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Too Real To Be Funny
Jul. 9th, 2006 07:40 pm02 Jul 06
Thud! - Terry Pratchett - Doubleday, 2005
* * *
Of the Discworld books, those starring Samuel Grimes and the Ankh Morpork city watch are in general the ones I enjoy least. My main problem is with Grimes himself, who unlike other Pratchett protagonists is grim, cynical and largely humourless. His positive qualities - loyalty, tactical nous and an understanding of human nature - make for a good generic fantasy hero but do not readily lend themselves to the lead in a comic novel. Pratchett clearly understands this himself because the city watch books are noticeably different from the rest of the Discworld oeuvre, with more overt satirical mapping of real world issues and fewer laugh-out-loud one-liners. They are less silly but also less fun. Most of the Discworld books make me laugh out loud; the city watch novels, at best, raise the occasional smile.
Which is not to say that they are without merit. Having a protagonist who is recognisably an analogue to a real-world police chief allows Pratchett to examine weightier social issues than would be possible with magically-endowed protagonists such as Rincewind or Granny Weatherwax, and in Thud! he tackles the problems of violence caused by tension between ethnic groups. Similar ground to White Teeth, in fact, but from a totally different perspective.
( Read more... )
Thud! - Terry Pratchett - Doubleday, 2005
* * *
Of the Discworld books, those starring Samuel Grimes and the Ankh Morpork city watch are in general the ones I enjoy least. My main problem is with Grimes himself, who unlike other Pratchett protagonists is grim, cynical and largely humourless. His positive qualities - loyalty, tactical nous and an understanding of human nature - make for a good generic fantasy hero but do not readily lend themselves to the lead in a comic novel. Pratchett clearly understands this himself because the city watch books are noticeably different from the rest of the Discworld oeuvre, with more overt satirical mapping of real world issues and fewer laugh-out-loud one-liners. They are less silly but also less fun. Most of the Discworld books make me laugh out loud; the city watch novels, at best, raise the occasional smile.
Which is not to say that they are without merit. Having a protagonist who is recognisably an analogue to a real-world police chief allows Pratchett to examine weightier social issues than would be possible with magically-endowed protagonists such as Rincewind or Granny Weatherwax, and in Thud! he tackles the problems of violence caused by tension between ethnic groups. Similar ground to White Teeth, in fact, but from a totally different perspective.
( Read more... )