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Return to the world of the Nursery Crime Division in this novel from Jasper Fforde, the New York Times bestselling author of the Thursday Next series and The Constant RabbitThe inimitable Jasper Fforde gives readers another delightful mash-up of detective fiction and nursery rhyme, returning to those mean streets where no character is innocent. The Gingerbreadman—sadist, psychopath, cookie—is on the loose in Reading, but that’s not who Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary show more Mary are after. Instead, they’ve been demoted to searching for missing journalist “Goldy” Hatchett. The last witnesses to see her alive were the reclusive Three Bears, and right away Spratt senses something furry—uh, funny—about their story, starting with the porridge. The Fourth Bear is a delirious new romp from our most irrepressible fabulist. show less
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TomWaitsTables See how this book was constructed, with the help of Thursday Next!
90
tortoise Rankin's book covers a lot of the same comedic ground as The Fourth Bear, and I found it considerably better-constructed.
04
Dr.Science The English author Tom Holt is relatively unknown in America, but very popular in England. If you enjoy Jasper Fforde or Christopher Moore you will most certainly enjoy Tom Holt's wry sense of English humor and the absurd. He has written a number of excellent books including Expecting Someone Taller, and Flying Dutch, but they may be difficult to find at your library or bookstore.
Member Reviews
Jack Spratt and Mary Mary (quite contrary) are back in the second book in the Nursery Crimes series, investigating the disappearance of Goldilocks in the midst of the escape of the killer Gingerbreadman from a mental institution. What I liked best was Mary's date with her coworker Ashley (an alien), and the car Jack bought from Dorian Gray that manages to repair itself...but also has a backwards-running odometer. Not as punny as The Big Over Easy, but still an intricately plotted mystery.
What can ever be said about a Jasper Fforde book that would make sense to anyone that hasn't read one? This is the second in what is, so far, a two book series about what crime would look like if Nursery Characters lived in the real world. Jack Spratt, the head of the Nursery Crimes Division, investigates several seemingly unrelated crimes: Porridge smuggling, a missing Goldilocks, the escape of the Gingerbread man, and his new car that never ages, with a painting in the boot that does. All while fighting suspension based on a pending psych evaluation after being swallowed by the Big Bad Wolf.
It's not all Mother Goose either, side characters include Spratt's daughter Pandora and her soon to be husband, Prometheus and at least one show more character from Shakespeare. Oh, and an alien. Because, why not?
In spite of sounding (and mostly being) silly, it's not an easy/breezy book to read. There are layers in the writing and the jokes and the references that are easy to miss. There's a subtle - very subtle - disregard for the fourth wall, where the characters not only recognise they're in a book (a la Thursday Next), but will make subtle reference to the author and the reader. So not only is it a book where the overload of satire is best enjoyed in small doses, but one that if carefully read will give more humorous dividends than a quick read would.
Generally it's just a hell of a lot of fun to read. The puns get punnier towards the end and there was at least one *snort*chuckle in the last 30%. It might have been it was late and I was tired, but
cuculear power
made me laugh.
I read this for the Modern Noir square in Halloween Bingo. It's a gimme for the Grimm Tale square, but I've already read that terrible retelling of Snow White and it's not going to have been for nothing, and Spratt's attitude and methods are definitely noir-ish. show less
It's not all Mother Goose either, side characters include Spratt's daughter Pandora and her soon to be husband, Prometheus and at least one show more character from Shakespeare. Oh, and an alien. Because, why not?
In spite of sounding (and mostly being) silly, it's not an easy/breezy book to read. There are layers in the writing and the jokes and the references that are easy to miss. There's a subtle - very subtle - disregard for the fourth wall, where the characters not only recognise they're in a book (a la Thursday Next), but will make subtle reference to the author and the reader. So not only is it a book where the overload of satire is best enjoyed in small doses, but one that if carefully read will give more humorous dividends than a quick read would.
Generally it's just a hell of a lot of fun to read. The puns get punnier towards the end and there was at least one *snort*chuckle in the last 30%. It might have been it was late and I was tired, but
made me laugh.
I read this for the Modern Noir square in Halloween Bingo. It's a gimme for the Grimm Tale square, but I've already read that terrible retelling of Snow White and it's not going to have been for nothing, and Spratt's attitude and methods are definitely noir-ish. show less
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 of the Scissor-man by Detective Inspector Jack Spratt's team, we jump to a bust on a porridge-dealing anthropomorphized bear. After a stop car-shopping with Jack, it's on to St. Cerebellum's where a team is discussing the heinous crimes of the show more Gingerbread Man. You can see where this tends to get a little choppy. As if that wasn't enough, aliens have landed, and they are surprisingly boring, notwithstanding their tendency to lapse into binary. Eventually--and by 'eventually,' I mean probably halfway into the book--the joint plots of the missing Goldilocks and the escaped Gingerbread Man start to take shape.
The characters are fun, and for those who argue whether or not they are tropes, well, that's the whole premise of the Nursery Crime Division, isn't it? I mean, besides being crimes committed by literary--literally--people, the question is, can they step outside how they are written? But these do, most certainly, with all of them behaving in interesting and complicated ways, even Punch and Judy.
All that said, the fact that it's a little more about cleverness and a little less about plot means I was able to take my time reading until probably halfway or more. As my friend Daniel noted, there's a lot that is excess in this book, although some of it is enjoyable excess, such as when Mary and the alien Ashley go on a date.
There's a lot that made me smile, including whether or not Gingerbread was a cake or a cookie (although wouldn't a biscuit also be possible?) and an absent Professor McGuffin. Mostly it was the set-ups that has me smiling, such as the one-liners at a party at a hotel called Deja Vu, or the complete daffy scene when Mary meets an alien couple. Fforde is also quite free about breaking the fourth wall. A small example:
"Vinnie kicked the bike into life, revved the engine, clonked it into first and tore off up the road with a screech of tire.
'You know what this means? said Jack as Vinnie Craps vanished from view around a bend in the road.
'That the singular 'screech of tire' looks and sounds wrong even if it's quite correct?'"
I don't particularly mind those moments, and these don't happen as nearly as often as they do in a Thursday Next book, but it's something to keep in mind if excessive cleverness annoys.
I still don't think I understood the final solution, but honestly, not sure it matters. I love the two page character update after the book ends (a sort of 'what are they doing now'). There's a couple of faux posters at the end as well, include one for a supposed third book called 'The Tortoise and the Hare' that looks to be never forthcoming. Overall, fun if you have the patience and attention. show less
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 of the Scissor-man by Detective Inspector Jack Spratt's team, we jump to a bust on a porridge-dealing anthropomorphized bear. After a stop car-shopping with Jack, it's on to St. Cerebellum's where a team is discussing the heinous crimes of the show more Gingerbread Man. You can see where this tends to get a little choppy. As if that wasn't enough, aliens have landed, and they are surprisingly boring, notwithstanding their tendency to lapse into binary. Eventually--and by 'eventually,' I mean probably halfway into the book--the joint plots of the missing Goldilocks and the escaped Gingerbread Man start to take shape.
The characters are fun, and for those who argue whether or not they are tropes, well, that's the whole premise of the Nursery Crime Division, isn't it? I mean, besides being crimes committed by literary--literally--people, the question is, can they step outside how they are written? But these do, most certainly, with all of them behaving in interesting and complicated ways, even Punch and Judy.
All that said, the fact that it's a little more about cleverness and a little less about plot means I was able to take my time reading until probably halfway or more. As my friend Daniel noted, there's a lot that is excess in this book, although some of it is enjoyable excess, such as when Mary and the alien Ashley go on a date.
There's a lot that made me smile, including whether or not Gingerbread was a cake or a cookie (although wouldn't a biscuit also be possible?) and an absent Professor McGuffin. Mostly it was the set-ups that has me smiling, such as the one-liners at a party at a hotel called Deja Vu, or the complete daffy scene when Mary meets an alien couple. Fforde is also quite free about breaking the fourth wall. A small example:
"Vinnie kicked the bike into life, revved the engine, clonked it into first and tore off up the road with a screech of tire.
'You know what this means? said Jack as Vinnie Craps vanished from view around a bend in the road.
'That the singular 'screech of tire' looks and sounds wrong even if it's quite correct?'"
I don't particularly mind those moments, and these don't happen as nearly as often as they do in a Thursday Next book, but it's something to keep in mind if excessive cleverness annoys.
I still don't think I understood the final solution, but honestly, not sure it matters. I love the two page character update after the book ends (a sort of 'what are they doing now'). There's a couple of faux posters at the end as well, include one for a supposed third book called 'The Tortoise and the Hare' that looks to be never forthcoming. Overall, fun if you have the patience and attention. show less
I read The Big Over Easy a number of years ago, and liked it well enough to pick up its sequel, this book, The Fourth Bear, immediately upon its release, but I didn't quite like the first well enough to read the second and it has thus sat on my shelves for years collecting dust. In the meantime, I've read a number of other Jasper Fforde novels (three in the Thursday Next series which I liked immensely and Shades of Grey which I like not quite as much) and have developed quite an appreciation for the man. So when this one was recommended to me—nicely fitting into my need for something light and airy after reading a trilogy Margaret Atwood novels—I figured it would serve my "palate cleansing" needs nicely. Quite right.
If you're show more looking for serious fiction, this isn't it. Nor is any of Fforde's books, so I can steer you away from that entire section of the bookstore if that's the case. He is, first and foremost, fun. This book is an excellent example. He doesn't take himself too seriously.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about (and only very minor spoilers to follow). After sprinkling a few odd references to "PC Philippa Piper" in the first 317 pages of text ("odd" because she has absolutely nothing to do with any of the narrative, plot or our main characters at all), mostly dealing with her being "the most attractive officer at Reading Central" with ample speculation about her single status and who she might choose to date next, Fforde delivers this exchange:
"Did you know that Pippa has a bun in the oven?"
"You're kidding!"
"No, she was talking to her mother all about it. And what's more," continued Ashley, "the father is Peck—you know, in uniform with the pockmarked face and the twin over in Palmer Park?"
"What's going on?" asked Mary.
"Pippa's pregnant by Peck."
"Pippa Piper picked Peck over Pickle or Pepper?" exclaimed Mary incredulously.
"Which of the Peck pair did Pippa Piper pick?"
"Peter 'pockmarked' Peck of Palmer Park. He was the Peck that Pippa Piper picked."
"No, no," returned Mary, "you've got it all wrong. Paul Peck is the Palmer Park Peck; Peter Peck is the pockmarked Peck from Pembroke Park. Pillocks. I'd placed a pound on Pippa Piper picking PC Percy Proctor from Pocklington."
But what I really love about this book is the post-modern, metafictional elements, evidenced here in the very next lines in the book following the above:
There was a pause.
"It seems a very laborious setup for a pretty lame joke, doesn't it?" mused Jack.
"Yes," agreed Mary, shaking her head sadly. "I really don’t know how he gets away with it."
Now, on TV or in the movies, that would be a fourth-wall breaking aside to the audience, a little wink and a nod, but in a novel, the "he" referred to is Fforde himself. He litters the novel with self-referential (metafictions) elements like that, from the characters openly discussing common plot devices to this line near the end where Jack (our protagonist) tries to jump to conclusions and reveal a big plot twist, not once but twice, both incorrectly, in quick succession, when another character steps in and says:
"Jack, calm down. I think you're suffering a temporary excess of resolutions."
Post-modernism was never so much fun. And while I doubt The Fourth Bear is going to make it onto any graduate level literature syllabi, it's a joy to read for anyone interested in various metafictional tricks an author might employ to allow a reader to slip in and out of the frame of the novel.
(And before I forget, it's actually a very clever mystery novel. That's been discussed at length in other reviews, so I'll skip it here, but Fforde really put a lot of thought into it. The fact that the entire plot grows from the "porridge temperature differential" in the original Goldilocks tale is genius.) show less
If you're show more looking for serious fiction, this isn't it. Nor is any of Fforde's books, so I can steer you away from that entire section of the bookstore if that's the case. He is, first and foremost, fun. This book is an excellent example. He doesn't take himself too seriously.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about (and only very minor spoilers to follow). After sprinkling a few odd references to "PC Philippa Piper" in the first 317 pages of text ("odd" because she has absolutely nothing to do with any of the narrative, plot or our main characters at all), mostly dealing with her being "the most attractive officer at Reading Central" with ample speculation about her single status and who she might choose to date next, Fforde delivers this exchange:
"Did you know that Pippa has a bun in the oven?"
"You're kidding!"
"No, she was talking to her mother all about it. And what's more," continued Ashley, "the father is Peck—you know, in uniform with the pockmarked face and the twin over in Palmer Park?"
"What's going on?" asked Mary.
"Pippa's pregnant by Peck."
"Pippa Piper picked Peck over Pickle or Pepper?" exclaimed Mary incredulously.
"Which of the Peck pair did Pippa Piper pick?"
"Peter 'pockmarked' Peck of Palmer Park. He was the Peck that Pippa Piper picked."
"No, no," returned Mary, "you've got it all wrong. Paul Peck is the Palmer Park Peck; Peter Peck is the pockmarked Peck from Pembroke Park. Pillocks. I'd placed a pound on Pippa Piper picking PC Percy Proctor from Pocklington."
But what I really love about this book is the post-modern, metafictional elements, evidenced here in the very next lines in the book following the above:
There was a pause.
"It seems a very laborious setup for a pretty lame joke, doesn't it?" mused Jack.
"Yes," agreed Mary, shaking her head sadly. "I really don’t know how he gets away with it."
Now, on TV or in the movies, that would be a fourth-wall breaking aside to the audience, a little wink and a nod, but in a novel, the "he" referred to is Fforde himself. He litters the novel with self-referential (metafictions) elements like that, from the characters openly discussing common plot devices to this line near the end where Jack (our protagonist) tries to jump to conclusions and reveal a big plot twist, not once but twice, both incorrectly, in quick succession, when another character steps in and says:
"Jack, calm down. I think you're suffering a temporary excess of resolutions."
Post-modernism was never so much fun. And while I doubt The Fourth Bear is going to make it onto any graduate level literature syllabi, it's a joy to read for anyone interested in various metafictional tricks an author might employ to allow a reader to slip in and out of the frame of the novel.
(And before I forget, it's actually a very clever mystery novel. That's been discussed at length in other reviews, so I'll skip it here, but Fforde really put a lot of thought into it. The fact that the entire plot grows from the "porridge temperature differential" in the original Goldilocks tale is genius.) show less
The second of the Jack Spratt serie sof Nursery Crime detective stories. Surprisingly I had though that as a paradoy of the crime genre this might start to fall a bit flat by the second book, but it doesn't. It is still incredibly funny, packed with obscure and not so obscure references and one or two very badly contrived jokes that will have you groaning out loud, when the punchline finally arrives.
the links to Thursday Next's Bookworld, become more blatent, Thursday herslef becomes even less refered to than in the previous book. Bookworld is however causing problems for Jack Spratt, he has managed to remain in "teh Real world" as an undetected Nursery Rhyme Character for many years, but the cracks are starting to appear. Suspended for show more duty pending a mental examination of his fitness for duty, Jack cannot be part of the investigation into the escaped pyscotic killer "the Gingerbreadman" - is he a cake or a biscuit?
Instead he provides unofficial advice to his Official Sidekick Mary Mary whom I never noticed being quite contrary. They are looking for the journalist Goldilocks,last seen at the three Bears cottage in the woods. ... hence the title, who was the fourth bear present on that fateful day? Why does any of this tie into cucumbers? - Give yourself extreme bonus points if unlike me, you managed to get the obscure reference before it is given away in the endnotes.
Packed full of stupid and funny jokes this is another treasure from Fforde. The only minor downside is that it is very very contrived. Read it somewhere private where you can freely let yourself laugh out loud! show less
the links to Thursday Next's Bookworld, become more blatent, Thursday herslef becomes even less refered to than in the previous book. Bookworld is however causing problems for Jack Spratt, he has managed to remain in "teh Real world" as an undetected Nursery Rhyme Character for many years, but the cracks are starting to appear. Suspended for show more duty pending a mental examination of his fitness for duty, Jack cannot be part of the investigation into the escaped pyscotic killer "the Gingerbreadman" - is he a cake or a biscuit?
Instead he provides unofficial advice to his Official Sidekick Mary Mary whom I never noticed being quite contrary. They are looking for the journalist Goldilocks,last seen at the three Bears cottage in the woods. ... hence the title, who was the fourth bear present on that fateful day? Why does any of this tie into cucumbers? - Give yourself extreme bonus points if unlike me, you managed to get the obscure reference before it is given away in the endnotes.
Packed full of stupid and funny jokes this is another treasure from Fforde. The only minor downside is that it is very very contrived. Read it somewhere private where you can freely let yourself laugh out loud! show less
At a reading recently, I heard Jasper Fforde say The Fourth Bear was his favorite book to write. It's easy to see why. One of the most interactive and complicated of his novels, this one seems full of Fforde's heart and soul. The second installment in Fforde's "Nursery Crime" series, featuring the inimitable and oft-suspended DCI Jack Spratt and his deputy Mary Mary, The Fourth Bear takes up the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of investigative reporter Henrietta Hatchett (that is, Goldilocks). Naturally, Goldilocks was on the trail of an explosive story (involving sunbeams and cucumbers, but you'll have to read to find out how).
Good satire, bad puns, and Fforde's stupendously glib wit are here in spades; recommended.
show more target="_top">http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2007/07/book-review-fourth-bear.html show less
Good satire, bad puns, and Fforde's stupendously glib wit are here in spades; recommended.
show more target="_top">http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2007/07/book-review-fourth-bear.html show less
This isn't Fford's latest, it was published in 2006, but it's my favorite of the ones I've read. This is another fairy tale squeezed almost out of recognition by subplots and outrageous liberties taken with the plot and characters. In it, Detectives Jack Spratt and Mary Mary investigate suspicious occurrences that include the mysterious deaths of heavy-weight cucumber growers, Goldilocks' disappearance and subsequent death and Somme World (experience WWI!)
My favorite scene occurred when Mary went on a date with Detective Ashley, an alien with a skin like a jellyfish. On the date, they go to Ashley's parents house for dinner.
Anyone who hopes to write humor should get this scene and use it as the gold standard.
Laugh-out-loud lines in show more the scene:
Ashley's Mom, Abigail, at the dinner table: "Mary, pass the toothpaste."
Mary picked up what she thought was the condiment basket and passed it up the table.
Abigail squeezed some Colgate on her chips.
Overall, a delightful read. show less
My favorite scene occurred when Mary went on a date with Detective Ashley, an alien with a skin like a jellyfish. On the date, they go to Ashley's parents house for dinner.
Anyone who hopes to write humor should get this scene and use it as the gold standard.
Laugh-out-loud lines in show more the scene:
Ashley's Mom, Abigail, at the dinner table: "Mary, pass the toothpaste."
Mary picked up what she thought was the condiment basket and passed it up the table.
Abigail squeezed some Colgate on her chips.
Overall, a delightful read. show less
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ThingScore 90
Fforde is crazy; he’s all over the place. He’s aware of the conventions he’s mocking, he mocks them openly, and he still has a really decent romp of a mystery novel on his hands.
added by Katya0133
Though his characters' self-awareness may ultimately defeat the suspense of The Fourth Bear, the loss of the more standard forms of mystery magic is more than compensated for by Fforde's superb comedic skills.
added by Katya0133
Great fun for all fiction collections.
added by Katya0133
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Favorite Fairy Tale Retellings
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Myth (Reuse and Retelling)
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The Fourth Bear in Fforde Ffans (June 2011)
Author Information
38+ Works 74,661 Members
He worked for many years in the film industry as a camera technician. He was raised in England, he lives & works in Wales. (Publisher Provided) Author Jasper Fforde was born on January 11, 1961 in London, England. He spent numerous years as a focus puller in the film industry, where he worked on films such as Quills, Golden Eye, and Entrapment. show more His first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. He is the author of the Thursday Next, Nursery Crime and Dragonslayer series and the novel Shades of Gray. In 2004, he won the Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction for The Well of Lost Plots. In 2013, his title The Last Dragonslayer made The New York Times best seller list. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Fourth Bear
- Original publication date
- 2006
- People/Characters
- Jack Spratt (DCI); Mary Mary (DS); Gingerbread Man; Great Red-Legg'd Scissorman; Punch & Judy; Prometheus (show all 16); Dorian Gray; Henrietta 'Goldilocks' Hatchett (Goldilocks); Ashley; Josh Hatchett; David Copperfield; Ed Bruin (bear); Madeleine Spratt; Pandora Spratt; Goldilocks; The Three Bears
- Important places
- Reading, Berkshire, England, UK; The Deja Vu Hotel, Reading; Andersen's Wood; SommeWorld
- Epigraph
- Because the Forest will always be there...and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it. --A.A. Milne
- Dedication
- For my mother
- First words
- Last known regional post-code allocation: Obscurity, Berkshire, Pop.: 35.
The little village of Obscurity is remarkable only for its unremarkableness. - Quotations
- "When did he escape?"
"Ninety-seven minutes ago," replied Copperfield. "Killed two male nurses and his doctor with his bare hands. The other three orderlies who accompanied him are critical in the hospital."
"Critical?"... (show all)
"Yes. Don't like the food, beds uncomfortable, waiting lists too long—usual crap. Other than that they're fine." - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They continue to eat porridge and take long walks in the forest.
- Original language
- English
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- ISBNs
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