The Truth, Terry Pratchett
Jun. 29th, 2022 06:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI finished Raising Steam and went back a bit to The Truth.
Kind of want to mine it for quotes.
As usual the story rattles along being fun and thrilling and then knocks you for a loop with some big thought that's both out of nowhere and a payoff to a dozen little things.
He is really, really, good at this.
I want to have big thoughts back at it, but either the book said it already or I am still chewing the ideas.
Having just read the Watch books all in a row I rather like how this one has a different approach that leaves you seeing the Watch from a different angle. You know everyone did things that made sense to them, from their own very solid sense of morality, but they raise question marks, especially when they grind together.
The Watch love names, especially ones that lead to other names, names that maybe did something bigger. But the Times loves every name it can print, from every ordinary meeting... because names sell newspapers. They're looking for different things for different reasons, and the shape of the stories gets different.
Having read Moist, I like how de Worde is very much not a chancer or a con artist, but still moves the world around with words. He's not selling sizzle, he's not Dibbler, and that matters to him.
But there's still one paragraph he doesn't write, a name he leaves out.
I like how the story keeps telling a story about class and pride and deciding who we are not.
Vampires and aristocrats, compare and contrast, ish.
... the vampire is trying really hard now...
Vimes is as noble as a man can get in Ankh Morpork but he remembers where he came from and what he learned there.
De Worde... ditto. In his own way. But he spends his days in a boarding house with small salesmem. Right up until he needs a dress for someone, then it's oh, hey, here's a key, and never a thought for, oh, hey, that doesn't belong to me. He earns a living from a tiny job, until it's pointed out to him that's what aristos do for each other. And it's the job that matters to him, soon as there is a job that fills the days up... but he's still making choices very much informed by where he comes from. Right down to just kind of ending up in charge, when there's nothing underneath that, he just ends up there.
It's just holding a magnifying glass up, and leaves you thoughtful in the best ways, without so much as slowing down the story with the wizards and the talking dog.
I want to read the next book, or possibly loop back to the beginning and read all the wizards, or something, but, I also want to think about this one a lot, since it has a new angle whenever I turn it around again.
Kind of want to mine it for quotes.
As usual the story rattles along being fun and thrilling and then knocks you for a loop with some big thought that's both out of nowhere and a payoff to a dozen little things.
He is really, really, good at this.
I want to have big thoughts back at it, but either the book said it already or I am still chewing the ideas.
Having just read the Watch books all in a row I rather like how this one has a different approach that leaves you seeing the Watch from a different angle. You know everyone did things that made sense to them, from their own very solid sense of morality, but they raise question marks, especially when they grind together.
The Watch love names, especially ones that lead to other names, names that maybe did something bigger. But the Times loves every name it can print, from every ordinary meeting... because names sell newspapers. They're looking for different things for different reasons, and the shape of the stories gets different.
Having read Moist, I like how de Worde is very much not a chancer or a con artist, but still moves the world around with words. He's not selling sizzle, he's not Dibbler, and that matters to him.
But there's still one paragraph he doesn't write, a name he leaves out.
I like how the story keeps telling a story about class and pride and deciding who we are not.
Vampires and aristocrats, compare and contrast, ish.
... the vampire is trying really hard now...
Vimes is as noble as a man can get in Ankh Morpork but he remembers where he came from and what he learned there.
De Worde... ditto. In his own way. But he spends his days in a boarding house with small salesmem. Right up until he needs a dress for someone, then it's oh, hey, here's a key, and never a thought for, oh, hey, that doesn't belong to me. He earns a living from a tiny job, until it's pointed out to him that's what aristos do for each other. And it's the job that matters to him, soon as there is a job that fills the days up... but he's still making choices very much informed by where he comes from. Right down to just kind of ending up in charge, when there's nothing underneath that, he just ends up there.
It's just holding a magnifying glass up, and leaves you thoughtful in the best ways, without so much as slowing down the story with the wizards and the talking dog.
I want to read the next book, or possibly loop back to the beginning and read all the wizards, or something, but, I also want to think about this one a lot, since it has a new angle whenever I turn it around again.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-09 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 06:10 am (UTC)