I have recommended Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" series to so many folks, have used it in an honors reading seminar, and love it when I find someone else who has enjoyed these great books. So this year my Christmas present to myself was his newest work
Shades of Grey.
It has many of the same features I liked about the Thursday Next series - creativity, turning expectations and conventions on their head, good characters and plot - but I am struggling with the whole genre of
dystopian fiction. I can't imagine myself in a world where the powers that be "take a dim view of irresponsible levels of creative expression" (p. 176). The "irresponsible" level of "creative expression" is love poetry, by the way.
Mind you, I am enjoying the book very much - very creative work for the first third I've gotten under my belt so far - I'm just struggling with the dystopian bits. I wonder if I'm just too much of an optimist to fully enjoy this work. More as I continue the read.
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