Book Review: Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #20)

  When I was little, I believed in Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, I used to hang up socks, then went to bed early. The following morning, I would get out of bed, feeling excited, ran to the socks to see what present(s) Santa Claus gave me. In those years, my parents told me, Santa Claus gave out gifts to good boys who behaved well. That kept mini-me well behaved, especially at the end of every year. (I did, eventually figured out, it was my parents who stuffed my socks with presents. But that's a different story).

Looking back at those memories about Santa Claus, I am often astonished at how powerful a belief can be. i.e. a belief in a fantasy, was enough to inspire a hyper-active, naughty child to behave well (for a limited period of time only). It's almost as if a belief in a fantasy, could create order out of chaos!

My opinion is, if we feed our human beliefs into a grinding machine fitted with gears of logic, coming out at the other end, we will (probably) find most of our beliefs, are fallacious in their elemental forms.

But the question is, can we be who we are, without beliefs?

In the 20^th Discworld novel, titled Hogfather, Sir Terry Pratchett explored the power of belief (and many other things). Hogfather is a funny book, excellently written, and it is colored with the atmosphere of Christmas. In my opinion, Hogfather is a very good book to read for Christmas. Since we are one month away from Christmas, I would like to review Hogfather, sharing some of my thoughts about this book.

Synopsis:

On Discworld, Hogswatch is approaching.

Hogswatch, is a time for giving. Traditionally, on Hogswatch night, a mythological entity known as Hogfather, would fly across the sky in a sleigh pulled by 4 boars, giving out presents to children across Discworld.

This Hogswatch night, however, is unlike any other in the history of Discworld. Because Hogfather is missing! Drastic times call for drastic measures, as Death (with a capital D) volunteered to be the temporary replacement for Hogfather. It is hard to imagine the grim reaper dressing up as a jolly old man in a red robe, giving out presents to children on Hogswatch night.

With Hogfather missing, will denizens of Discworld see the sun rise again? The fate of Discworld is shrouded in mists of uncertainty.

What I think about this book:

I have seen the movie adaptation for Hogfather. While it was a good film, but I prefer the book. This book is funny and lighthearted. The characterizations are vivid and colorful as in other Discworld books. From the protagonists, Death and Susan, to the eccentric wizards at Unseen University, every character in this book is funny and memorable. They came to life under Terry Pratchett's pen (or keyboard?). I especially like how Terry Pratchett portrayed Death in this book. Death is an awesome character! Death is an anthropomorphic personification of, death. His mindset operates on pure logic, but Death's interest in humans led him to try and understand (sometimes even mimicking) humans with his 100% logical mind. The result? Readers are bound to a journey filled with endless laughter.

I also like Susan, Death's (non-biological) grand daughter. She is an equally awesome character as Death. In this book, she explored the meaning of life and death among the misadventures she found herself in. Other characters from previous Discworld books also took spotlights in Hogfather, such as the crazy wizards from Unseen University and Death of Rats. They provided loads of funny moments in this book.

The structure in Hogfather feels more “concentrated” in comparison to previous Discworld novels. That is, I often feel Discworld books start with a series of random events in the first 50 pages, then the story gradually made sense afterward. In Hogfather, the structure has less random events (in comparison to other books), but there are still sections of the book which appear to be pretty random. However, these “random” events do make Terry Pratchett's Discworld feel like a living, breathing place, which is another reason I adore Discworld books. For example, whenever I read a Discworld book, the city of Ankh-Morpork (resembling a fantasy version of London in Victorian era) always paints a colorful image in my mind, depicting a city teeming with endless possibilities and interesting, eccentric characters.

One of the strengths of Discworld books, is Terry Pratchett's genius way of presenting philosophy and social issues, in the form of satire/parody. Hogfather is no exception to this hallmark. In the short space of 350 pages, Terry Pratchett masterfully embedded a number of thought-provoking topics in a witty, comedic fantasy yarn. He invites his readers to explore themes such as; the power of belief, commercialization of Christmas, the concept of justice/mercy, economic redistribution, and computers. As I have mentioned earlier, in my opinion, I think the central theme of Hogfather is the power of belief. I also think this book provided a very interesting, stimulating perspective to look at the nature of belief. Let me just say, there is a section at the end of the book, where it entailed probably the best argument I've ever heard about “belief and life's meaning” (I think it is ultimate philosophy). I don't want to spoil anything, so I'd say to the would be readers, please go and enjoy this book, and feel free to come to your own conclusions about these matters.

Hogfather is an excellent book, it fits nicely with the mood of festival season. If you decide to read this book, then I hope you would enjoy it, and find it as meaningful as I did. Furthermore, it is one month away from Hogswatch...er.. no, I mean, Christmas. This is a time for giving, a time to be charitable, and I just want to share, I personally found a quote in this book especially meaningful:

“Charity ain’t giving people what you want to give, It’s giving people what they need to get. “

Happy holidays! Ho ho ho.