I don't like Moist. (Going Postal - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Going Postal - Terry Pratchett
Date:	11/01/05 (162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comparisons to real world, Parody of star wars, Great supporting characters

Disadvantages: Lack of empathy with lead character, Missing one-liners, Chapters stop writers flow.

“Going Postal” is Terry Pratchett’s twenty-ninth novel set on the magical Discworld. This world were trolls, dwarves, vampires and werewolves rub shoulders with humans in polite society bares a bizarre, yet frightening resemblance to our own be it in its racial intolerance’s or its political structure.

This particular Discworld outing follows the adventures of Moist von Lipwig. This con-artist, fraudster, cad and bounder is due to be executed yet is offered a reprieve by the Patrician of the Discworld’s capital city Ankh-Morpork. His life will be spared if he takes up the long retired position of Postmaster General and steer the Post-Office back to the glory days of yesteryear. All Lipwig has to help him is an elderly Junior Postman obsessed with natural healing and an unstable orphan with pin obsession. However, he figures as soon as possible he will flee the city and begin a life anew. Unfortunately for him he does not realise the pull of the Post-Office and a gold, spangly suit.

I approached this novel with some trepidation I have to admit. Surely even Pratchett couldn’t make a novel about the Postal service interesting? Fortunately I was wrong. What we often forget is that he excels in taking the institutions of society and constructing a story around it. Pratchett appears to have a dislike for corporations and multi-nationals and this is one of the main focuses in this novel. The Clacks (a Discworld version of e-mail) are the multi-nationals and the Postal Service the underdogs and don’t we all love the underdog. Pratchett skilfully exploits this fact throughout as our hero lies, cheats and steals in his battle with Reacher Gilt, the owner of the Clacks service.

The cast of characters in this novel are an intriguing bunch. Being set in the already familiar to many Ankh-Morpork I fully expected this novel to be full of old faces from previous novels. In this way I was both pleased and disappointed. Apart from cameo roles from Archancellor Ridcully, Sacharissa and The Patrician himself this is largely a stand-alone novel.

We are introduced to our protagonist Moist von Lipwig as a lying conman with no morals. Pratchett uses Lipwig as a vehicle to drive the story rather than going into his background. In some ways this makes the “bad boy coming good” premise a little hard to swallow although this is hidden well by the grey areas the character uses to get the postal service to were he wants it to be. In many ways Pratchett confuses in his use of Lipwig. Is he a hero or anti-hero? I remain undecided as to whether I like him or not and this novel reminds me a lot of Pratchett’s “The Truth” in that I can find little empathy with the central character.

Fortunately, Pratchett’s supporting characters are a superb collection of sharp wits and half-wits. Junior Postman Groat is great as the old-fashioned voice of yesterdays Post-Office and Stanley the pin obsessed orphan’s “Little Moments” are a joy to behold. Add to that a Golem from before the dawn of time with an ancient letter to deliver and a banshee assassin and you have the mixture for some great sitcom moments.

However, does there always have to be a love interest? Adora Bell Dearheart is characterised superbly as the icy organiser of the Golem Trust so why oh why does she have to fall for the bad guy. Its’ like an episode of Eastenders for Christ’s sake!

Pratchett tends to parody the real world in his fictional one and this novel is no exception. Sideswipes at secret societies such as The Masons in the form of “The Order of the Post” and “The Smoking Gnu” (bonus points for those who know who that parodies). References to Star Wars can also be found including a parody of Yoda “The Unfranked Man must be weighed in the balance”. In his parody he also asks the question “Do we really want to be truly free or are we happy in the confines society and life gives us?” Some may be surprised by the answer.

What this novel is missing for me that stops it becoming one of Pratchett’s best is the one liners I am used to. Usually I could reel of quotes left, right and centre to illustrate how funny his novel is but this one isn’t. The characters amuse but the plot has no ‘laugh out loud’ gags found in previous novels.

Being Pratchett’s twenty-ninth Discworld I was surprised at the big hoo-ha over “Going Postal”. I have heard some ranting others raving about this, the latest in the Discworld series and to be honest I was somewhat indifferent to it. As a Discworld fan I was surprisingly slow to get my hands on a copy perhaps due to the postal concept not particularly appealing (and the hefty £17.99 price tag!). The introduction of chapters seems to be a big deal to some but to me added nothing to the novel and if anything stopped it from flowing like some before it. Don’t get me wrong this novel is readable and has plenty going on to keep both Pratchett fans and newcomers amused. However, I doubt I will read it again for a good while and that is rare for me. Next time I might wait for the paperback. Readable but quickly forgettable.

ISBN 0-385-60342-8
Hardback price of £17.99 (although reduced on Amazon)

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