Guards! Guards!

[fajrdrako]

Today I finished listening to Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, while doing exercises. Then I listened to a good part of it again, while cooking. Then I listened to it as an audio-play, thanks to a tip by filkferengi.

Loved it - Pratchett just gets better and better as I continue. I hadn't read any of the City Guard books before, but I knew from friends that Vimes was worth reading about.

Observations:

1. It made me cry several times, but the best time was near the end, when Carrot was writing home to his mother, and said, "I think this is like happiness."
   
   
2. Loved the scene where Vimes faces the attacking mob with Errol: "Do you feel lucky?"
   
   
3. I was sure either Carrot or Vimes was the real heir of the kings.
   
   
4. Loved the Patrician and the Librarian. How is it that Pratchett's best characters are the most ruthless ones?
   
   
5. On the other hand, I loved Lady Sybil too, and she wasn't ruthless. She was sweet. I used to know a woman just like her. (Only without the dragons.)
   
   
6. I thought there was something weird about the scenes with the Dragon who became King. It wasn't till I got to the end, I realized it was because Pratchett was avoiding using a pronoun in reference to the King. I think. Don't have the written text to check.
   
   
7. I loved it whenever Vimes said, "Not in my city."
   
   
8. The story, and the character of Vimes, is exactly what I most love in a story: the down-and-outer who becomes heroic, but who never considers himself a hero. The sense of team- and family-building is a good part of it, too. (Other examples: Captain Jack Harkness, Francis Crawford, Sydney Carton. In a skewed sort of way, the Doctor fits the pattern, too.)
   
   
9. But the best thing, the very best thing of all, was a bit of word-play that encapsulated the whole plot and theme. When we first meet drunken Vimes, he's thinking, "The city is a woman." When we get to the end of the story, he looks at Lady Sybil and thinks, "This woman is a city." Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, bringing it all to a sort of inverted full circle, thematically and emotionally for Vimes.

Eager now for the next book. Bring 'em on.

Comments

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Sounds fascinating - you're making me want to read Pratchett! I read The Colour of Magic some time ago and was most unimpressed. Then I somehow got a free copy of Nightwatch, which I liked quite a lot, in spite of not knowing the background. I liked Vimes in that. So maybe I should read some more... The problem is that I don't think I know anyone who could lend them to me. The library is a lost cause, and they're not high enough on my wishlist to justify buying them just so I can try them. *sigh*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was not impressed with The Colour of Magic either, but by the time I got to Wyrd Sisters I was hooked. It's not Pratchett's humour that gets to me (though sometimes it does!) - I tend to think of his books as bittersweet rather than funny. It's the way he views people and his general philosophy of life. And his footnotes.

And besides, he's one of that handful of writers who can and does make me cry.

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

I'd heard that The Colour of Magic was not one of his best and that the later ones are much better. That seems to be the case!

I'll have to look out for them second-hand so that I can read more about Vimes. I really did like him.

Making you cry is a recommendation. ;)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I didn't think The Colour of Magic had much to recommend it, and I don't find Rincewind very intersting compared to most of Terry Pratchett's other protagonists, including the one-off characters. And even minor characters.

I plan to do a posting at some point about who and what makes me cry - certain authors and singers or songs. Not necessarily my favourites, but always stuff I love. It doesn't happen very often, but Terry Pratchett can do it, even in the middle of a joke.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Another Terry Pratchett comment: You know how they say that in fiction, villains are more interesting than good guys and good people are very, very had to write? Probably true. Terry Pratchett is one of those rare souls who can write truly good characters without simplifying them or being condescending or making them uninteresting. Generally they don't think they are good - they may be total fuck-ups in their own eyes - but they're so real you feel as if you know them.

(The fuck-up comment was half-remembering a line in Guards! Guards! in which Lady Sybil tells Nobby to 'buck up' and he reflects that he's usually a few letters further down the alphabet.)

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

he reflects that he's usually a few letters further down the alphabet.

Good one. *g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Made me laugh.

[ceindreadh.livejournal.com]

while it's always good to read books in sequence, in the case of the Discworld, I'd reccommend starting with Mort (book 4).
I think that it took a few books for Pratchett to really get the right feel for the Discworld.
The only problem with skipping The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic, is that then you have no idea who Rincewind is when you get to Sourcery.

But it's sooo worth reading them. (hmm, I think it's about time I gathered up my collection and had a re-read!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I find that when Pratchett is good, he's magnificent. When he falls flat, well... there's no hope for it. So some books are significantly better than others: I can't think of many other writers who have such a range of quality.

But the good books are utterly magnificent.

I can't recall whether I've read Sourcery; I think I did. I certainly read Mort, but I never found Rincewind very interesting. I was quite charmed by Granny Weatherwax.

Even more so, now, by Vimes.

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Should I ever get access to the books, I'll keep your advice re. sequence in mind!

I don't think you're close enough location-wise for a request to borrow them to be either feasible or practicable. No one is. So sad.

I suppose I could ask fajrdrako to share the audio versions, but I'm not really into audiobooks.

Maybe I'll come across them second-hand. Or inherit a fortune and be able to splurge happily on whatever I want. I'd then need a bigger house - but the fortune would no doubt cover that. *g*

[ceindreadh.livejournal.com]

Good luck with finding second hand versions! In all my years as a browser of second hand bookshops, I have rarely come across Discworld books. Guess it's a testament to their popularity that so few people sell them on.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that Terry Pratchett rarely turns up in second-hand bookshops. It's a pity, because I've been looking for him. But it's one of those things... those who like his books, keep them.