Nation by Terry Pratchett Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Nation
Book Review: 5 degrees west of starboard
Summary: 4 Stars
First thing, it's not a Discworld novel. Don't be expecting constand funnies and bad puns. It's more a proper novel that 95% serious and set in a world about 5 degrees away from ours. It's got Terry's halmark deep probing of people and what it means to be someone and belong somewhere (also tree-climing octopi - I did say 95%).
It has an array of classic Pratchett characters, some deep and interesting, some so thin you can see straight through them. But all fascinating nontheless(?).
Very entertaining to read and as always absorbs several hours of your time while you are transported somewhere else.
Book Review: More than just amazing... TRULY ASTOUNDING!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am amazed at "Nation" for so many reasons... but mainly because it encompasses the wit, the wisdom and the cunning story telling of so fine an author. Like so many people, I have been looking forward to the next Terry Pratchett book for a long time: since I finished re-reading Making Money and Wintersmith, in fact. And yes, I was somewhat disappointed that Nation was not a further tale of Discworld. But, why on Earth should it be. Terry Pratchett has, through the media and lives of the Disc and it's so many characters, all of whom we know as well as, if not better than those characters that dwell in this Roundworld of ours, beguiled, teased, taunted, terrified and immersed us in delight for two and a half decades. But it is clear, as an author, and an author of such astounding quality, Terry Pratchett is more than just the Discworld series. He is an author, he has earned his place in the literary roll of honour that include John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, P G Wodehouse, G K Chesterton, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens... and Nation is the newest jewel in the sky; a poignant, tragic, exciting, hilarious and, unquestionably abstract tale that will make any reader find themselves holding back a tear or gasping with awe at every turning - all the time, failing completely to stifle a laugh - WARNING: this is not a book I would recommend you read on the train: it will elicit some very strange and worrying looks from your fellow passengers (I speak from experience on this point). Terry Pratchett is one of the finest storytellers that, to my mind, has ever walked this - or any other - world. If there ever were a God of Story Telling, it would be Terry Pratchett. READ NATION... and do it before the END OF THE WORLD! Book Review: A new world for Pratchett
Summary: 4 Stars
Even if you think you don't like Pratchett, try this. NATION is a new departure - more simply-written, with less stylistic jokes and tricks but just and funny, very exciting and with the thoughtfulness and humnaity that is his hall-mark.
Mau's whole people - the Nation - is destoyed by a giant wave while he is on another island, making the ritual jounrey to become a man. Left alone, he almost goes mad but meets a strange "trouserman" girl, Daphne, whose English ship has also been destroyed. They learn to speak, find a toothless old woman and one about to give birth, and painfully set about salvaging what they can. Mau is constantly reminded by his ancestors (the Grandfathers) that while he survives, and his memories of the rituals, so does the Nation. Yet he knows that another tribe is about to wage war on them - aided by two murderous villains from Daphne's ship, How can they defend themselves?
Consistently engaging and unexpected, this is a book about memory and loss (poignant in the face of the author's Alzheimer's), civilisation and ritual, and not thinking that people who wear less clothes than you are savages. I give it 4 stars not 5 because some of it could have been edited (the Grandfathers got on my nerves). But read it as a contrast to Lord of the FLies.
Book Review: All Pratchett's wisdom condensed into a single book!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the first non-Discworld Pratchett has written in ages and as soon as you start reading it shows. There's something simply different about it. While I found the writing in Making Money effortless there was something different in Nation. Not worse, just... different.
I found it a great read, from the rather sad and tearful beginning to the exciting and optimistic end. It seemed to have all of Pratchett's views on humanity, society and religion boiled down into a single book and explained to children which occasionally got in the way of the story but still makes it a perfect book to give to your son and daughter if you want them to really think about the world around them.
I'd say this isn't the greatest book ever but then I'm saying that when comparing it to other books by Pratchett. When comparing it to everyone else he's still miles ahead and long may he remain so.
Book Review: A National Treasure
Summary: 5 Stars
Terry Pratchett loves writing about micro-societies. He did it with the Bromeliad books, on many occasions in Discworld, and now he does it again with Nation. Many have described this process as satire, but I think it's much fairer to describe it as a highly detailed thought experiment, addressing questions about society, the answers for which we either take for granted or don't think we need. The fact that these thought experiments are so entertaining to read is testament to just how barmy the world really is.
The result of this particular experiment? I think that would constitute a spoiler, but I feel it's only fair to divulge that its methods are second to none, and it effortlessly earns itself five stars. Taking a look at the cultural roles of mythology and religion, societal development and Imperialistic hubris, Nation is a riveting read, expertly paced, with humour and poignancy in just the right proportions to lubricate its themes into place. Add to this a guest appearance from a certain tree-dwelling cephalopod and it rapidly threatens to make itself something I doubted I'd ever have: my favourite book.
Thank you, Mr. Pratchett. You are, and will forever remain, a National Treasure.