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missroseroseTerry Pratchett's Nation
: In the past, Terry Pratchett and I have had a comfortable sort of relationship. No one will dispute his cleverness as a writer, and I've generally found his stories enjoyable, but there was always a certain gentleman's agreement there, a certain emotional distance maintained, into which the cleverness was often pressed into service. I think we all have that friend who maintains a front of goofiness as a means of keeping others from seeing how vulnerable they really are, and we love them in part for their goofiness but even more for the rare moments when they let themselves genuinely connect without it. Story-wise, Terry Pratchett has been like that friend - I like his books, but I've read so many of them less because of the merits of the stories themselves as for those few brief moments when the goofiness falls away and the true storyteller shines through.
Nation is the book I've been waiting this entire time for Pratchett to write. The cleverness and the satirical tone are still there in bits, but this story contains more risk-taking, more warmth, and more genuine human emotion than any five of his previous novels. In more than one way it's appropriate that it doesn't take place in Discworld, as that series has always been characterized by a preponderance of the aforementioned satire. Nation mostly dispenses with that and focuses entirely on telling its story, one that is filled with the pain of loss, the sweetness of love, the joy of discovery, the fear of the unknown, and all of those other wondrous things that make us human.
On a more personal note, I can't help but wonder if recent events in the author's life are in part responsible for how abrupt the leap in quality was, although there were certainly signs of the master storyteller starting to show through his last few Discworld books, too. Perhaps it just took a new story-setting for him to feel free of expectation, I don't know. But no matter the case, I'm happy and (in an odd way) proud that he had the courage to not only find that core of human truth that all truly amazing storytellers (actors, writers, newscasters, puppeteers, or what have you) tap in to, but also the devotion to his art to take this kind of risk in bringing it to the fore, when his legion of fans would have been perfectly happy with more of the same. Mr. Pratchett, you are a true artist, and I applaud you. A++ with cherries on top
: In the past, Terry Pratchett and I have had a comfortable sort of relationship. No one will dispute his cleverness as a writer, and I've generally found his stories enjoyable, but there was always a certain gentleman's agreement there, a certain emotional distance maintained, into which the cleverness was often pressed into service. I think we all have that friend who maintains a front of goofiness as a means of keeping others from seeing how vulnerable they really are, and we love them in part for their goofiness but even more for the rare moments when they let themselves genuinely connect without it. Story-wise, Terry Pratchett has been like that friend - I like his books, but I've read so many of them less because of the merits of the stories themselves as for those few brief moments when the goofiness falls away and the true storyteller shines through.Nation is the book I've been waiting this entire time for Pratchett to write. The cleverness and the satirical tone are still there in bits, but this story contains more risk-taking, more warmth, and more genuine human emotion than any five of his previous novels. In more than one way it's appropriate that it doesn't take place in Discworld, as that series has always been characterized by a preponderance of the aforementioned satire. Nation mostly dispenses with that and focuses entirely on telling its story, one that is filled with the pain of loss, the sweetness of love, the joy of discovery, the fear of the unknown, and all of those other wondrous things that make us human.
On a more personal note, I can't help but wonder if recent events in the author's life are in part responsible for how abrupt the leap in quality was, although there were certainly signs of the master storyteller starting to show through his last few Discworld books, too. Perhaps it just took a new story-setting for him to feel free of expectation, I don't know. But no matter the case, I'm happy and (in an odd way) proud that he had the courage to not only find that core of human truth that all truly amazing storytellers (actors, writers, newscasters, puppeteers, or what have you) tap in to, but also the devotion to his art to take this kind of risk in bringing it to the fore, when his legion of fans would have been perfectly happy with more of the same. Mr. Pratchett, you are a true artist, and I applaud you. A++ with cherries on top
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