captaind's Full Review: Terry Pratchett - Going Postal
Going Postal is another in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. For those of you that have never read a Discworld novel before (shame on you… or maybe on me… or probably on DrDevience, whatever happens…), the Disc is a place of magic and mayhem, not so unlike our own world. But when elements of our world enter it, the result is usually more mayhem than usual…
Enter the unfortunately named Moist von Lipwig. Moist life is not happy, mainly because there’s not much of it left. Despite being a confidence trickster extraordinaire, the authorities eventually caught up with him and he’s now contemplating the rather unpleasant prospect of being hanged. However, there is still Hope. Hope, the great blessing – or curse – of mankind. Hope ducks out of sight as Moist is hanged… or at least, Albert Spangler, one of his many non-de-plumes, is hanged. Everyone saw it, so it must be true. But there are ways of hanging a man to within a fraction of an inch of his life, and the trap door underneath can lead to very strange places…
Enter an Angel. In this particular instance, the angel takes the extremely unlikely form of Lord Vetinari, the shrewd Patrician, tyrant of Ankh-Morpork – and quite possibly the best ruler the city has ever had. He offers Lipwig a choice (there is always a choice) – walk through a door with a floor underneath the other side – a very long way underneath – or take a job. The job is to revive the ailing postal service. A golem by the name of Pump - Mr Pump – will be around to see that the new Postmaster stays true to his assignment. Which, after he finds out what happened to the previous four postmasters, he might be inclined not to do…
Enter Reacher Gilt, head of the consortium now in charge of the Grand Trunk, who operate the clacks (a system of communication using lights, towers, and other such marvels). Because the consortium are interested only in making money, people have been sacked (“let go”), maintenance time has been cut or eliminated, and the clacks are not running at all smoothly these days. But Gilt is very cunning, even perhaps a match for Vetinari himself. He is also very interested in making sure that the Post Office fails…
Going Postal goes through 3 distinct phases. Phase one lasts about the first two chapters, during which time I thought I would only be giving it a 3 star review. It has glimpses of Pratchett’s best writing, but not many, and it’s a bit slow to be honest. Then phase 2, the next couple of chapters… things pick up a bit, the writing improves, but it’s still not vintage Discworld. At this stage I’m thinking maybe 4 stars. But in phase 3 (from chapter 5 onwards), things pick up considerably, the writing is on a par with the best Discworld novels, and the satire bites as deeply as in The Truth, one of the very best Discworld novels. The pace never slackens and it just gets better and better, thus 5 stars, no problem.
One thing that put me off a little at the start was that there’s a bit of bad language, not much but it’s usually a sign of Pratchett being a bit lazy and, therefore, not on form. But there’s really not that much and it’s mainly in two isolated sections. Probably because the plot is quite complicated it takes a while to really get going, but bear with it and you’ll thoroughly enjoy the ride. The satirical element is taken mainly from corporate culture, though if you have a little understanding of the problems that have affected (and still affect) British Telecom and the Royal Mail over the past couple of decades, there’s definitely an extra layer of meaning there. However, the main highlight of this book is the intellectual duelling of three very smart, not very scrupulous men – Lipwig, Vetinari, and Gilt. You never know quite who is going to come out on top and, while you strongly suspect that the Patrician (the only character familiar from previous Discworld books) is going to win in the end, there are times when even he doesn’t quite know what’s going on. The various exchanges between Vetinari and Lipwig are a joy to read. The Golems add a human rights and racial equality theme to the whole thing and are seen in more detail than in any previous Discworld books.
There are many other memorable characters in this book, but mentioning them all here would kind of defeat the purpose of this review. (Quite a few characters from eirlier books make an appearance, but only Vetinari gets a starring role.) If you still don’t want to read it, then probably nothing I could say would convince you. Needless to say, already established Discworld fans will love it.
Quotes
On the notice board outside the Post Office:
DONT ARSK US ABOUT:
rocks
troll's with sticks
All sorts of dragons
Mrs Cake
Huje green things with teeth
Any kinds of black dogs with orange eyebrows
Rains of spaniel's
fog
Mrs Cake
"You can't do that!" Greenyham protested weakly, but the fire had drained out of hom. Mr Stowley had collapsed on the floor, with his head in his hands.
"Can I not?" said Vetinari. "I am a tyrant. It's what we do."
...
"It's private property!" Greenyham burst out.
"Tyrant, remember" said Vetinari, almost cheerfully.
Arch-swindler Moist von Lipwig never believed his crimes were hanging offenses, until he found himself with a noose around his neck, dropping through ...More at Audible.com
Arch-swindler Moist von Lipwig never believed his crimes were hanging offenses -- until he found himself with a noose around his neck, dropping throug...More at Buy.com
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