Far Far Away - Tom McNeal
This is an odd book. It is a little bit fairy-tale - a label that is made more explicit by the inclusion of Jacob Grimm's ghost as the narrator! It is a little bit horror, but only subtly, particularly to begin with. It is a little bit young adult romantic drama, but with one of the pair possibly under an enchantment. It is a little bit coming-of-age and taking responsibility for the difficulties of life, but this is told through the main boy's father's storyline (a very distant B-Plot), as well as through a Mastermind style TV show. It feels old-fashioned, but also is set in a vaguely contemporary world.
It is also a book I almost accidentally got through. I picked it up off my classroom shelf and had finished it in two days.
As mentioned, the narrator is the ghost of Jacob Grimm, a spirit who can only be heard by the main protagonist, Jeremy Johnson Johnson (both his parents had the same last name before they got married). Jacob is unsure of what his 'unfinished business' is, and so has made it his mission to help Jeremy succeed in life, teaching him various languages and fairy tales, trying to help him get into the best universities. Jeremy is a bit of a loner, but begins to catch the eye of Ginger Boultinghouse, a flirty girl who may or may not be drawn to Jeremy because of the magical enchantment of a green dessert, and who also may or may not be interested in another boy as well, Conk Crinklaw, the mayor's son.
Jeremy runs the Two-Book Bookshop, which only stocks copies of his late grandfather's two-volume autobiography, and which is already facing repossession by the bank. His father is a depressed recluse, who refuses to do anything practical to help.
Meanwhile, in the background, we become aware that numerous children have gone missing from the surrounding areas. The book hints at what might have happened to them, but allows a large portion of the book to go by without making these hints more explicit - there is a slowly growing sense of dread, which almost always remains far in the background, but nevertheless is there.
Eventually this darker plot comes to the foreground, and the last section of the book has much higher stakes than what has come before.
This book won't be for everyone - it's certainly not my usual book. And yet I enjoyed it more than I anticipated.
It also technically crosses off my next Reading Challenge entry... though I'm a bit torn on whether to include it, as I have been slowly working through Red Planet with Elise in order to fit the brief. Knowing that the next topic is 'classic' and that I have also been slowly reading Moby Dick in the background, perhaps I'll see whether I finish Red Planet or Moby Dick first and make my final call then? Or maybe I'll include both!!
Completed 24 July 2025.
(2025 Reading Challenge - "Includes a Ghost" (1 of 2))
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