Review: Something Rotten

Something Rotten

Thursday Next #4

By Jasper Fforde

Viking 2004

383 pages

From the library

Note: This review may contain spoilers for earlier books in the series.

Thursday Next just never seems to catch a break. She is a single mother because the dastardly Goliath Corporation made her husband disappear. She is also in charge of Jurisfiction, where she must maintain the storyline of the books you know and love. Thursday decides to head home to her mother and brother with her son Friday in tow. She hopes to get her beloved husband back by regaining her job with the Literary Detectives. But complications abound when she is also asked to care for the infamous and melancholy prince Hamlet, prevent Danish books from being burned by a power-hungry politician, and ensure that the local (and terrible) croquet team wins the championship.

The Thursday Next series is consistently categorized as fun and this zany cast of characters will leave you chuckling throughout the book. Thursday's young son speaks only in ipsum lorem, the dummy text that is used for the layout of publications. Her father has been erased from time like her husband, but still pops in for the occasional chat. Her mother runs a support group for people whose loved ones have been eradicated and has an ever-revolving group of guests staying in her home. We also encounter an evil space emperor bent on destruction, a familiar Beatrix Potter character, and the cowboys of the Wild West.

This time around, Fforde also jumps into politics and religion. Thursday's nemesis is Yorrick Kane, who has escaped from a book in order to take over England. The politicians engage in a debate during a show called "Evade the Question." The candidates proceed to do just that and are awarded points accordingly. Thursday has returned home just in time to witness the second coming of her hometown's patron saint. While Thomas Zvlkx has an uncanny ability to predict the future, he also seems to have a weakness for cursing and making wagers.

The Thursday Next series is whimsical and clever and downright fun. The story is constantly moving and will give you many opportunities to smile at bad puns or laugh at the ingenious way that Fforde seems to utilize every character, historical event, and idea that you could possibly imagine. If you haven't read this gift to readers, you are missing out!


You can find my reviews of earlier Thursday Next books here.

It's Monday and we're home!

Hello everyone. We are back home from (surprisingly) rainy Florida! We flew down for my brother-in-laws' graduation and I had the chance to see where my hubby grew up. Some lessons learned from this trip: home is awfully nice after a few days away and plane rides are great for reading! 

Read This Week:

Passing 

By Nella Larsen

Invisible City

By Julia Dahl

Maybe One Day

By Melissa Cantor 

The Supreme Macaroni Company

By Adriana Trigiani

Posts from this Past Week

It's Monday

April Wrap-Up

Reviews of Outside In and The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Reading Now:

A Circle of Quiet
By Madeleine L'Engle 

Up Next:

Then Came You
By Jennifer Weiner

What are you reading this week?

Review: The Museum of Extraordinary Things

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

By Alice Hoffman

Scribner February 2014

368 pages

From the library

Two stories come together in a surprising and dazzling fashion in Alice Hoffman's newest novel The Museum of Extraordinary Things. Our heroine is the sheltered Coralie, who is a part of her father's Coney Island museum where the extraordinary and bizarre come out of the shadows. Coralie has webbed fingers and at her father's prompting, has trained herself to swim for extreme distances. She spends her days inside a tank in the museum, billed as a "mermaid." In the heart of New York City, Eddie Coen has escaped from his father and their traditional Orthodox lives to work among the city's thieves and runaways. When he becomes an apprentice to the famed photographer Moses Levy, he finds himself taking photographs of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and drawn into a mystery that will change his life forever.

As I started reading this book, my first reaction was that this story was not as good as my favorite Hoffman book The Dovekeepers. And perhaps it's not. But that doesn't mean that you should leave this book by the wayside because it's still a strong story that will effortlessly draw you into 1911 New York City. There is a tension throughout the entire book between fire and water - the inferno that claimed the lives of the girls at the factory and the water where Coralie spends much of her time swimming. At some point in the novel, I found myself quickly flipping pages because Hoffman had made me care about these characters. 

This book achieves the difficult feat of being both too long and too short. There were parts where I thought that the story was really meandering. But I wanted more of the auxiliary characters -  the household servants who love and help Coralie, her dastardly father Professor Sardie, the men and women who are on exhibit at the museum, and the denizens of the underworld where Eddie lives and works. Our protagonists seemed like they were holding the door open so that we could peer into fascinating worlds, but the door was only open for a few brief pages. 

The Museum of Extraordinary Things would not be my suggestion for a reader who is just discovering what Hoffman can do with words and characters and magic. There are other stories that are stronger and more enduring. But this is a good book, one that reminds us of the power of human connection and the talent with which Ms. Hoffman can bring history to vivid and terrible life. 

April Wrap-Up

April was a good and crazy month! We celebrated Easter in typical big family style. I participated in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. At the end of the month, I celebrated my birthday. A girl can't complain about all of that celebrating!

Now the hubby and I are starting May off right by jetting down to Florida for a few days. Woohoo!

Books reviewed in April: 8
Pages read: 2,541
Fiction/non-fiction: 7/1
Female authors/male authors: 7/1
My books/library books/books for review: 2/2/4
Most-read April review: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress 
Favorite April read: Found and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry


Books reviewed by David: 2
David's favorite April read: The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy 

What was your favorite April read?

15/52

A picture of each of the kids, once a week, every week in 2014.

Becca Grace - "Do you think I could grab the books and make a break for it?"

David - There are very few dandelions left between our house and the bus stop. You will never guess who is responsible...

Review: Outside In

Outside In

By Doug Cooper

Greenleaf Book Group Press August 2013

253 pages

Provided for review by TLC Book Tours and the publisher 

Brad Shepherd is a young teacher at a crossroads in his life. His job as a junior high math teacher ended abruptly with the death of a student and a subsequent lawsuit. Brad decides to take the summer to refocus and decide what he wants to do next. He travels to the island of Put-In-Bay, where he will spend the summer keeping an eye on unruly drunks at the bar...at least when he is not getting drunk or doing drugs himself.

Author Doug Cooper has extensive additional material available to accompany his debut novel, which you can find here. As I read, I found myself agreeing with many of the things he said, particularly that Brad has parallels with Holden Caulfield and that Outside In is a tale of a delayed coming of age. Brad has done everything that he should have done - gone to college, taken a job in a respected field - but when that is taken away, he doesn't know who he is without it. Mr. Cooper details the ways in which philosophy and the archetype of the hero impacted his story and those are both evident throughout. Unfortunately, it gives the book a somewhat uneven feel. The never-ending party has difficulty co-existing with the continual insinuation that this book is about deeper philosophical questions.

One of the great strengths of this book is the author's descriptive voice. From the moment that Brad first sees the island from the ferry, I felt as if I was seeing it in front of me. We see the dirty corners of the bars, the rough accommodations of the seasonal workers, and the beautiful hidden coves brought to life in a way that seems effortless.

Brad's story certainly serves as a cautionary tale about the effects of drugs and alcohol and how "having fun" can quickly spiral into addiction. The book is sometimes difficult to read because of that, but it serves to show us just how far Brad has fallen and the dark secrets that these party locales really hide. The end of the novel was difficult for me to believe because I imagine that it is a very difficult process for someone to detox after so many months of abusing drugs and alcohol. I also had trouble believing that the event that cements Brad's decision about his future would have done so when it is so similar to another event earlier in the book.

Outside In is a powerful debut about the effects that our decisions have on our lives and whether we can start again.


I have one copy of this book to give away! If you want to enter, leave me a comment and tell me about an unforgettable summer that you've experienced.


For more reviews of Outside In, check out TLC Book Tours and the rest of the tour stops!

Monday, April 14: Sara's Organized Chaos
Wednesday, April 16: Bibliotica
Monday, April 21: A Chick Who Reads
Wednesday, April 23: Bewitched Bookworms
Thursday, April 24: Knowing the Difference
Tuesday, April 29: Patricia's Wisdom
Thursday, May 1: Luxury Reading
Monday, May 5: Literally Jen
Monday, May 12: 100 Pages a Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews 
Thursday, May 15: Booke Blogs and Cupcake's Book Cupboard
Monday, May 19: Books a la mode
Tuesday, May 20: Tiffany's Bookshelf
Wednesday, May 21: Endless Days of Literary Ecstasy
Thursday, May 22: Daily Mayo
Tuesday, May 27: You Can Read Me Anything 

It's Monday and I am another year older...

Hi friends! It has been a crazy few days, but they were really good. I celebrated my birthday with my family and my husband's family. Then, of course, it was the 24 Hour Readathon this weekend. I didn't read anywhere near 24 hours, but it was still a lot of fun! Did you join in the readathon? Did you read anything fantastic?

Read This Week:

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

By Alice Hoffman

Outside In

By Doug Cooper


Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) 
By Jasper Fforde 

Posts from this Past Week:

It's Monday

Reviews of While Beauty Slept and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Readathon Posts

Reading Now:

Passing
By Nella Larsen

Up Next:

Invisible City
By Julia Dahl

What are you reading this week?