Pratchett, Terry - Wyrd Sisters

[oyceter]

Something not about racism so my brain doesn't explode (even more, that is)!

I think I've actually read this one before, since I own it and vaguely remember reading it (by itself, the owning doesn't say much, given how many unread books I have....).

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat, three witches in a coven (they're just testing it out), somehow managed to get tangled up in the murder of the king of Lancre and the eventual attempts to restore the kingdom to its rightful heir. I had a lot of fun with all the Shakespeare references, even though I'm sure I missed a ton.

And I think I'm getting more used to Pratchett's voice -- I can tell more easily when I'm supposed to take something seriously as opposed to just mocking it, or, more often, when he's making a serious point disguised in his insane metaphors. I feel a bit like a dunce in humor, because usually it takes me a couple reads or watches to actually grok how something is supposed to be funny (or not).

So yes, I enjoyed the crazy language, Granny Weatherwax's peculiar brand of witchcraft, and the general capers that went on, even as I felt sorry for the Fool and both rolled my eyes at and symapthized with Magrat. I'm particularly impressed with the character of Magrat, who could so easily have been a one-note joke, but is instead a real person under all the funny prose.

Comments

[slrose.livejournal.com]

If you want to find some of the references you missed, The Annotated Pratchett Files at www.lspace.org are useful.

Witches Abroad is the next book in that sub-series.

[oyceter]

Oh, cool, thanks for the link!

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Do Witches Abroad next!
It's all about fairy tales, and there's even a brief 'Dracula' parody.

[oyceter]

Fairy tales!!! Awesome!

Must go find it at the library.

[kate_nepveu]

When you get to _Lords and Ladies_ (after _Witches Abroad_), I predict you will particularly like Magrat's role.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I was going to comment and say that exact thing. Clearly, the people have spoken.

[oyceter]

Yay! And that's one that I actually own!

[chomiji]

>> ... but is instead a real person under all the funny prose. <<

I find this to be true of much of Pratchett, especially as he matures as a writer. It's very endearing (to me, anyway) - yes, weird and geeky people are indeed weird and geeky, but they are very human. And in a Pratchett story, especially the later ones, the oddballs are the ones who have what it takes to save the day.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I think that's what caught me a little off guard when I was first reading; I couldn't tell how much I was supposed to be laughing at people instead of with them. Now that that's clearer, it's a lot easier to enjoy his stuff.

[chomiji]

He's a geeky sort of chap himself (see picture) and apparently very much likes his geekster fans, rather as Neil Gaiman does. I think his sympathies lie with anyone who's authentically themselves. Thus he twits Magrat via his writing when she's doing something silly she thinks she ought to be doing because she read it somewhere or someone told her to do it that way, but not when she's doing something for her own reasons. (I hope that made sense ... .)

[oyceter]

That makes me like him so much more! Because I love Magrat's earnestness, even if it leads her to bad silver jewelry, and I felt bad about Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg sort of teasing her for her earnestness. But yes, it makes sense, and I can see that in the book, particularly with that scene with the door sprouting.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I love the Pratchett witches books. I first read Witches Abroad years ago and it sold me on Pratchett. Things I adore about him include the fact that he keeps improving (with a few rare exceptions), which certainly isn't true of all writers, and his humor is rarely mean (except toward people who deserve it). When he introduced Agnes as a character, I was really worried -- so many humorists who are otherwise perfectly lovely cannot restrain themselves from being mean about fat people, and fat women in particular. But Pratchett has done some really wondrous things with Agnes, while pointing out fatphobia as he goes.

The Witches books are full of win. It took me a while longer to be sold on the Guards books. I've never managed to feel sold on the Rincewind books.

[oyceter]

Oh, that is good to hear about Agnes!

[genarti]

I love Magrat. Because, yes, she's soppy and frilly and ridiculous -- but she's a real person at least as much as a caricature, and you find yourself caring about her instead of just laughing at whatever silliness she's embraced now. (And once in a while, the silliness is right, or at least part-right.)

That's one thing I think Terry Pratchett does really well, very often, is taking joke characters and making them human. Oh, the joke stays, but it turns into affectionate facepalming at a friend rather than just laughing at the Comic Relief Character.

[oyceter]

Yes! I cheered for her when she got the door to sprout! And for her role in the ending.

it also helps if you know the subgenre's he's winking at

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

So there's a lot of teasing of the magick tradition as it exists in the US and UK, and the pomposity you get with some of the neo-Blavatsky sort, contrasted with the intense pragmatism of Granny and Nanny (and Magrat and Agnes torn both ways, tempted to become New Agey Goth-Lite witches because it seems "cooler" than sensible-shoes & headology). They also get contrasted with the macho academia and not-always-practical-mindedness of the University Wizards, another band of recurring characters, who are getting gradually reformed out of their Oxbridge sexism (and disdain for all change) but not without great humour (the UU bits are ROFL funny to anyone with any academic background.) The Watch books (my personal favorites) are spoofs of the noir and cop genres, carried to their logical fantasy conclusions; the Death books start out from the beloved old premise of "Death Takes A Holiday" and carry on with abandon from there; and then there are sub-spoofs within the grand spoofery as with Moving Pictures, which is basically an Unseen University book, but it's also a surrealist take on Old Hollywood which manages to capture both the flavor of those crazy years (I read a great deal of early moviemaking stuff in hs) and also the deranged process as it still exists, q.v. Terry Gillam's experiences...

The snark-at-everybody, banana peels for all! tone, including the heroes, is a bit jarring at first, but it keeps it from getting too saccharine and moralizing - and too intense. There are a lot less banana peels and snark in Night Watch as compared to the in-principle-equally-dark Guards!Guards and it's almost *too* dark for Discworld, altho' contrarily it's one of my favorite books around...

Re: it also helps if you know the subgenre's he's winking at

[oyceter]

Oh, cool, thanks for the background! I usually miss a ton of cultural references, so that's helpful.

I'm really looking forward to getting to the Guards books; everyone so far has been recommending them highly.

[fialka.livejournal.com]

What they all said. And when you're done with all the Witches, try Mort (that was the first one I read -- instalove). The tagline is "Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job."

Now how could that go wrong :)

[oyceter]

I actually reread Mort some time last week! I love Death so much.