Probably The Worst Book Review You'll Ever Read (Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett
Date:	18/08/01 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: hilarious, compelling, great characterisation

Disadvantages: no distinct chapters, all one long novel, need to suspend disbelief big-time!!

This will quite probably be the hardest book review I have ever done. This isn’t because I didn’t like Moving Pictures – on the contrary, I LOVED it and thought it was brilliant, Terry Pratchett is indeed a genius! But this isn’t a straight-forward book or one that is easy to explain, but I will try.

Years ago, I read Small Gods and thought it was great. I have been meaning to read some more Pratchett ever since, but hadn’t got round to it. Then I read a review of Mort the same day I went to the library. With Pratchett freshly in my mind, I headed towards the previously unvisited sci-fi / fantasy section and found four of his novels there. I chose the two paperbacks – Feet of Clay and Moving Pictures.

A few days later, I was in a very noisy indoor play area with my four children (and what sounded like thousands of others). Being somewhat bored of watching the same kids slide down the same yellow tube in the same way, I reached inside my bag for the compulsory book and lifted out Moving Pictures.

However, I am notorious for needing absolute silence while reading, so I realised it would probably be a lost cause. I had to read the first page three times before it went in, but whether that was the book itself or the noise around me, I’m not sure. It isn’t every day you read about a world which is situated on top of four elephants, being carried along by a giant turtle. Not just any old turtle either, this is the Great A’Tuin. See, I knew you’d be impressed. The world is Discworld, the home of many Pratchett novels.

This one appealed to me because I like movies. Moving Pictures is a parody of Hollywood – well, it’s a lot more besides, but that’s one part of it anyway. There are more film references here than in Halliwell’s Film Guide, with thinly veiled pastiches of such greats as Singing In The Rain, Gone With The Wind, The Seven Year Itch and even a
glimpse of Jaws! For the film buff, this will be your idea of heaven if you like Terry Pratchett books.

However, Holy Wood isn’t quite Hollywood. Besides the Marilyn Monroe-esque Ginger and the typical(ish) hero, Victor, you can find a talking dog and huge trolls as extras. In this world, movies are made by imps painting in a box and salamanders providing the light. The audience go to the ‘Odium’ to see a ‘click’ while munching through bags of ‘banged grains’. The whole thing is sheer brilliance from start to finish.

It’s not just about an alternative way of making movies either. You get to meet the inhabitants of Ankh-Morpork – the wizards in the Unseen University, and the Alchemists who keep blowing themselves up, for example. Then there is the strange hill with a door that is s-l-o-w-l-y opening, a door that “bodes”, a door with hidden terrors beyond.

This isn’t really my genre, I’m not the sort who has read all the Pratchett novels – although I might soon be! – but I found it easy to get into and hilarious throughout. Of course, it’s not about jokes as such, but he has a wonderful turn of phrase and I found myself giggling through most of it.

It’s hard to describe the plot really. If I say too much, you will miss finding it out for yourself, if you read it – and I strongly recommend you do. It contains an amazing array of absorbing characters, each one so unbelievable on paper that it is down to Pratchett’s immense talent which makes you believe in them only seconds after you’ve sniggered and said “A WHAT?!?”

Borrow it, buy it, but read it – or miss out at your peril. This truly is a work of genius.

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