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I’m not sure whether it’s the book, or whether I was just in the perfect mood for it, but regardless, the result is the same. The Fourth Bear is my favorite of the seven Jasper Fforde novels I’ve read. The first five Thursday Next Novels are fun but can be a bit overwhelming, and sometimes downright confusing, and the first Nursery Crime book, The Big Over Easy, does a little bit too much work setting up the Nursery Crime world to really enjoy its premise. But everything is very clear and deligh...
This was disappointing. I did enjoy the first book in the series and had been looking forward to this one, but it has a lot of problems that really annoyed me. Looking back, I am certain the first book shared many of the same problems, but the novelty and humour helped overcome them. Unfortunately, I think the humour in these is the sort that gets old very fast.So... The major problems:First up is the narrative mode, which is third-person omniscient. Omniscient is a perfectly valid mode, but it'...
This book took quite a while to read to the kids. I found it to be more interesting than the first book, but also slightly confusing because I kept forgetting who Bisky-Batt was. 4 stars for being an entertaining read.If you haven't read the first book 'The Big Over Easy', let me give you a re-cap. There is a place called Reading near London? As a person from the U.S. I always say something is near London. I'm as naive as most. So... back to the re-cap. There is a division of the Police force......
DCI Jack Spratt's life as head of the Nursery Crime Division comes with its perils, and this story is no exception. Lambasted by the media after Red Riding Hood and her gran get eaten by a wolf, Jack is supposed to hand the reins to his number 2, Detective Sergeant Mary Mary. But then Goldilocks, a local journalist and Friend To Bears, goes missing after interviewing a prize cucumber grower who was then killed in a massive explosion that took out half the village of Obscurity. Is this somehow li...
I absolutely loved this book, it was so different and unexpected throughout the whole novel that I just had to finish it as soon as possible. It was nice that my suspicions that he was a literary character was right, although I hated the fact that he and Madeline got into a big fight over it. There were so many moments that had me laughing out loud. I think Ashley is absolutely adorable and am looking forward to more of him and Mary in the future. Overall, a lot of what happened was definitely u...
So far, this is my favorite of the Jasper Fforde books. The wordplay and puns just keep on coming, but I also enjoyed the meta-fictional elements going on here. Storybook characters who know they're storybook characters (or, in Fforde's parlance, Persons of Dubious Reality), plot devices named and numbered, even comments on flat characters (the sadness of knowing you aren't fully developed) and jokes that are too much of a stretch.As far as the Nursery Crimes go, this one is a beauty: the Ginger...
I have always liked the theory of a Jasper Fforde book more than the execution. Fforde has some clever ideas, but he often throws too many of them together, till it stops making sense. The plot bogs down. It's not that funny… But this was a pleasant exception. For me, at least, "The Fourth Bear" nailed it. Still a lot of funny ideas, but they all make sense. A simple but effective plot. The characters are fleshed out and interesting. Excellent villains, including the Gingerbreadman assassin. And...
Highly recommended read (if only to learn who dates Pippa Pepper!)
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Another excellent book by a truly gifted writer. While not quite as good as The Big Over Easy which I thought was simply amazing, this is still a very high quality effort. Highly Recommended!!!
Nursery Crime Division head, Jack Spratt, has a Gingerbreadman on the loose. And a missing reporter named Goldilocks. And Punch and Judy just moved in next door, raising the noise level in the neighbourhood considerably. Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Exploding cucumbers and cakes as serial killers. Or is it cookies? And aliens. Conspiracies. Evil corporations. Bears, taking long walks in woods. Greek gods. Wedding planning. Crazy crazy mix, concocting a hilarious, stunning and surprising story, impossible to read in public, like at all. Spontaneous chuckling and chortling and even cackling happens a lot. A lot.
Once again, The Fourth Bear makes the personal library cut. Oh, don't get me wrong; it's as meandering as bumblebee at the height of spring, but somehow Fforde manages to pull it together for a smashing finale.The beginning is slow and feels more like a set of loosely connected stories instead of the noir mystery it is modeled after. After starting the reader off with Henny Hatchett, a reporter who is also known as 'Goldilocks,' investigating some prizewinning cucumbers, and a successful capture...
This is Mr. Fforde's take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears and though parts of it are hysterical, too much of a good thing isn't a good thing. Fforde's wordplay and puns are phenomenal but 400 pages of same, got a bit tedious. And there is simply too much going on - Goldilocks's disappearance, alien detectives, a killer gingerbread man, Punch and Judy, a mad bomber and lots of bears because bears have rights too.I could have done without the whole Punch and Judy thing as that served no purpose
I'd like to start this review by saying that Jasper Fforde is a genius. I loved his Thursday Next series, thoroughly enjoyed the first Nursery Crimes book (The Big Over Easy), and can honestly say this is hands-down my favourite of his books.The Fourth Bear is, ostensibly, Fforde's take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. But there's so much more to the story than just that one fairy tale. Add a murderous gingerbread man, Jack's habit of accidentally killing giants (and coming across extremely fa...
Cuculear power! The Battle of the Somme! Ginga assassins! Aliens from outer space! A conspiracy run by an evil multinational corporation! A woman in uniform flashing the International Space Station! "Pippa Piper picking Peter 'pockmarked' Peck of Pembroke Park over Picker or Pepper!"It's outrageous, zany and fun. Imagine Scheherazade spinning a tale out of your childhood nursery stories, except she's been sucking on a hookah and freed from the constraints imposed by an English teacher. For anyon...
Jack Spratt and his NCD (Nursery Crime Division) team must solve the murder of Goldilocks (in a politically-sensitive modern climate of bear activism and rampant ursism) while tracking down the escaped psycho-killer known as the Ginger Bread Man, all while Jack is under suspension and being outed as a PDR (a person of dubious reality) himself. Jack has a great new car he bought from dealer Dorian Gray that instantly repairs itself--as long as a certain painting remains intact.... Also not to be
I really loved this series! Smart and funny; my favorite combination.
Second in the Nursery Crime take-off-on nursery rhymes and fairytales series and revolving around a police division headed up by Jack Spratt. It’s been four months since The Big Over Easy , 1.My TakeThis one is a bit confusing, but don’t worry about it. Eventually it all comes right, as Fforde just has to set up that bit of foreshadowing. Of course, those epigraphs were still totally weird, and I don’t see how the majority of them contributed to the story. The concept, sure. But.I do wish th
I love Jasper Fforde. I want to have coffee with him, because if he is anything like his books then it would be one hell of a coffee date. Nursery Rhyme characters are real and live in Reading, U.K. -- Punch and Judy make loud next door neighbors, Humpty Dumpty was murderd last book, the Gingerbread Man is a psychotic killer, and so on. Rambosians are aliens that have applied for earth citizenship because they love bureaucracy and 1970s sitcoms (many have been granted said citizenship). . .Rambo...
I am happily meandering through my book shelves pulling out old favourites from the past and of course anything by Jasper Fforde has to be a favourite! The Fourth Bear is one of his best.It is a great pity that the Nursery Crime series never went any further. (There was a third book planned but so very long ago I cannot see it materialising.) I love the clever way Fforde brings in our favourite nursery rhyme characters - plus the occasional alien and a Greek god - houses them all in Reading and