Going Postal by Terry Pratchett Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Going Postal
Book Review: Going Postal
Summary: 4 Stars
A friend suggested after I reviewed Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books that I should give "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett a try. So since I was at the bookstore with nothing else on my reading list, I decided to give it a try. And I was not disappointed. Pratchett's humorous take on fantasy was just what I was looking for after devouring Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series with its hilarious take on sci-fi.
"Going Postal" is actually the thirty-third entry in Pratchett's Discworld series according to Wikipedia. You might think starting with the thirty-third book in a series is a bad idea, but it's not really a sequel to its thirty-two predecessors, just another book set in the same world. In this case a flat world carried around by elephants on the back of an enormous turtle.
Right, so the book begins with Moist von Lipwig (his real name) being hung for various misdeeds committed throughout his long career as a con artist. But Moist does not die. Instead, he's offered by the local tyrant Lord Veniteri the job of running the decrepit post office system in the metropolis of Ankh-Morpork. Since the alternative is death, Moist takes the job as postmaster.
He soon discovers that death might have been preferable because the post office is a complete mess. Mail has been piled up to the point that most of the building in inaccessible. All the post office workers have fled except for "junior" postman Groat (who is an old man) and his dim-witted, pin-collecting sidekick Stanley--and Mr. Tiddles the cat. Much of the post office's decline is due to the new communicatins system known as "the clacks" which are towers using a sort of Morse code to send messages all over the Discworld in hours. With such instant communication possible, who needs to send a letter?
After Moist's attempt to escape from this job is thwarted by his golem bodyguard Mr. Pump, Moist decides to face up to the challenge of making the post office competitive. Falling back on his years as a con artist, Moist begins to generate public excitement by introducing a new invention called stamps. And wouldn't you know it, soon people are collecting these stamps, including Stanley. Moist's efforts are aided by saboteurs who want to shut down the clacks to put the greedy bankers who bought the clacks system from its naive inventors out of business.
As the post office begins to succeed, Moist expands his operations by hiring more golem workers from the very inappropriately-named Miss Adora Belle Dearheart. In typical fashion for this kind of story, Moist falls in love with Miss Dearheart and begins to take his post office job seriously. But the greedy owners of the clacks don't like competition and will do anything to put Moist out of commission for good.
This really is a very fun read and its messages about technology and corporate greed are pretty much pulled from today's headlines. What makes the book so great to read is that there is a serious message, but the story itself is never told in such a serious way to make it a drag. So you can have a good time and a few laughs and also learn a few things. What else could you ask for from a book? Well, there are one or two things, but let's not be too picky.
Given this is the first one of nearly forty in the series I've read I won't make too many generalizations about the series or any of that. If you want more background on that, go read the Wikipedia page on Discworld or I'm sure there are various groups, message boards, and websites around the Internet to help you. In the meantime I'm going to read a few more of these because this one really hit the spot.
That is all.
UPDATE: I just finished reading this again since I read the rest of the series. In hindsight this and "Reaper Man" are easily my two favorite books of the entire series. Ironic I suppose that they were two of the first ones I read.
I really like the Moist von Lipwig character because he's not a hero, or even trying to be. He's a lying weasel who uses all his cunning to defeat another lying weasel. And I like how this ones gives Lord Vetinari a little more to do, where previously the most he'd done is spar with Vimes and Carrot. After reading the rest of the series, now it's fun to note how elements from so many other books--the City Watch, the wizards, the Times, the clacks, golems, etc.--are woven together into something completely new and different.
If I could I'd give this a fifth star. And actually I'm tempted to remove one from "Making Money" because by comparison the sequel isn't nearly as good as this.
Book Review: Going Postal, AKA a last chance for redemption.
Summary: 5 Stars
This recent work of Terry Pratchett is yet another fine example of the subtle beauty of the Discworld universe slammed up tight to the horrors of life in modern times.
The main character, Moist von Lipwig starts off the story on the way to the noose. In splendid Vetinari fashion he doesnt die there. He is given another chance to correct his misspent life with running the Ahnk Morpork post office. The characters you meet in this beautifully written satire of modern technology are as diverse as any in the DW universe. Who will win when its snail mail vs. the clacks? Who knows, but when the wizards get involved the path is sure to be fun and fast. Very good ending to a great story.
Book Review: Good story, though not great in Discworld terms
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read all the Discworld books up to this one. This isn't one of the best, but the story is still worth a read and Pratchett's word mastery is always present.
Taking some more recent themes of hacking/cracking and telecommunications makes it a little more enticing to someone who likes technology. However, these particular topics are somewhat obvious, no great insights here.
Good read if you like Discworld, but don't expect a great one.
Book Review: His Best In Awhile
Summary: 4 Stars
hadn't enjoyed the last three or four Terry Pratchett books at all, but I picked this one up when I couldn't find what I was looking for at the book store. Fortunately, this one was much better. I didn't get a chuckle or more per page like when Equal Rites or Small Gods, but it was funny. Chatper four did offend me, because it used variants of three three jokes I was planning on using. After I forget what they were, I'll use them, anyway.
Pratchett tries all sorts of innovations in this book, such as the aforementioned "chapters." After seeing their effect on the story, however, I must conclude that I'm against them. It's not that they hurt anything, but they really didn't add anything, either. Chapters are deadweight, and an efficient, productive Terry Pratchett book shouldn't employ them.
The basic plot is that a con-man gets a reprieve if he agrees to run the post office in Ankh Morpork (Pratchett's dysfunctional city of choice), and the greedy industrial pirate who runs the semaphore lines between cities (like a telegraph system) tries to shut him down. There are a couple of fantasy elements in the book, but none of them are integral to the plot, and so if this weren't a funny book, it shouldn't have been a fantasy novel. It was funny, however, and so such minor sins are forgiven. Pratchett also kept down the number of cameos of characters from other novels, the proliferation of which has been a problem that has plagued his more recent novels. They were there, but they weren't as dense as in the recent Guard novels, which almost seem like they're all cameos and no story.
A fun little novel.
Book Review: How to Pick a Packet or Two
Summary: 5 Stars
Sometime a generation or so ago Ankh Morpork's postal service went defunct. People stopped writing letters when it was discovered that the speed of light was faster than the pen, and now great clack towers cross the disk and the rattle of shutters accompanies everything from the price of pork bellies to cute little love notes. All for a price, of course. And until recently, service was good and it was worth it if your pig was looking ragged or you needed to get your proposal in her hands before the next guy.
But now big business has taken over. A conglomerate of entrepreneurs, the Grand Trunk, has bought up the clack network and have been milking it for every penny. Suddenly everything is breaking down, clacks men are either overworked or unemployed and a two-penny letter now costs a buck. Ankh Morpark lies at the whims of the clack magnates. and Lord Vetinari intends to do something about it.
The patrician of Ankh Morpark, attacks the problem by having a dead man (or rather, a man who died) resurrect the post office. And so Moist von Lipwig is interrupted in the middle of his hanging to discover he now has a hat with wings, some very elderly mail clerks, and a building completely full of undelivered mail. To add spice to the challenge it seems that postmasters generally last about a week before something horrible happens to them. But Lord Vetinari, expects that Moist, whose skill as a swindler got him hung (well, mostly hung), will find a way to both pull the wool and push the mail, and, indeed, he does.
Moist, whose goal is to remain one of the almost hung finds that he will stop at nothing to beat the clacks combine and even deliver the mail, comes up with one scheme after another to go where no postman has gone before. In flashes of brilliance he invents stamps, acquires the world's fastest horse, and finds ways to beat the Grand Trunk Company. One the way he acquires some surprising friends, the admiration of an equally surprising young lady, and a host of Golem mail men (er, mail things).
Pratchett weaves a remarkable collection of themes to make this novel work. Of course, the primary theme is 'how to use one's devious skills to the general benefit of all.' Then there's 'equal opportunity for golems.' And then there's 'capitalism only pays for a while.' And 'the dummy's guide to signaling.' And even 'collecting stamps for fun and someone else's profit.' This is Pratchett at his best he creates a setting where there are countless opportunities for one-liners and sarcastic repartee, and then has the gall to tell a genuinely interesting story as well.