now why I enjoyed this book so much but I really do not enjoy science fiction. I am ashamed to say that I had never really thought about the difference before. I was trying to explain to my partner (a huge science fiction and fantasy genre lover) why I liked this book so much and all I could really come up with was that it had a strong humanist element contained within it - even though it was a different (although scarily possible) view of our world I could still locate myself or people I care about within this story and I connected with the characters and their experiences - even though I have of course never been in a situation like this in my own life. I had empathy for and connection with the story - two key elements for me in my reading.

I liked the way that Atwood showed us the present and then worked backwards with flashbacks of the history of the characters leading up to that point in time - I thought it was brilliantly done with great suspense and timing.

I am now eager to read The Year of the Flood - have people read either of this books? Did they enjoy one more than the other?