Only one book review this week, because another one was posted earlier this week, and it was a bit more in-depth than the capsule summaries I tend to provide. That review was for Fear by Bob Woodward, and can be found here.
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (2004, Harper)
Terry Pratchett was an international phenomenon whose worldwide success rivaled that of Stephen King, but he never quite achieved the notoriety in the United States that he held in other countries. His specialty was humor, with a particular nod to his long-running “Discworld” series of humorous fantasy.
Going Postal is the 29th book in the Discworld series of novels by the author, and by this point in the series he’d grown comfortable with their format. Gone were the excessive footnotes of the first few books. Gone was the ham-fisted effort to demonstrate a social injustice.
The book follows the dealings of a convicted felon who, rather than being killed as sentenced, is secretly recruited to perform a “fate worse than death”… running the city post office. From what should be two points fairly bereft of humor, the death penalty and postage, Pratchett designs a book that’s entertaining, amusing, and thought-provoking.
The Discworld series are designed to be read individually, but there is crossover from story to story and certain characters are given story arcs which should be followed from the arc’s beginning. This is the first book in the von Lipwig story arc.
