Going Postal

I love Terry Pratchetts books, all of them but part of the fun is the absurd footnotes that run through the book. Unfortunately, the Kindle version doesn't permit access to the footnotes in Going Postal. I know it can be done because the Kindle version of Guards Guards allows you to read the footnotes as you go. Going Postal is a great book in the hard copy. Whoever was responsible for putting out this edition should be ashamed of themselves for presenting this as the full work by Terry Pratchett!

One of Pratchett's best Discworld books, imho! Moist von Lipwig, aka Albert Spangler, has been snatched from the jaws of death at the gallows and given one last chance: reopen the post office, or face certain death. It has been out of business for years, and the last 4 postmasters before him have died under suspicious circumstances. His parole officer, a golem named Pump 19, is relentless in forcing him to do his duty. Another snag is the evil new owner of the Clacks, Reacher Gilt, who is determined to see that Moist becomes Dead Postmaster #5. Along the way, Moist has to reckon with his past. The ripple effects of what he thought were "victimless cons" extended far from the center, including to Adora Belle Dearheart, the woman he loved. Her pursued her despite the fact that she usually met him with a crossbow aimed at his head. When he discovered that his fake bond scheme had been the ruin of the Dearheart family and caused Adora's father's suicide, he began to feel like he deserved that crossbow arrow. Does Moist succeed in resurrecting the post office? Does Adora fall for him? Does Reacher Gilt get his comeuppance? I won't spoil it for you, but this is Discworld, so you can pretty well guess. Finding out how it happens is the fun part.

If you're not familiar with Discworld, you should know that the overall series can be broken down into different sub-series (e.g. Witches, Guards, DEATH...). Going Postal is the first Moist Von Lipwig book, sometimes considered part of the industrial revolution series. Meaning? You can absolutely read this as your first Discworld book, where the only drawback is that a couple of the supporting characters started off in different sub-series. (Personally, I'd probably recommend Guards, Guards as your first book instead.)Discworld is a humorous fantasy setting and is so good that it was the 2nd best selling book series in the U.K., after Harry Potter. (The author has since passed away.) Many of the books are set in the city (or twin cities, now combined) of Ankh-Morpork.(warning: spoilers for first couple chapters)Moist is a con man who is caught and pressed into service to re-open Ankh-Morpork's postal service. Well, after he's failed to escape prison, and was sent to the gallows to be publicly executed, that is. If I tell much more about the story, I'd be revealing serious spoilers, so I won't do so.This is one of the best books in the later Discworld books, and Moist is one of the better characters. Great supporting cast, and the Moist books really help the city advance as a civilization.

Moist von Lipwig, that is. Pratchett brings another cast of misfits, weirdos, con men and several golems to life in this Discworld book. Lipwig is given the choice between dying and resurrecting the Ankh-Morpork post office. He chooses, for obvious reasons, to become Postmaster, hoping to be able to escape at some point. Not with a golem as a parole officer. So Lipwig puts his clever mind to work on the Post Office. There's so much to do! But he manages to not only bring the Post Office back but to make it better than ever. Even with the clacks as competitor.Pratchett has never not delivered on a Discworld premise. This book is one of my favorites. It's not easily classified in the Discworld sub-genres, however, as the Watch and Wizards both appear. Lipwig is a new character who reappears a few more times. As his introduction, "Going Postal" fires on all cylinders. Highly recommended.

This is my favorite book, in my favorite series, by one of my favorite authors! Sir Terry Pratchett, may he rest in peace, was one of the best writers of science fiction/fantasy of his time. His writing is fun, witty, and full of British humor. His characters are strange, unique, hysterical and lovable. Going Postal is one of the best rogue to reluctant (fought it kicking and screaming more like) hero stories you'll ever read. Although I have not read every Discworld book (and that will be remedied), I have yet to be disappointed in one. Start with this one (or Mort) and get a taste for how great his writing is. Then, start at the beginning, if you like. Most of the series does not HAVE to be read in order, but don't read Making Money or Rising Steam until you've read this one as those are continuations of the main character's story.

GOING POSTAL by Terry Pratchett is a terrific example of the writings of Terry Pratchett.This story tells how Moist von Lipwig, a condemned con man, is appointed postmaster of a defunct postal service, now made even more obsolete by a technological service similar to the Internet. The villains are the ultra-powerful bankers and businessmen who manipulate society for their own selfish ends.I’m not sure I could add much more to what has already been said about the writings of Terry Pratchett: Inventive. Insightful. Satirical. Entertaining. Hilarious.I don’t think it requires a “spoiler alert” to say that the con man outsmarts the villains in a satisfying – and entertaining – way.

I bought Making Money, which I enjoyed more than any other Pratchett book. Heeding the advice that my enjoyment would be increased if I read them in order, I bought this. It has a similar tone, the jokes seem natural rather than forced (the jokes do come across as forced at times in most of the previous books).Only being 80 pages in, my opinion may change and I hope to edit this review with the wit one would expect from a writer who's been inspired by the above mentioned.PS: YOU CAN START ON THIS BOOK, YOU WILL NOT SUFFER SPOILERS, JUST THE USUAL AGONIES OF HUMAN LIVING.

Without revealing my personal details. I work for a certain company very similar to the one in the novel, suffice to say it felt like going home, plus I'm pretty sure I've been in that building with the very same staff, Terry Pratchett must have researched it. The story has it's own discworld logic, and is amusing and full of pathos as the chief character tries to work out how to either make it work or skedaddle as fast as possible. Needless to say he can't pass up the challenge and gets stuck in. the rest of the story involves the main mission and others attempts to thwart it, Terry has a way to lampoon our world and the way it almost works on a daily basis, I had fun reading this book as I expect most will, now, where did I put my pin collection?

When I originally read Terry Pratchett, I remembered Going Postal and Making Money as the author at the height of his creative powers. After some disappointment with recent Pratchett books I wasn't sure what to expect. However, Going Postal still delivers.What we have is a tightly-written story with a very interesting character who constantly pushes the plot forward. This isn't the case of a character ambling through events like in Small Gods, but instead of cleverly and creatively moving things forward at every turn.For most of the book I would have given it four stars, but the end climax really is clever and well-thought out.Overall, this is one of Pratchett's best, and it still holds up well after all this time.

Re-reading Going Postal, and as usual every reading reveals something you had missed the first time, some pertinent reference to the Real World, the globe that we live on, not the flat disc pTerry weaves dreams of.This little paragraph near the end is *so* relevant to our Real World today:"They saved the city with old more easily, at that point, than any hero could have managed with steel. But in truth it had not exactly been gold, or even the promise of gold, but more like the fantasy of gold, the fairy dream that the gold is there, at the end of the rainbow, and will continue to be there for ever provided, naturally, that you don’t go and look.This is known as Finance."

Putting aside the fact I am a huge Discworld fan and general fan boy of Sir Terry, I write this as a Brit coming from a postal family.Sir Terry captures the history and sad demise of the GPO and tells of its pomp and grandeur of its glory days, of course in his own inimitable way, is simply magnificent. Naturally there weren't any Banshees or Golems, sadly, when I was around the Post Office but the passion and pride of a wonderful and great establishment was. I miss the Post Office and remembering it is bitter sweet, but Going Postal always brings it home for me. And Moist is simply brilliant.