The book.. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett.

Not all of us in the group had ever been drawn to read Terry Pratchett as he seems to write in such a specific way. However Kath, a very welcome newcomer to the group, made such a compelling case that we all voted this as the first book to kick off 2016. This novel forms part of the Discworld series, but also stands alone as quite separate to anything else he wrote. There are at least 3 layers to this book. He uses the sci-fi world to mirror our society and each book is a social commentary.

We loved… – That it was a standalone book in a large series. – How he allows his characters to change to suit the particular novel in the series. – Kath’s reading out of the chocolate sauce passage – Anne’s mask which we all had the joy of wearing – How Judy J said it didn’t make her laugh once, just before she burst into laughter re-reading one of his paragraphs.

We didn’t love… Some of us debated the quality of ‘fantasy’ as a genre, with a few thinking that it is just an easy way to say anything you want to.

We agreed… …that his similes were astounding and that the work needs to be read aloud to be fully appreciated. …that his female characters tend to be more rounded as a whole, than the male. They don’t back away from difficult situations. Whereas the men all seem to have some sort of weakness. …that there is something intrinsically English about Terry Pratchett.

We discussed… …how he didn’t want his books to be made into films. Perhaps the changing characters would not work so well in films. …how Tony Robinson is by far the best narrator to listen to if you want to listen to the audio version. …how Pratchett enjoyed talking to people and that there is a gentle yet deflating way about how he satirises something or someone. … the rumour that this book was written as a dig at his previous agents about fraud, because he changed agents straight after this book. …the very serious couple of pages around chapter 5/6 which looks at a cow and baby’s death which could be interpreted to be about his own child.

We disagreed… …about whether his writing made us laugh out loud or not. …and some thought that this was perhaps his weakest novel in the series because it was more domestic than others. Some of his other novels tackle politics and larger questions. The book chooser pointed out that this tackles the subject of equal rights. It is believed to have been written in response to Pratchett’s daughter being bullied. She was very into her gaming but this was considered to be something that girl’s just didn’t do. So he wrote this book.

We digressed…. ..and considered whether there were any strong female characters in Lord of the Rings.

Reviewed by: Zuhal, Chris A, Judy D, Anne, Drew, Paul, Karen, Julie, Chris G, Judy J, JB, Kath, and me.

Next month… Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – White Hart, Llangybi, last Weds In Feb, 2016, 7:30pm.