Something Rotten

by Jasper Fforde

Paperback, 2004

Status

Available

Call number

813

Collection

Publication

Viking (2004), Paperback, 385 pages

Description

Thursday Next, Head of JurisFiction and ex-SpecOps agent, returns to her native Swindon accompanied by a child of two, a pair of dodos and Hamlet, who is on a fact-finding mission in the real world. Thursday has been despatched to capture escaped Fictioneer Yorrick Kaine but even so, now seems as good a time as any to retrieve her husband Landen from his state of eradication at the hands of the Chronoguard. It's not going to be easy. Thursday's former colleagues at the department of Literary Detectives want her to investigate a spate of cloned Shakespeares, the Goliath Corporation are planning to switch to a new Faith based corporate management system and the Neanderthals feel she might be the Chosen One who will lead them to genetic self-determination. With help from Hamlet, her uncle and time-travelling father, Thursday faces the toughest adventure of her career. Where is the missing President-for-life George Formby? Why is it imperative for the Swindon Mallets to win the World Croquet League final? And why is it so difficult to find reliable childcare? 100,000 words, 6 illustrations, adverts and web-based special features section.… (more)

Media reviews

School Library Journal
Fforde continues to pitch high, wide, and fast.
5 more
People
Sticking with this oddball novel is rewarding, and readers who share Fforde's love of literature and surreal sense of humor will enjoy this free fall through absurdity.
Publishers Weekly
With humorous illustrations and curious footnotes sprinkled throughout, Fforde's latest will have hardcore fans roaring.
The New York Times
It's easy to be delighted by a writer who loves books so madly -- and who can imagine a Hamlet who roams the real world, declaring: ''That Freud fellow will have a bloody nose if ever I meet him.''
[Fforde] is always charming company, and if he sometimes strays too far into fantasy, well, what's so great about reality?
Booklist
Fforde's inventiveness is seemingly inexhaustible; in addition to real- and book-world metaphysics, he delves into time-travel conundrums, lacing it all together with goofy, self-referential prose and a breakneck plot.

User reviews

LibraryThing member reading_fox
Superb. Surreal.

Jasper fforde is back on form with this the the fourth and not final (although given the ending it seems like it ought to be) installment of Thursday Next's adventures. It is set some two years after Well of Lost Plots, which handly skips the rest of Thursday's pregnancy. Friday is
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now two years old, and Thursday has been Bellman for that time, partly hunting for the Minotour still on the rampage, and otherwise dealing with the oddness of BookWorld. But now she's had enough, it is just too odd, and time she found Landen again.

However when she returns she realises life isn't that easy. Famous enough to have a stalker who has his own stalker, heavily in debt, without a job and due once again to save the world, and avoid an asassain, fix hamlet, rescue president Formby, save the Danish books from being burnt, deal with the fictional Kane's bid for Chancellory, find Landen and arrange a babysitter for Friday.

fast furious complex full of wacky characters again - and a truly horrendous so long windedly contrived pun that had me groaning so loudly OtherHalf came rushing in to check I was okay. It's superb. Nearly all of the plots lines at tied up in a a very packed last couple of chapters - although she should still be in debt andthis isn't mentioned.

Read it!
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
In Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde ties together all of the loose ends that remain outstanding from the previous novels to create a thrilling story that retains all of the humor and literary mentions that make the series so memorable. Flashing forward two years from the last time the reader sees
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Thursday, it does take more than a few pages for the reader to adjust to the jump in time. In fact, I had to double-check to make sure I did not skip a novel because I was so surprised to find out that Friday Next was two years old instead of a newborn or still in utero. Once the reader adjusts to the jump in time, the rest of the novel falls into place quite quickly.

There is so much to love in all of Mr. Fforde’s novels, but the reader gets the impression that he was truly on top of his game when writing Something Rotten. There is so that requires laughing out loud, from the caddish patron saint of Swindon to the Superhoop championship. Yet, Something Rotten is not without its more serious moments as well. There is a delicate balance between the humor and the drama, and Mr. Fforde walks this line with aplomb. In fact, the dramatic moments were more poignant and powerful because of the levity of the rest of the novel.

Emily Gray was not quite as bad a narrator as I remembered her to be. Her ability to vocalize Thursday’s wry wit makes the audio productions so worthwhile. Her biggest fault lies in her performance of the male voices in the novel. These remain a weak area for her, as each male character ends up sounding the same - somewhat dopey and unpolished. In a novel that builds its humor upon subtleties, her inability to vocalize male characters in a more erudite fashion is a disappointment and detraction from the overall story.

In spite of the weaknesses of the narrator’s performance, Something Rotten remains the strongest in the Thursday Next series to date. Thursday is on top of her game, trying to outwit Goliath and Yorrick Kaine, uneradicate her husband, and prevent the world from ending...again. Fforde excels at tongue-in-cheek humor, and the laughs are almost non-stop. The impression the reader gets is that Something Rotten was meant to be the last book in the series. If this is true, then it definitely would have ended on a high note. This is a true must-read for fans of the series.

Acknowledgements: I purchased this from Audible.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
This is the fourth book in the Thursday Next series. Currently there are five books in this series with the sixth book, One of Our Thursdays is Missing, scheduled for March 2011 release. This was an excellent addition to the series, I thoroughly enjoyed it! The plot is complex and clever, the
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characters engaging, and the things that happen are ironic and funny. This is one of my favorite series. You definitely need to read the books prior to this one to understand what is going on in the story.

Thursday Next has decided to leave the fictional world and her position as the Head of Jurisfiction; it is time for her to return to the real-world. So with two-year old Friday in tow she moves in with her mother. Along with her is Hamlet, who is on leave from his play. Back in the real world things are a mess; Kane is trying to set himself up as dictator of England, Landon (Thursday's husband) is still eradicated, and Goliath Corporation is trying to set themselves up as a religion. Then Thursday's time traveling dad shows up and tells her that not only is someone is trying to assassinate her, but the fate of the world rests on the outcome of the World Croquette match.

This was a wonderful book and it gives a lot of closure for storypoints that have been left hanging in previous books. This book would actually make a wonderful wrap-up for the series. Hamlet is a wonderful addition to the character cast; with his innate indecisiveness he is hilarious and somewhat crazy. Thursday gets to work with Spike (the werewolf hunter) some more and I love learning more about Spike.

Throughout the book Thursday is also trying to track down the Minotaur who escaped in the last book. Jurisficition hit the Minotaur with a serious case of slapstick; so hilarious slapstick ensues throughout...especially when the Minotaur is near.

This book gives more depth to Thursday's character. Watching her deal with the complex happenings around her, while she tries to find decent childcare and reinstate her husband, adds a dimension to her that makes her even more personable. A lot happens to her in this book. To be honest this was probably the most intense book in the series. I laughed a lot, but there were also points where I was almost in tears...so many bad things happen to Thursday that you just wish she would finally get a break and find some happiness. Well take heart, the book ends on an up note and treats the characters well.

Once again Fforde's ability to weave this extremely complex story without confusing the reader is absolutely amazing. I am in awe of how clever and engaging the story is.

Overall an amazing book. If you love this series you will love this book. If you have never read this series...well...what are you waiting for?! Read it! The tone of this story reminds some of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and other types of spoofy fantasy; but this story blows all of those out of the water. Loved it and can't wait to read First Among Sequels, the next book in this series.
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LibraryThing member MrsLee
I am a big fan of Thursday Next, but Hamlet is an even bigger love of mine, so to find them both in the same book is like a little bit of Heaven for me. In this novel, Next is still faced with her husband's eradication, Goliath Corporation wants to become a religion and Yorrick Kaine is aiming to
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be dictator of England. Oh, and the end of the world is possible if the Swindon croquet team loses. Full of wonderful word play, suspense and great literature references, this book is a joy to read from beginning to end.
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LibraryThing member kkisser
My favorite of this series so far. Thursday returns to the real world and is focused on getting her husband, Landen back, while taking Hamlet to the real world so he can figure out why readers have a hard time figuring him out. In this episode, there will be jokes about Denmark, Old English,
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ressurceted saints, cloning problems, and the croquet Superhoop. My only complaint about this audiobook was that they changed the narraters to Emily Gray and her voice is not at all as bubbly as Elizabeth Sastre. Plus she reads a lot slower and her voice for Landen was really abysmal. But regardless, Fforde's wit and sarcasm came through nonetheless.
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LibraryThing member bexaplex
Thursday Next comes back from the BookWorld, in debt, still husband-less, and in need of child care. She tries to un-eradicate Landon while smuggling hundreds of Danish books out of England into Wales, evading a hit woman, trying to figure out why Yorrick Kaine is so popular, and running a Croquet
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team.

This book is sweeter than the others — there are the normal hijinks and world-ending disasters, but there is also the un-eradication of Landon, a lorem-ipsum-spouting toddler, Hamlet coming to grips with his inaction, and the real identity of Granny Next.
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LibraryThing member Elphaba71
This is the fourth in the Thursday Next series, you really need to have read the previous three to understand what is going on in this one!
In Something Rotten, Thursday returns home to Swindon from living inside fiction and, has to stop the mighty Goliath and Yorrick Kaine, from ending the world
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as she knows it, while still trying to get her eradicated husband, Landen back, and stopping an assasin from killing her off!. Goliath are trying to turn the corporation into a religion, and Kaine has the population eating out of his hand with one of Mycrofts inventions. Everything hinges on the Superhoop croquet match, can Swindon Mallets win?, can Thursday save the day??
A fantastic series, that just keeps getting better, there are so many laugh out loud moments, Love the mix of seriousness of Shakespeare is mixed up with funny stuff like George Formby, it's great how it all comes together so naturally.
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LibraryThing member readingraven
Another good book by Fforde. A nice ending to the series. There were a lot of things I really liked about this book. Hamlet is a big character in it and we spend more time with the Neanderthals which is interesting. I think, overall, this series is one of my favorites. It changes the way I look at
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the world. There is a great deal of What If that is generated in your brain when you read these books. Sort of grownup fairy tales. I highly recommend all of them.
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LibraryThing member TanyaTomato
The forth and last of the Thursday Next series. Fforde is very imaginative and wrapped everything up quite well.
LibraryThing member heidialice
Thursday Next is back in the real world and trying to save the universe, win the croquet championship game and defeat the increasingly-sinister fictional Yorrick Kaine, who is trying to take over England.

This was probably the most enjoyable of the series for me, though with all the revelations, I
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want to go read them all again. Douglas Adamsian to the core, madcap, surreal, ridiculous and always punny occurrences one on top of the next. I was sad to see this one end.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
Another great one from Fforde, possibly the best of the Thursday Next series.
LibraryThing member rcooper3589
the best ending to a series. fforde definaly knew where he was going when he started the first book!
LibraryThing member SimonW11
Easily Jasper Fordes best Book to date brings in the vigor of his first ties in loose ends from the previous two in the series and comes to a satisfying conclusion.
LibraryThing member MissLizzy
I really liked this book. Kinda sucked cause there are definitely a lot of allusions to other books involving Thursday that I haven't read, so that was sometimes confusing. But I really love the way this book was formed: different fonts for different characters, Lorem Ipsum, time travel...it's so
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close to ridiculous, but I love it. Two thumbs up!
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LibraryThing member ethelmertz
This book is bit slower and more meandering than the first three books, but it wraps up the series nicely.
LibraryThing member Othemts
The fourth Thursday Next novel picks up two years later, and is an improvement over The Well of Lost Plots mostly because it brings Thursday back to Swindon and ties up some loose ends from the first three novels. On the down side, Fforde has our heroine doing way too much so as to create a comic
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overload, and some of those loose ends are tied up too neatly (this can’t be the last book can it?).
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LibraryThing member hklibrarian
I don't know if I lacked the concentration power to multitask within the many characters or alternate worlds, but it took me quite a long time to get into this book. I really think I like the NC series better. Seems to be easier to follow.
LibraryThing member nitroso
A continuation of the first three books, this one is as wild and creative as the rest. You never know whatís going to happen next. Yet, this one is more coherent than the third. Amazingly, all the loose ends accumulated over several books (except a couple) are tied up showing impressive
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organizational skills by the author.
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LibraryThing member madamejeanie
Volume Four in the Thursday Next series, and this one wraps the story up
nicely, I thought. Thursday is a LiteraTech with SpecOps in an alternative
universe Britain who has been missing for the past two and a half years.
She's not really been missing, though, she's been serving as Bellman
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with
Jurisfiction in BookWorld, policing fiction itself with her team of fellow
Jurisfiction colleagues. Her son Friday is now 2, and she decides that
she's waited long enough to come back into the Real World and fight The
Goliath Corp. (true rulers of the free world) to get her husband back.
Landen was "eradicated" shortly after their marriage when Goliath sent
members of the ChronoGuard back in time to kill Landen when he was two,
leaving Thursday alone and pregnant and pretty pissed off.

Upon her return, she learns that Goliath isn't satisfied with running the
free world economically and politically, they want to become the premiere
religion as well and be worshipped by all. She also realizes that Yorrick
Kaine, the disgusting and evil fugitive from fiction, is seeking to become
dictator and is about to declare war on Denmark. Since she brought Hamlet
along with her (a girl's gotta have child care, you know), she not only has
to topple Kaine, thwart Goliath, get Landen back and save the world from
sure destruction, she's also got to deal with a dithering Hamlet who's about
to become sure of himself. The fun just doesn't end in Thursday's life.

This series was slow to get off the ground for me, but I've really enjoyed
the last couple of books. It's all in the mindset of the reader, I suppose,
but this book was delightful, full of sharp wit, clever puns, and fast
action. I really enjoyed it and give it a 5.
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LibraryThing member Brianna_H
Fforde's novels about protagonist Thursday Next are imaginative and fun. This series is a must-read for every book lover or anyone who loves a truly inventive story. Definitely one of my favorites! See also: The Eyre Affair, The Well of Lost Plots, Lost in a Good Book, and First Among Sequels: A
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Thursday Next Novel.
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LibraryThing member citygirl
This appears to be the last in the Thursday Next series (but it's not), and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Not as laugh out loud funny as the others, but seemingly more substantial. Baby Friday is a great little sidekick.
LibraryThing member thioviolight
Although this book is the fourth in the Thursday Next series, I found it a good introduction to Jasper Fforde's work for me. I'm really quite enjoying comic fantasy, and Something Rotten is definitely a good one, so rich with literary allusions. And if it didn't hurt for me to laugh at this time,
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I'd have been laughing out loud for sure!
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LibraryThing member xicanti
Two years after the events of The Well of Lost Plots, Thursday Next returns to the real world just in time to help avert another apocalypse.

I found this fourth Thursday Next adventure just as readable and entertaining as the first three. It drew me in right away and held me fast with the usual
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blend of clever literary references, hilarious scenes and plausible unbelievability. Despite the outrageous world Fforde's built up here, I never had any trouble suspending my disbelief. And oh, the postmodernism! Fforde does some really great things here as he explores the idea of books within books. It was a damned fun read from start to finish.

I did feel as though it wrapped up a little quickly, but oh well. It was good enough as a whole that I'm willing to overlook that. I definitely recommend the entire series. Start with The Eyre Affair and work your way forward for best effect.
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LibraryThing member Meggo
In this book Tuesday Next must defeat a coup, subvert a Danish boycott, and avert armageddon. Sounds like she's in for a busy week. Enjoyable for Fforde fans.
LibraryThing member fieldri1
I absolutely loved this book. The fourth in the series, it wrapped up everything neatly while not feeling in any way contrived. Here's a guide to the plot (stop here if you don't want to know...)

Thursday is living in Bookworld, running Jurisfiction in her role as Bellman. However, she feels that
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the time is right for her to return to the real world and continue her efforts to get her husband returned (he was removed from the time stream in an earlier book to blackmail Thursday).

Thursday manages to get her old job as a Lit-Tec back, and somehow manages to do so without too many questions on her whereabouts for the last couple of years.

She finds out that (just for a change) the world is in peril, and that she must fix things, while avoiding being assassinated.

The finale of the book revolves around a croquet match. In the alternate world the books inhabit Football either has never been invented, or has never taken off, but croquet is *the* spectator sport!

The end of the book is wonderful, giving a sense of warmth as it wraps up Thursday's story, both past and future. When I had finished reading I felt I didn't want to read another novel for a while so that I didn't somehow taint the memory of this book.
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Awards

Dilys Award (Nominee — 2005)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2004-07-31

Physical description

385 p.; 8.5 inches

ISBN

0965462773 / 9780965462778
Page: 0.4646 seconds