“This is the strange and fateful tale or a boy, a girl, and
an ancient ghost.”
Far Far Away begins with the meeting of our story teller, the
ghost apparition of Jacob Grimm, of the famous brothers Grimm. Jacob is stuck
in “Zwischenraum”, which translates to the space between. It’s his own personal
hell he cannot escape until he discovers what’s holding him, his “the thing
undone; unknown yet unmet desire.” In his travels to discover what that thing
is, he meets Jeremy Johnson Johnson, an “Exceptional” who can hear ghosts
talking. Jacob is led to Jeremy by a ghost he encounters in his travels. The
ghost tells him of the boy who can hear ghosts, and also his knowledge of a man
in the same town who is a “Finder of Occasions” who would bring harm to that
boy without leaving any trace. Jacob sets off to find the Jeremy in the town of
Never Better.
When Jacob meets Jeremy is a sort of town weirdo. At a young
age he told people about the voices he could hear, and they thought he was
crazy. In addition his mother has abandoned him and his father, leaving his
father destroyed and unable to leave his bedroom. He retreats to his attic
hideaway filled with fairy tales his mother left him. Jacob and Jeremy quickly
bond and Jacob swears to protect Jeremy and find the Finder of Occasions. Jacob
helps Jeremy study and live a quiet life until one day Ginger Boultinghouse enters
the picture. Ginger encourages Jeremy to get out and have adventures, which
sets into motion Jeremy’s own person fairy tale.
I really liked this book, because it wasn’t predicable to
me. Jacob Grimm kept me waiting to see what would happen next, and the
romance/friendship between Ginger and Jeremy wasn’t overdone. Fairy tales are
always a plus to me, and besides that another main character is the town baker,
so I was excited. It’s hard to talk about what else happens without giving
anything away, but trust me when I say this is a great read.
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