A Book Review: Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #33)

Everyday I make the ritualistic journey of coming home from work. The highlight of my daily trip lies with the opening of my letterbox. As strange as this may sound, but without this climax of opening the letterbox my daily homecoming trip feels incomplete. I love opening my letterbox, because the prospects of what I might find inside it thrills me (but not so thrilled when I find bills inside it). Some of my fondest memories of coming home reside with the joys at discovering memorable items such as: a letter proving I owned my first home, a hand-written letter from my parents, and a set of books that I really wanted which I ordered online. Those magical moments will stay in my memory for the rest of my life. Yet, none of these would have been possible without the local post office working their magic, delivering items safely to my letterbox.

In this era of instant, digital messaging, the traditional post office is still in business. I think this is because there is always something you cannot digitize and therefore must remain in the physical format. For example, you cannot send clothes to your loved ones using an email, it has to be sent as a parcel via the traditional post. I think it is sufficed to say, that postal service remains an integral part in our lives and it is here to stay, for good. Meanwhile, I wonder how many people think about how their local post offices impact their lives, or how instant messaging has changed the way people communicate, let alone entertaining the idea of a fantasy novel that is all about the post office.

Yes, that is right! Sir Terry Pratchett wrote a novel called, Going Postal, it is the 33^rd Discworld novel and it is all about the post office, advancing technology, and much, much more. Going Postal is 490 pages in length. It is one of the funniest and wittiest books in Discworld series and I adore this book. Here I offer to share my thoughts about Going Postal in a book review.

Synopsis:

Albert Spangler was a con-man who excelled at cheating money out of not so honest people. Mr. Spangler's criminal career finally came to an end, when he was arrested at Ankh Morpork, the largest city on Discworld, and subsequently sentenced to be hanged.

On the day of his execution Albert stepped onto the gallows with a noose around his neck. When the executioner pulled the lever and dropped him, Albert's feet dangled in mid air while the damning rope tightened around his neck, then all went black and Albert thought he was done for.

Moments later, Albert woke up in confusion and found Lord Vetinari, the supreme ruler of Ankh Morpork, grinning at him. Vetinari explained to Albert that he was (literally) only hanged to within an inch of his life. Vetinari made Albert two offers: 1) Taking a government job as the post master, or 2) Continue his journey to the afterlife. Albert Spangler considered the circumstances and decided 1) was an offer he could not refuse. So just like that, a con-man was given a 2^nd chance at life as the post master. From that day and onward, Albert Spangler died and Moist Von Lipwig was born.

Mr. Lipwig ventured into his new life as the post master. He arrived at Ankh Morpork post office only to discover a run-down, shadow haunted building piled with mountains of undelivered letters. In the failing building's corner sat a few old, creaky postmen accompanied by an unstable apprentice obsessed with collecting pins. Worse still, the post office also has to compete against a greedy, money-hungry corporation known as Grand Trunk Clacks, whose clacks towers can sent (almost) instant messages.

Facing these insurmountable challenges, Mr. Lipwig sits in his new office clutching his aching head in both hands. Moist Von Lipwig's new adventure going into the postal business is making him going postal. In his distress, Mr. Lipwig realized why the patrician hired him for the job. You see, only a master con-man with every trick in his sleeve can get this declining enterprise of postal service up and running again. The question is, can Mr. Lipwig succeed?

My thoughts about this book:

Going Postal is the 33^rd book in Discworld series. This book belongs to the “Industrial Revolution” series in Discworld. The story is set in the metropolitan city of Ankh Morpork, a fictional city resembling Victorian London and brought to life by Terry Pratchett's vivid, descriptive writing. When I was reading this book, I felt as if I was exploring the cobble-stoned streets of Ankh Morpork, seeing its labyrinthine buildings and hearing the city's buzzing activities all round me. Terry Pratchett's superb writing transported me to the magical land of Discworld and it was an exhilarating ride.

Going Postal is a fast paced book. The story is gripping and full of humor. Who'd thought a story about the postal service could be so exciting and fun? Terry Pratchett has this amazing ability to spin wonderful tales out of common, day-to-day items. This use of “ordinary things in life” adds a sense of randomness to Discworld novels and it fits appropriately into the satirical nature of these books, shrouding the stories in the atmosphere of eccentricity and humor, while allowing readers to relate to these books easily.

The same can be said about Terry Pratchett's choice of characters. In Discworld books, heroes are not powerful warriors, wizards or chosen ones with great destinies (though he did satirize these fantasy archetypes in many Discworld books). Instead, Terry Prachett's heroes are common people; from humble watchmen, cowardly wizards, a school teacher and witches. In the case of Going Postal, the hero of the story is Moist Von Lipwig, a con-man who was given a 2^nd chance at life and using his talents to benefit the society.

I like Moist Von Lipwig in this book. He is a very likable character and I think Terry Pratchett did an excellent job at weaving the theme of redemption into Moist's story. Furthermore, Moist also has an interesting relationship with Lord Vetinari, his employer and the patrician of Ankh Morpork. Speaking of Lord Vetinari, I think he is one of the most interesting characters in Discworld. At the first glance this character, often dressed in black, appeared to be a villain because he was labeled a “tyrant”. However, as the story unfolded I found Vetinari an intriguing and complex character whose motivation is to bring the greater goods for Ankh Morpork. Going Postal also features a cast of supporting characters. These characters are eccentric and they added tons of laughter to the story.

The villain in Going Postal is Reacher Gilt, an one-eyed, business tycoon who bought Grand Trunk Clacks and ran it with an iron fist. Both Reacher Gilt and Grand Trunk Clacks played vital roles to set up the themes for this book. Grand Trunk Clacks represents the theme of advancing technology. In this story, Grand Trunk Clacks is a company who sold instant messaging technology as a service to the denizens of Discworld. This put Grand Trunk Clacks in direct competition against the traditional postal service. In other words, Going Postal is a story about “changes”. However, while this story explores the theme of “changes”, but I do not think this story is about traditions replaced by progress. Instead, I think the moral of the story is that advancements and traditions don't need to be enemies, they can work together to benefit our society and bringing greater goods.

On the other hand, Reacher Gilt, the villain of the story, represents the theme of corporate greed and take over. In the story, Reacher Gilt and his board members seek to increase their company's profit margin. They achieved this by making staffs redundant, therefore increasing the workloads of the remaining employees (but obviously without pay-rises). To further increase the company's profit, Gilt and his board members also reduced the maintenance costs for these clacks towers. (If you find these cost-cutting strategies sounding familiar then you are not the only one). The result? Gilt put his employees in toxic work environment and clacks towers broken down all the time. I deeply resonated with this theme and it really hit home for me. Terry Pratchett is spot on about the problems of corporate greed. I am so glad Terry Pratchett wrote a satirical fantasy novel where he tackled the problem of corporate greed. I happily say Terry Pratchett speaks for me and this is why I love Discworld novels. There are many wrong things in this world, but some people twist wrong into right using clever words, sophistry, power and influence. Ordinary people are often powerless to do anything about it. At times, the only way to show how wrong these things are is to ridicule them, and no one does this better than Terry Pratchett, who wrote masterful satires.

One year ago I discovered the magic of Discworld when I read Small Gods. My past life experience led me to resonate with the theme in Small Gods in a deep, profound way. Since then, I have read a dozen Discworld books and I liked all of them. For me, Going Postal is another Discworld book whose themes really struck home. This book is funny, it made me laugh from page one to the last. Going Postal's story is also meaningful, it explores important topics in our society, topics that beg for our attentions and discussions. I highly recommend Going Postal to both fans and newcomers to Discworld.