Book Review: Mort by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #4)

 Can we be certain about anything? I don't know about you, but personally, I can't think of many certainties in life. Yet, there are two things I know for certain; the first one is the inescapable reality of paying tax (this comes yearly). The second one is the unavoidable reality of death (this will come eventually). Sooner of later, we will all meet death, when the grim reaper will swing the scythe of finality, cutting us down, collecting his due. While most people treat death/dying as a grim business, but author Terry Pratchett wrote a comedic fantasy book, taking a humorous look at death, where an anthropomorphic personification of Death (with a capital D) plays the role as a central character in his book. This book is the 4^th installment in the Discworld series, it is called Mort. Under the guise as a comedic fantasy, this book explored death, a destiny shared by all things in the physical universe. This book is half joking, half philosophical, and I think it is worth a read. Here is my review for this book.

Synopsis:

They say death comes to us all. On the surreal world of Discworld, Death has a very literal presence, where he exists as an anthropomorphic personification. Death is a very professional fellow, dedicating his timeless existence to the business of “undertaking”, where he works diligently at collecting people's souls when their times are up.

When Death entered a mid-career crisis, he decided to take an apprentice under his wing. He offered a young boy, Mort, a position of apprenticeship. The job entitlement comes with free food, accommodation, and the exciting opportunity of entering the business of “undertaking”, under the tutelage of the grim reaper himself. Mort thought he has found the golden opportunity of a life time, but soon, Mort discovered this dream job, may be more than he can stomach.

What I think about this book:

About a month ago, I entered the universe of Discworld after reading Small Gods. I thought Small Gods was a fabulous book, where Terry Pratchett used a witty satire to portray religion. I appreciated the humors and the philosophy behind Small Gods, and I became an instant fan to Discworld.

Being a Discworld novel, Mort bears the Discworld trademark of being a comedy clothed in funny eccentricities. Terry Pratchett depicted his characters with over-exaggerated characteristics, this increases the fun factors in the story, making the characters colorful and impressionable. Some may find the pacing of the story a little bit slow in the beginning of the book, but the story picks up speed after the first 50 pages, turning into a light hearted adventure full of laughter and romance. Mort is also a very different book in comparison to Small Gods. It is not as dense, and the story is straight forward. However, one needs to pay attention to every sentence when reading this book, because Terry Pratchett embedded a considerable amount of themes, jokes, and wisdom behind what appears to be an irreverent, humorous story. This is the kind of book where I am sure I will discover new things upon a re-read.

This book is about death, but it is not grim or depressing. Instead, this book is really funny. While I was reading this book, laughter became my constant companion, the smile on my face lingered until long after the book's end. Meanwhile, under the waves of laughter, this book also provoked me to think about death, and what it actually means. In this book, the anthropomorphic personification of Death took on a physical form, as a scythe wielding, 7 foot tall skeleton wearing a hooded black robe. This image conforms the stereotypical, cliched depiction of death, but (in my opinion) the greatest humor resides in the fact that a skull has an unchanging facial expression, one that resembles a permanent, maniacal smile. By choosing to depict death this way, the author emphasized a fine point: Death is indifferent, he is the great equalizer. No matter who we are, from a king to a vagabond, death will come and collect us all when our time is up. All of our beliefs about that which lies beyond death, are human speculations. While death, is the only certainty in life. This makes all of our obsessions, worries and guesses about the “after life” laughable, especially if we linger on these unknowable things too much and overlook the significance of being alive.

Mort is the second book I've read in Discworld series, and this book is funny, meaningful, and thought provoking. I like the character of Death, and I found this character very interesting. I have no regret about the time spent to read this book, I only wish there would be more books about Death. The good news is, apparently there are other Discworld books featuring Death as the main character.

I can't wait to read them all.