Philosopy and Grief in the South Seas (Nation - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: CuttyDarke

Product:	Nation - Terry Pratchett
Date:	28/05/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Terry Pratchett at his dark and angry and funny best.

Disadvantages: It's not on the disc and it may be darker than you're looking for.

Two things separate Nation from most of Terry's work and make it something of a curiosity. Firstly it's his first non-Discworld Novel in a while. Secondly it's the first novel that was written after the onset of his, recently much publicized, Alzheimer's Disease.

Personally I love the Discworld but it's nice to see Terry set works in other places and I have to say that I couldn't see any sign of failing faculties.

At first Nation appears to be set on Earth in the 18th Century, and I suppose if you don't look at the maps and know nothing of history you could read all the way through it thinking that, but if you do look at the maps and if you're paying attention it quickly becomes clear that this is a different Earth and an alternative 18th Century.

I'm not going to summarize the plot as there's no way to do it justice in a review that's short enough to be worth reading. Instead I'm going to touch on a few points and then go on to what the book is actually like.

The main characters are a pair of adolescents - a boy from a south sea island and an English girl who is 64th in line for the British throne. They are both trapped on Nation, an island, in the middle of a vast ocean, by a terrible Tsunami. And at first they are trapped alone with no language in common and many of the islands resources destroyed by the wave. It takes a great effort of will from both of them for them to come together.

The girl is lost and out of place and the boy is so full of grief for the loss of everyone and everything he has ever known that he is half-mad some of the time. And I really felt for these characters. This book may be suitable for adults and young adults alike but that doesn't mean that it's easy reading.

Nation is a very angry book. At it's heart are two questions. "How can we live together?" and "Why do bad things happen to good people for no reason?"

The book seems to have been inspired by the Boxing Day Tsunami and by Terry's ongoing thoughts on religion, death and ethical living.

I read the book in hospital while waiting for and recovering from surgery. I was glad to have it as a companion because sometimes you need a book that's heavier in subject than the events you're going through.

Some have said that this book is not funny but I disagree. The subject matter may be dark but there are moments in it so funny I laughed out loud until I couldn't breathe properly. In a hospital. At night. When I was supposed to be asleep.

Summary: Just read it. You wont be sorry.