Literature / Grunvale

"Anyhoo."

— Narrator

Grunvale is a serialized novel posted on DeviantArt, written by Stormy Adler, formerly known as P.R. Storm, and posted on their account, 'PhoenixOfGrunvale'. Set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, the novel focuses on a group of four eleven-year-old characters, collectively called the 'Oddball Tetrad', the drama in their lives, and the strange things they encounter in their town.

The story begins with Gilda Grime, a big-nosed, citrus- and retro technology-loving raccoon (referred to as a 'procyonine', the -ine name of a raccoon), who, one rainy night, decides to get revenge on her four abusive brothers by fixing up a sour drink with grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes (which she calls the 'GOLL'). However, it works on Gilda's second-eldest brother, Truman, a little too well, burning and scarring his mouth and tongue and leaving him with impaired speech. When Gilda sees that Truman is now out for revenge for what she has done to him, she goes on the run. And the story only gets crazier from there.

The novel is written in an unusual style, where the third-person narrator (who refers to themself as 'this narrator') frequently breaks the fourth wall, to talk to the readers, state what they think about the story, and to critique the characters on their actions. It is also heavy on the pop culture references. The narrator does not shy away from stating what they think of certain movies, TV shows, music albums, video games, even celebrities. And can get pretty mean-spirited with their descriptions.

Adler abandoned writing the web novel in 2020, having become disillusioned with how the story was coming out.

The DeviantArt edition of Grunvale can be read here.

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Anyhoo, this TV tropes page lists the following tropes for Grunvale:

• Accents Aren't Hereditary: Despite the rest of her family having an Amareican (the Grunvaliverse's equivalent of 'American') accent, and her having not lived in Scotterland (Scotland) since early childhood, April Lowry still has her Scotterish (Scottish) brogue.
• Alliterative Name: Gilda Grime, Wendy Wyler, Chandler Chromos and Harry Hynde.
  • Gilda even remarks to Randy that she was given her alliterative name because her father thought it sounded like that of a cartoon character, like 'Bugs Bunny' or 'Woody Woodpecker'.
• Alphabetical Theme Naming:
  • The males in the Grime family all have names beginning with 'T' (Theodore, Terence, Truman, Troy, Tom), and both of the females have names beginning with 'G' (Gretchen and Gilda). Additionally, both the parents have eight-letter names, and each succeeding child has one letter less in their name.
  • All of the Hynde family has five-letter first names that end in 'Y' (Harry, Sally, Tabby, Paddy, Molly).
• Big Brother Bully: Truman, inverted with Troy and Tom. Terence starts out as this in "Gilda's Brothers", but when he sees what Truman is becoming, he tries (and frequently fails) to reform himself in front of Gilda throughout the story.
• Bland-Name Product: Margo and Paddy are fans of "The Cacophony Colony", a cartoon described as being about 'the life of a white-haired leporine boy with ten sisters'. This is played with, however, as the narrator assumes that the reader has heard of 'something' like The Cacophony Colony.
• Brick Joke:
  • In "The Grunvale Mall", Gilda remarks in passing, that 'Guh-Glenn' (a corruption of her first and middle name) sounds 'like something an idiot would mumble while watching Fatal Attraction on an iPhone.' Four chapters later, in "Eggs and Bacon", Gilda witnesses Oliver Jr. doing exactly this, and remarks, "Wow. He is an idiot."
  • In fact, "Eggs and Bacon" itself has one. The narrator wonders the reason for this the title... and later figures out the first part when Oliver Jr. eggs Chandler's house, and the latter part when Randy finds a bloody slug (or, as it's written, 'slug?') resembling bacon outside the bathroom.
• Curse Cut Short: In the chapter "Dazed and Confused":

  Randy: If I ever find that Truman, in streets or in malls, rest assured, I'll go up and chop off his —
  (Gilda trips on the stairs)
  Gilda: I'm okay, y'alls!

• Funetik Aksent: April Lowry's dialogue is written this way, to reflect her Scottish accent. So is Sally Hynde's, to reflect her Bostonian accent.
• Lemony Narrator: Big time. They even occasionally pull a fake-out in their narration for the sake of a gag and fast-forward through monologues that would otherwise only serve as filler.
• Middle Child Syndrome: Gilda Grime is a frequent abuse victim at the hands of her brothers. Her character arc involves trying to push her eldest brother Terence out of her life, and running from her second-eldest brother Truman and younger brothers Troy and Tom.
• N-Word Privileges: When a donkey/asinine takes offense to Margo uttering the word 'jackass', August remarks that equines (asinines/donkeys in particular) don't like any non-equines using the term.
• No Fourth Wall: The narrator themself frequently reacts to what's happening in the story.
• Orphaned Series
• Reference Overdosed: Barely a page goes by where a character or the narrator doesn't crack some kind of reference to pop culture.
• Running Gag: Various characters' (particularly Gilda's and the narrator's) hatred for the music of James Taylor.
• Shown Their Work: Chandler describes not being able to play "So Far Away" from Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms on Vib-Ribbon. This is a reference to the way PlayStation discs were actually programmed; the first track contains data, while the rest contains the soundtrack. In Vib-Ribbon's case, this prevents the first track on a custom CD from being played.
• Slipping a Mickey: In "Lunchtime", Truman does this to Gilda, so he can easily cut out her tongue, as revenge for burning his.
• Tempting Fate: In "April Bails", April remarks to herself that everything will work out fine if she just apologizes for spraying Wendy. And then a mosquito/aedine falls on and accidentally bites her.
  • The narrator themself even lampshades this.
    Narrator: ...yeah. 'Everything will work out just fine'. That cliche line that always seems to be said right before shit goes down.
• Waxing Lyrical:
  • "April Bails" has two of these:
    Narrator: Two hours of sorting books bought eight to twelve sips from the fountain, and he was not leaving until he was quenched.
    Randy: You straighten sixteen shelves, what do you get? A ravenous appetite for Ma Nature's sweat.
  • In "Eggs and Bacon":
    Narrator: Randy should have seen by the look in her eyes, baby, there was something missing about his knowledge of REO.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: April hates insects. Even the bipedal, anthropomorphic ones.
• World of Pun: Many of the names of towns, cities and countries are animal puns, e.g. 'Amareica' (America), 'Eagland' (England) and 'New Pork' (New York).
• Written Sound Effect: Several of these in every chapter.

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