Play Book Tag discussion
2023: Other Books
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(Subdue) The Constant Rabbit, by Jasper Fforde (4 stars)
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KateNZ wrote: "Jasper Fforde is one of my favourite authors, especially the Thursday Next series, and Shades of Grey (WHERE IS THE SEQUEL??!). Oh and the Nurserycrime series. And actually pretty much anything he’..."Well said. I really enjoyed this too. It works at multiple levels. I have the Thursday Next series on my TBR. I should have put Eyre Affair on my new Subdue board.
I liked this one too. I love the dry sense of humor Fforde brings to his books.And yes: Where is the sequel to Shades of Grey?
Ditto - Where is the sequel to Shades of Grey? Actually, I had a discussion about that a couple of years ago with another Fforde Fan friend who had read an interview with him where he talked about his writing - it'd been a while since he'd published anything and all wanted to know what was in the pipeline and where was the sequel to Shades of Grey. Her take was that he had lost interest in it and there was not going to be a sequel ever.
But who knows with someone as 'out of the box' as he is?
I have Constant Rabbit sitting at the bottom of one of the couch TBR Towers - and a couple older ones hidden away in others. I fell in love with his originality with of course The Eyre Affair. I'm thinking it might be time to re-read that series.
The sequel is coming, supposed to be published February of next year, Red Side Story. I loved Shades of Grey but by the time the sequel is published I'll probably have to re-read it to remember what's going on.
I'm on Team Where is the sequel to Shades of Grey?! I loved that one and didn't like Thursday Next at all for some reason. I enjoyed the few quirky stand alones like this one.
Really hope the rumors are true on Red Side Story and will definitely have to reread the first one. I have moved continents 3 times since reading it! Feel like that is enough time... He is up there with Patrick Rothfuss for me.
@Jen K - except he has published other books in the interim - unlike Rothfuss. I've had the sense from reading what he says about his writing that he had not figured out where to go in the Sequel to Shades of Grey. Funny we are having this conversation - I walked by the shelf where my copy of Shades of Grey sits and was quite truthfully wondering if there would ever be a sequel. I have more hope now.
Theresa wrote: "@Jen K - except he has published other books in the interim - unlike Rothfuss. I've had the sense from reading what he says about his writing that he had not figured out where to go in the Sequel..."
@Theresa, it's true but I still don't feel satisfied :)
Like Shades of Grey, the parallel world of this book is set against an unexplained Event, 55 years earlier, that turned a bunch of rabbits (and a few other animals) into fully anthropomorphised, people-sized, intelligent beings with their own culture. Many people find this a bit hard to live with and object to rabbits moving into their communities. Not so Peter Knox, who doesn’t consider himself a leporiphobe, and who thinks he’s a good guy, if a bit boring in some ways.
This is a multi-layered satire and more obviously biting than many of his books but still entertaining not preachy. Most obviously it’s about racism, and the difference between not being racist and being antiracist. But it also sends up Brexit, idiot politicians, supremacists, bureaucracy, climate change deniers, quaint English villages that want to get smartest village awards and narrow-minded people who are determined to rule the roost. Such a lot of fun!