M@ reviewed Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Review of 'Going Postal' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
If this book had been published in the 1950's, and Sir Terry was at the time in the United States for whatever dumb reason, he'd have been hauled in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee so fast that the relativistic blueshift would make him look like a Nac Mac Feegle. And if you thought that [a:Bertolt Brecht|26853|Bertolt Brecht|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1390896781p2/26853.jpg]'s testimony before HUAC was pretty funny, imagine someone who's a brilliant comic writer being fed setup lines by gormless American politicians.
Why? Because this book is a scathing indictment of the wicked world of high finance. Our protagonist, the hilariously-named Moist von Lipwig, is a small-time scam artist who is offered[1] the post of Ankh-Morpork's Postmaster. Our antagonist, the also-hilariously-named Reacher Gilt, is a big-time scam artist who operates the Discworld's telegraph system, which he acquired through the time-honored system of massive financial fraud.[2]
In an almost-picaresque style, Moist takes on …
If this book had been published in the 1950's, and Sir Terry was at the time in the United States for whatever dumb reason, he'd have been hauled in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee so fast that the relativistic blueshift would make him look like a Nac Mac Feegle. And if you thought that [a:Bertolt Brecht|26853|Bertolt Brecht|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1390896781p2/26853.jpg]'s testimony before HUAC was pretty funny, imagine someone who's a brilliant comic writer being fed setup lines by gormless American politicians.
Why? Because this book is a scathing indictment of the wicked world of high finance. Our protagonist, the hilariously-named Moist von Lipwig, is a small-time scam artist who is offered[1] the post of Ankh-Morpork's Postmaster. Our antagonist, the also-hilariously-named Reacher Gilt, is a big-time scam artist who operates the Discworld's telegraph system, which he acquired through the time-honored system of massive financial fraud.[2]
In an almost-picaresque style, Moist takes on the telegraph companies and resurrects the post office. Their fictional postal system became overwhelmed with a large number of undelivered letters, which created a cascading feedback loop and essentially ground it to a halt.[3] He resumes limited delivery, invents both postal stamps and philately, and engages in a series of escalating stunts which are funny and satirical and just a total delight.
So, it's chockablock with social commentary, hilarious jokes, and delightful characters. Just like the other N books in this N+1 book series.
[1] In the time-honored Corleone style of offers.
[2] Oddly enough, this book was written in '08 and published in '09. It's weird that Sir Terry portrays financiers as degenerate criminals, given the historical context.
[3] You can read a delightful article about how our postal service has been trapped in a cascading feedback loop and essentially ground to a halt by our government (both parties) here.
