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    Shades of Grey: A Novel
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    Shades of Grey: A Novel
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    Shades of Grey: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    Shades of Grey: A Novel

    Written by Jasper Fforde

    Narrated by John Lee

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    An astonishing, hotly anticipated new novel from the great literary fantasist and creator of Thursday Next, Jasper Fforde.

    As long as anyone can remember, society has been ruled by a Colortocracy. From the underground feedpipes that keep the municipal park green to the healing hues viewed to cure illness to a social hierarchy based upon one's limited color perception, society is dominated by color. In this world, you are what you can see.

    Young Eddie Russett has no ambition to be anything other than a loyal drone of the Collective. With his better-than-average red perception, he could well marry Constance Oxblood and inherit the string works; he may even have enough red perception to make prefect.

    For Eddie, life looks colorful. Life looks good.

    But everything changes when he moves with his father, a respected swatchman, to East Carmine. There, he falls in love with a Grey named Jane who opens his eyes to the painful truth behind his seemingly perfect, rigidly controlled society.

    Curiosity--a dangerous trait to display in a society that demands total conformity--gets the better of Eddie, who beings to wonder:
    Why are there not enough spoons to go around?
    Why is everything--and everyone--barcoded?
    What happened to all the people who never returned from High Saffron?
    And why, when you begin to question the world around you, do black-and-white certainties reduce themselves to shades of grey?

    Part satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, this is the new world from the creative and comic genius of Jasper Fforde.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateDec 29, 2009
    ISBN9781101145890
    Unavailable
    Shades of Grey: A Novel
    Author

    Jasper Fforde

    Jasper Fforde is the internationally best-selling author of the Chronicles of Kazam, the Thursday Next mysteries, and the Nursery Crime books. He lives in Wales. www.jasperfforde.com Twitter: @jasperfforde Instagram: @jasperfforde  

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    Reviews for Shades of Grey

    4/5

    1,331 ratings161 reviews

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    • 5/5
      entire review atThe Little BookwormI've been contemplating how to describe this book. I've been thinking about what I even think about this book. I must say that out of all the Jasper Fforde books I've read, this one is the quirkiest and the most serious and the most unbelievable and the most fantastic. There are so many elements that I could talk about because Fforde builds a world that is real in this book. It is intricate and sound and alive. The thing I love about a Jasper Fforde book is that he shows and doesn't tell. This concept, in the hands of a less author, would have fallen flat. He doesn't set up a great deal of exposition, but rather allows the reader to find out how this world works on their own. Not to say that there is no explanation, but it only comes when it is natural. There is no forced description or dialogue. It made for a confusing book til I got the hang of the slang and the language and what was going on.
    • 5/5
      My favorite book I've read thus far in my life. The level of intricacy and attention to detail that Jasper Fforde employs blows me away every time I read it. The concept of creating a society based off of the colors people can perceive is such a clever and unique idea. I cannot wait for the sequels.
    • 5/5
      Jasper Fforde always brings something out of the box to the reader, and the politely dystopian future based on color perception is precisely that. Looking forward to the next (snerk) book, as our main character realizes he's only scratching the surface of repressed knowledge.
    • 5/5
      My favorite Fforde book.

      WARNING: The series has NOT advanced.
      It is foolish to be impatient with a world-builder as prolific as Fforde, and the rest of his books are also wonderful, but this is the world I want more of. As an early reader, I went through all the stages of waiting: first impatience, imagined stoicism, real impatience, anger, composure, rage, frustration, melancholy, hopelessness, firefly, hope, despair, patience, numbness, and acceptance. He may never go back to this series, to my great regret, but it is still worth reading, even if your heart will break. Worth it.
    • 5/5
      Took me a while to get into this but I'm glad I didn't give up as in the end I really liked it. As the first book in the series it does a very good job of introducing the characters and setting up the story for future books.
    • 3/5
      2.75 starsEddie Russet and his father are moving. Eddie’s dad is replacing a swatchman (healer) in another city. In this world, not very many people are allowed to move. In this world, people are only allowed to know what they are taught and what they are taught is severely restricted. In this world, there are lots of Rules. In this world, people only see certain colours, and all the colours are ranked in a hierarchy, with Grey at the bottom. Eddie is a Red and is drawn to Jane, a Grey. Eddie is pretty by-the-book, and Jane is brash and has a tendency not to follow the rules. I’ll start by saying that I’m not usually a big fan of sci-fi or fantasy. In this book, there was just way too much setup for me. I was uninterested (and a little lost and confused at the very start), so if my mind wandered while reading, I wasn’t compelled to back up and reread what I’d missed. I wasn’t excited about continuing the story when I was reading, and the book wasn’t drawing me back to it when I wasn’t already reading. It did get better in the last 1/3 of the book, but it didn’t make up for the first 2/3 of the book, so I just can’t give it 3 stars, though I was interested by the end. It was just too little, too late for me.
    • 5/5
      As usual - Jasper Fforde has taken us to a whole new world, filled with lessons for our own place and time, but unimaginably different. Stayed up late to finish, stayed up even later to log this, staying up WAY too late to see if there is an expected publication date for either of the two sequels!
    • 3/5
      The world fforde creates here is pretty clever, but because of its Byzantine maze of rules and customs, it is difficult to understand. I was left feeling this was an entire novel of exposition, with very little actual plot, and also some pretty interchangeable characters. Towards the end I felt that finishing it was onerous. I know this is supposed to be the first of a series but I do prefer books that are still satisfying in themselves. As always though ffordes sense of zany humour is very enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      It's Jasper Fforde. Loved it Can't wait for the next ones
    • 3/5
      Quick read.
    • 5/5
      I loved the book. One thing bothering me, was how does the color-seeing thing work. How can it work? Which light frequencies they perceive to what degree? Can it have the perceptual consequences that are described? If you only saw red, you'd be sensitive to one frequency band and effectively monochromatic. But this isn't how the reds work in the book. The best I could do was trying to forget physics.
    • 5/5
      His best yet!
    • 4/5
      Eddie Russett is a young man with promising red color reception in a color-vision-based caste system, except that he has to serve out a stint in the hinterland learning humility by counting chairs. Obnoxious yellows, truculent greys, free-marketeering reds and mysterious deaths interfere with Eddie's plans to get back to normal life quickly.If you're familiar with Jasper Fforde, this book will be unexpectedly serious. It still has the trademark Fforde bizarre premise (this one is a post-apocalyptic world populated by people with small pupils that can only see in one color) but there's less hijinks and more life-altering decision-making.
    • 5/5
      After the Swatchman of East Carmine is pronounced dead by mis-diagnosis Eddie Russett and his dad arrive to help out and they find out there is more to East Carmine than meets the eye. What is happening to the greys and when people end up being sent to reboot what becomes of them. The prefects are looking after themselves but what will happen when one of their own start to get a conscience??? Guess I will need to read book 2 and 3 from the series to find out! :-)
    • 1/5
      I like Ffordes other books, but had to drag myself through this one. It is no help at all that it is the first part of a trilogy which means many themes are mentioned repeatedly throughout the book but not resolved.
    • 5/5
      In the future following an unnamed catastrophe, the remnants of society have been realigned by color. Rank in society is determined by which color you can see, and how well you can see it. Then Eddie's eyes are opened to the inequities by one of the drone greys.
    • 4/5
      Summary: Eddie Russet lives in a colortocracy, a futuristic world where a mostly colorblind society is stratified by color perception — you are what you see. Eddie is a Red, but when he meets the irritable Jane, a lowly Grey, he is pulled into subversive thoughts and worse.Review: I got this book as an ARC from the Early Reviewers program, so thank you for the copy! I was looking forward to reading this since Fforde is a popular author, known for his quirky characters and humour. I own one of his other novels but I haven’t read it yet, so Shades of Grey is my introduction to Fforde. And it was great! The absurd world of the colortocracy came into life vividly in the first few chapters. I had thought it might be boring to read about color perception, but Fforde creates an entire society out of it, considering the ways it affects technology, marriage, and communities. I cracked up and marveled at several points in the book, pausing to read choice passages out loud to my sister. This is a world that I’d like to read more about, so I’m glad that this is only the first book in a promised series.I mean it. I love Eddie’s world, as mixed up as it is. I have a fondness for dystopic fiction about totalitarian governments. Most dystopic fiction takes its subject matter much more seriously than Fforde. Yet I appreciated the way Fforde tackled a serious issue with humour and satire. It made for a book that isn’t afraid to be entertaining, which is my favourite kind.With that said, there were a few things that didn’t work for me. Jane, mostly. I liked her as a character but I saw almost no chemistry between her and Eddie. That they would fall in love and so quickly was forced and unbelievable to me.I was also put off by the ending, which was too fast-paced. Characters died, were sent off to die, broke up, got back together, and got pregnant so suddenly that I was left reeling. The languorous pace that marks the first part of the novel as Eddie travels to East Carmine is broken too dramatically.Still, it’s a great book. Funny and satirical. I’m excited to read more.Conclusion: How does Fforde even think of these things?
    • 3/5
      Dystopian world where people are classified by their ability to see color, and spoons are more important than they should be...

      Enjoyable read.
    • 5/5
      Centuries in the future, our descendants live in a Chromotocracy- a caste system where your entire life is determined by the one color you can see. If you’re an unfortunate gray, with no color sight, you’re relegated to the ranks of laborer. In this first book of the series, lead characters uncover the conspiracy by the Collective to maintain control over society through the indoctrination of their youth and keeping the color lines pure through arranged marriages. This is a really clever sci-fi with a thin veil over commentary around race, social systems and bias.
    • 4/5
      Fun read. The world building was so immersive and the unreliable way it unfolded was so compelling.
    • 5/5
      This book is so far my favorite of 2014 and probably 2013 as well. I really loved it, it seems slow at first as Fforde creates this extremely detailed world, but it gives you time to get to know the characters. Soon your wondering yourself why do things have to be this way and before you know it your sympathizing with a character who is asking the same questions as you. The whole story is really a step up for the ending, it wouldn't be nearly as emotionally powerful without the connection you develop with these people and their world. It is a must read for any one really, whether you like science fiction or not, this book has something for everyone.
    • 4/5
      This was a surprising distopia. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but what I got was not it. I found it to be a very intriguing read. Edward, as a punishment, is being sent to the hinterlands to learn humility. He learns that coming up with better ideas, is not always rewarded. The status quo is stasis, and stasis does not like change. Those on top plan to stay there and are efficiently ruthless in cutting off even the possibility of upheaval. It's an excellent look at how power corrupts and those who want it and have it are willing to spout what lies are needed to keep it. And how the vast majority are more than happy to believe the lies as long as they are comfortable and safe.Excellent political commentary on top of a great story. Well worth the read.
    • 4/5
      The problem is it's really hard to understand because the world is so different. A lot of times, it's hard to tell if the book is trying to be a comedy or not. For example, the social structure for the entire world is based on how much color you can see, because an individual can only see one color at a time (reds, blues, oranges, etc.) due to some unnamed cataclysm. People who can see 70% red or so are strong candidates as community leaders and thus, people are very concerned about who to marry in order to produce offspring that can see a lot of color. People who can't see much (greys) are considered lower class, like slaves. And no one can see in the dark. You get home before it gets dark, or you get killed.If you thought that was silly, consider that spoons are a rare treasure. You must always keep your spoon, and I guess it's tied to your postal code, so if you don't have a spoon, you may as well not exist. Add to that a naked man who everyone ignores because the social rules say he doesn't exist, a giant puzzle everyone works on, colors that can kill, and the last rabbit, and you've got a "different" novel.But if you can get past the learning curve of world-building, it's quite a good novel. The story keeps you going, as you want to find out more why, why, why. There are whys here -- the spoons and the colors aren't just arbitrary, even though they're not explained. It's not for casual readers -- you will be tested -- but it's worth the drive.
    • 4/5
      Brave New World meets Lois Lowry's The Giver meets Urinetown: The Musical.

      Its quirkiness and humor bring to mind Fforde's Thursday Next series, which I also quite like. For me, the big difference is that Thursday Next's world seems to be a effortless mishmash of oddities that somehow created this awesome place when they were thrown together. But the world and backstory of Shades of Grey seem to have been planned with much more labor and difficulty. This book feels like it was very hard to write, and in reading it I didn't feel the same sense of lightness and ease that I do while reading the Thursday Next books. Many of the same elements are there, but the fun is muted.

      I wish I didn't have to wait so long for the next book in the series.
    • 4/5
      A good start, though the middle is perhaps a bit slow, but then it's building quite a complicated world - and does a grand job. The last dozen or two chapters really fire, and the revelations therein about what's really going on in the Collective are satisfyingly shocking and surprising. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the promised sequels!
    • 3/5
      Picked this up based on a recommendation from Patrick Rothfuss.Some great world building but gave up after after half the book was done.
    • 2/5
      In this dystopian future, your social status is based on what color you can see. Our hero can only see red: purple is the highest caste, while completely colorblind people (called Greys) are the lowest of the low. The entire society and economy is based on color, and its structure is belabored throughout the novel. It gets rather tedious. There's some fun absurdity, but mostly I was disappointed. One of the things I love about dystopian stories is picking up clues from the present day, getting an inkling of how the world transformed from the one I'm familiar with into the setting of the novel. Here, I just didn't get it. I didn't understand the obsession with spoons, or the colorblindness, or the dangerous swans, or the ball lightning, or any of it. I held off judgment until the very end, hoping something might come clear, but ultimately I was disappointed. Maybe he's saving the Big Reveal for the sequel, but heaven knows when/if that will be published. As much as I like Jasper Fforde in general, this was probably his worst book.
    • 2/5
      I wanted to rate this book much higher, but then I started getting bored.

      It was fascinating from the very start because the world was completely new. I've seen this theme of Color hierarchy before in other books, but Fforde takes it to a completely different world. So many things were absolutely brilliant. Peeking at green, hues as medicine, yataveo trees (which is real myth), color scraps, toshing, etc. I loved learning about this world.

      One systematic logistically plot device that I was struggling to understand was the rankings of colors. Purple is so much higher than Red. But an Orange could never become a Purple, and a Red could marry into the Purple line - but Orange is greater than Red? Seems a little funky.
      And could anyone possibly get to Alpha level without eugenics? Having negligible amounts of the other two primary colors would simply be too difficult. And is it possibly for a low Red to go to Purple then to Blue and then to Green? But that's okay, maybe it'll be explained better in later books.

      Another thing that you just have to laugh and say it's artistic license is how one pumps color into things of the world (like grass or gardens). I don't quite get it, but it's a fantasy world so it was interesting to think about.

      But I just couldn't appreciate the characters. Jane was cool but we had to watch the world through Eddie's eyes for 500 pages. Eddie was a little too passive, too naive. It was great watching him say no, but he didn't have any real passion or motivation. And I am annoyed at how easy it was for them to start liking each other. I didn't believe their love at all. I wanted more progression.

      I was also really unhappy with what Fforde did with Eddie's father at the end. Would that have really happened? He seemed so much more chill. Ah, it's like characters forced to do actions against their already-presented nature to move the plot along.

      So the book got more than a little dull in the middle. I was like... where's the freaking plot?

      I was completely frustrated by the end of the book. Finally his eyes are open and he's less ignorant and there's only 50 pages left? My goodness! This book was too slow for me. It was just a set up of the world and character introduction. There was simply not enough plot to keep me interested.

      2.5 stars rounded down. Had potential as a story if it was condensed and added more action/plot. I can't justify 500 pages of a novel as only a world set up without any plot. I probably won't pick up the rest of this series. A pity, because I like Fforde as an author.
      Recommended if you like books similar to The Giver by Lois Lowry. But beware, not much plot. Be prepared for a long ride of world and character introduction.
    • 3/5
      The book starts off pretty goofy, but if you can get into it, the story is good. Warning: There are two sequels planned. (I did not realize this until the end.)
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I liked it so much, I'm going to give it 5 stars even though, like all the Jasper Fforde books I've read, it required just a little too much suspension of disbelief, regarding how this particular version of the universe worked. (I was fine as long as I didn't dwell too much on the technicalities of what it meant to be a Green/Orange/Purple.)

      I liked this even more than I've liked the Thursday Next books. In Shades of Grey, the premise was beautiful and intriguing, but the characters were well crafted and complex, something I think the Thursday Next set lacks a bit.

      He also gets high marks for a tight plot set in a detailed world, where all the significant threads were wrapped up by the end of the book, but huge questions about the nature of the world and fate of all our characters still remain to be answered in upcoming books.

      Now, I'm distressed to see that this book's sequel is not slated until 2013 (hope that's true... I've seen the sequel on such lists as "Most Anticipated Books of 2011" and "Books I Can't Wait To Read in 2012" - gah), but I have a feeling I won't mind if I have to reread this first one prior to the second being released. Love it. Recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good dystopia, a little political/religious satire, general goofiness, and/or getting eaten by trees.