Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

I think this week I'm doing a digital detox. Which will be a mystifying experience as I work online...but I'm staying off other than strictly work. I've told all my friends but I doubt it will last beyond a few days because of the election and other stuff. I'm going to give it a go though. 

Go vote if you haven't already! If you're in the USA. Or can vote. You know. 

On to the book! I feel this isn't quite fair because I adore Terry Pratchett so I'm really only going to say positive things here. It's not my favorite Pratchett book (that's Wyrd Sisters). I think there's several ways to read Terry Pratchett's discworld books, by publication or characters or themes. Here are two websites that give multiple options: Discworld Emporium and Terry Pratchett Books. I would suggest thematically but to be honest, I'm just picking a book up by random and reading it. 

Some of Pratchett's books have been turned into movies. I've only seen one (and thought it was fun) but Going Postal has been turned into a movie so it's on my list!

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Title: Going Postal
Author: Terry Pratchett
Page Number: 409 (paperback). It's really 394 with an excerpt of Thud!
Genre: fiction, fantasy, humor
Publisher: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins
Year: 2004

Arch-swindler Moist Van Lipwig never believed his confidence crimes were hanging offenses - until he found himself with a noose tightly around his neck, dropping through a trapdoor, and falling into...a government job?

By all rights, Moist should have met his maker. Instead, it's Lord Vetinari, supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, who promptly offers him a job as Postmaster. Since his only other option is a nonliving one, Moist accepts the position - and the hulking golem watchdog who comes along with it, just in case Moist was considering abandoning his responsibilities prematurely.

Getting the moribund Postal Service up and running again, however, may be a near-impossible task, what with literally mountains of decades-old undelivered mail clogging every nook and cranny of the broken-down post office building; and with only a few creaky old postmen and one rather unstable, pin-obsessed youth available to deliver it. Worse still, Moist could swear the mail is talking to him. Worst of all, it means taking on the gargantuan, money-hungry Grand Trunk clacks communication monopoly and its bloodthirsty piratical head, Mr. Reacher Gilt.

But it says on the building Neither Rain Nor Snow Nor Glom of Nit...Inspiring words (admittedly, some of the bronze letters have been stolen), and for once in his wretched life Moist is going to fight. And if the bold and impossible are what's called for, he'll do it - in order to move the mail, continue breathing, get the girl, and specially deliver that invaluable commodity that every human being (not to mention troll, dwarf, and, yes, even golem) requires: hope.

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This is a story of a redemption of a greedy man. That's at the heart of it. There's more than that of course. We start with our main character, Moist von Lipwig. If you have an aversion to the name Moist, this is going to be a rough book. 

Moist von Lipwig (MvL) is a swindler extraordinaire. At the start of the book he is sentenced to death in the Ankh-Morpork (a big city in Discworld) prison for his many varied crimes. 

He is rescued from certain death by the supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Vetinari. Vetinari is a reoccurring character. He's Machiavellian, clever, and I quite like him. 

Lord Vetinari gives him a choice: death (like what was going to happen to him) or the chance to run the Post-Office as the new Postmaster. The mail system is decrepit and most of the mail hasn't been delivered in decades. MvL decides that running the Post Office is better than death, plus it will give him a chance to escape. 

Lord Vetinari has realised this possibility and assigned a Golem to MvL. A Golem (in this case, Mr. Pump) is a guard that never sleeps, never tires, and can shadow MvL and prevent his escape. If MvL does well with the Post Office, the Golem can assist. 

At the Post Office, MvL meets his two co-workers. One is the Junior Postman (an elderly man who longs for promotion) and the Apprentice Postman (who is obsessed with collecting pins, reminiscent of those who would collect stamps). He also finds out that all of his predecessors have all died unnatural and premature deaths. 

We also learn more about the direct competitor to the Post Office, The Grand Trunk Semaphore Company. Which has a monopoly on the area. 

MvL realises he's going to need more help and reaches out to Adora Bella Dearheart, in hopes of hiring more workers to compete with The Grand Trunk Semaphore Company. 

My favorite aspect of the book were the characters. I ended up loving MvL and his co-workers. He turns (mostly) good by the end and gives up a life of crime. I think the book was more of a satire than a look at human folly or city's politics. MvL makes appearances in other books so there's time for his character to evolve. 

This wasn't my favorite Discworld book, my only complaint was that it wasn't as tight as I would have liked. There's a lot of extraneous details that do take the story into fun places but I would have cut as an editor. Granted, Terry Pratchett knew what he was doing. 

This wasn't as "zany" and comedic as some of his other books, but I still laughed through parts of it. It was an overall fun read. 

MvL is a total conman that cons himself into doing the right thing. Surprising himself and probably everyone else (including the reader) but not really Lord Vetinari . 

I gave this around 4 or 4.5 stars (I actually wrote 8/10 which is...not helpful).  

There has been a movie created on this story. I have not seen it, but I did see one that featured Death standing in for the Hogfather (this makes sense in Discworld only...). Richard Coyle plays MvL in this. Coyle was in Coupling (which I adored) and also plays in the new Sabrina. He's pretty fun to watch so I'm thinking this will be good on that alone. Claire Foy plays Adore Dearheart as well. Well, the cast is really fun to be honest. David Suchet and Charles Dance are also in this. Terry Pratchett also makes an appearance as a postman in this movie, which is totally fun. It was produced by Sky 1  (which I think did the other two movies). I believe they're on Acorn, which I have a subscription to, but they might be somewhere else as well. I did find it on Youtube...so uh...yo ho and shiver me timbers.