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Hekate

(95,456 posts)
24. Very much, or I wouldn't recommend it. It took me awhile to "get" Pratchett back in the '90s...
Sun Dec 29, 2024, 09:45 PM
Sunday

Then at a certain point I realized that while I’d been chuckling along at some bit of humor, the bottom would drop out and there would be tears. The bit between Death and Susan gets me every damn time.

The first time I read it was a bust. A friend handed it to me one Christmas and said that I would enjoy it because I was in a grad school Myth program. I never could figure out this supercilious friend, and I ended up reading the surface, mentally checking off boxes. By the time I came back to it several years and several books later, it was a different experience entirely.

Pratchett had a reputation as a humorist from his first 2 Discworld novels, which were light fare, and at some public function (probably a book signing) a bit later in his career a woman said to him that he must be such a jolly soul, and so happy. To that he said later that no, he was a very angry man.

You can see the anger underneath in a scene from Small Gods, where the torturers of the Inquisition are taking a tea break — the kettle is heating up on the rack next to the instruments of torture and the tea mugs have, variously, a teddy bear decoration or an inscription to World’s Best Daddy. It’s just a fricking job, right?

It can be kind of breathtaking to know that he sees humanity without any rose-colored glasses whatsoever, but it never gets in the way of the stories — and it never gets in the way of his belief in self-determination. His very best characters, like Sam Vimes of the City Watch, are angry to the bone at the injustice of the world, and have to decide every day to not become what they despise. How the unlikely pair Sam Vimes and Lady Sybil fall in love at 40-ish has always struck me as the best love story I’ve ever read.

A flat world with dragons and wizards is not to everyone’s taste — but my gods, did Pratchett ever see humanity in the whole.

Recommendations

1 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Definitely don't delete. Enjoyed reading and get it. Silent Type Dec 26 #1
100% ZDU Sunday #32
'It's always darkest before the dawn.' Dad elleng Dec 26 #2
I used to hear the same things from mother SheltieLover Dec 26 #3
question: in the fullness of your adult experience of life, (and lessons) stopdiggin Dec 26 #4
oh yes, of course i understand what she was trying to say orleans Dec 27 #5
and, as I said - you had EVERY right in the world .... stopdiggin Dec 27 #12
Oh my dear orleans . . . CaliforniaPeggy Dec 27 #6
Sometimes for no understandable reason StarryNite Dec 27 #7
yes. nt orleans Dec 27 #8
So many good reminders here. Hope22 Dec 27 #9
thank you for your lovely reply nt orleans Dec 27 #11
Your despair is part of a process nuxvomica Dec 27 #10
Every year in December I re-read a book by Terry Pratchett called Hogfather... Hekate Dec 27 #13
that's beautiful and very profound, hekate. thank you for that. nt orleans Dec 27 #18
You are most welcome. May the new year be gentle on you Hekate Monday #44
just put Hogfather on hold at library. there is a DVD of it as well. PUt it on hold too. Amaryllis Dec 27 #21
I also watch the movie once a year... Hekate Saturday #22
Never got into Discworld. Do you like it? Amaryllis Sunday #23
Very much, or I wouldn't recommend it. It took me awhile to "get" Pratchett back in the '90s... Hekate Sunday #24
Have you read Good Omens, Neil Gaiman? Amaryllis Sunday #25
Oh yes. I read it because Terry Pratchett was co-author, and after that I read more of Gaiman Hekate Sunday #28
Did you see the TV series they made of it? Cant remember if it was NEtflix.... Amaryllis Monday #34
It was on Amazon Prime, so I joined for a month (free) and binge-watched it twice through Hekate Monday #36
I liked it a lot. there is always the thing where the character look different than how you imagined, but it was very Amaryllis Monday #39
The first was just called Good Omens when it came out in 2018 or 2019. Now it's called ... Hekate Monday #42
Thank you for posting this reminder of how good an observer of humans Sir Terry was. GoneOffShore Monday #37
You are welcome Hekate Monday #43
"everything happens for a reason"--I think that's horseshit. raccoon Dec 27 #14
I dunno. no_hypocrisy Dec 27 #15
There is always a chain of events which amount to a "cause" of WHY something happened, but... Martin Eden Dec 27 #16
I applaud and agree wholeheartedly. vanlassie Sunday #27
God's will, everything happens for a reason, karma is a bitch, etc. ThreeNoSeep Dec 27 #17
cause and effect - yes, i get that. orleans Dec 27 #19
Thank you for starting this discussion. yellow dahlia Dec 27 #20
Agree Meowmee Sunday #26
"When one door closes another door opens mahina Sunday #29
Humans need a reboot. Take care. Joinfortmill Sunday #30
There IS a reason for a happening and sometimes, 'what goes around... Septua Sunday #31
Few things make me angrier that the sanctimonious empty bullshit of that "everything... 3catwoman3 Monday #33
It's what i needed right now. DiverDave Monday #35
serendipity i guess. please take care. nt orleans Monday #38
You are very fortunate to have had a good Mom like her. Your Mom. Your friend Clouds Passing Monday #40
No reasons, no meaning ismnotwasm Monday #41
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