Pratchett, Terry - Night Watch

[oyceter]

I skipped the other Watch books between Feet of Clay (partially read) and this one, largely because the Watch kind of annoys me. Don't get me wrong; I love Vimes. But Carrot doesn't interest me much, and Pratchett seems to use the Watch books to get in messages about sexism and racism that are well-meaning but do not take power differentials and institutional oppression into account.

Night Watch is more about rebellions, revolutions, and Les Miserables, only with time travel, cynicism, and a central tragedy that may or may not reoccur. And that tragedy is all the more effective because the men who die are not idealistic students. But mostly, it's got Vimes being Vimes, and I especially loved all the scenes in which he's trying to do the right thing by his younger self.

Also, getting glimpses of a younger, non-Patrician Vetinari is priceless.

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this; I like it a lot, and it affected me emotionally. But on the other hand, I'm not entirely sure if I agree with what Pratchett is saying, as is the case with some of his other books. In the end, his overarching humanism wins me over, even as I can't help but feel that there are some missing pieces of the puzzle.

Comments

[evilprodigy.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, what parts of Night Watch's message did you take issue with? I utterly loved the book when I read it, and there are still passages I'd quote in terms of how much I love it, but it's been a long while and I've since gained a (in my opinion) better understanding of some of the issues involved than I used to have.

[oyceter]

Ack, this is the problem with being hugely behind on comments! Now my memory is all fuzzy.

It's partly some of Pratchett's commentary on democracy in the Witches books and some of the other Watch books; something about how people don't really want choice, they want someone to dictate stuff (a la Verence's general failure to get "progressive" ideas off the ground and Vetinari's long-lived-ness). And how Vetinari is somehow better than the dictator they're overthrowing, which, yes, maybe in Discworld, but in the real world, I am not so sure about that.

And there are just some bits about the futility of revolution, and I am not sure if it is Vimes or Pratchett. I am not altogether convinced of the effectiveness of revolution all the time, but on the other hand, I am fairly firmly convinced that our general world order needs to be fixed quite a bit. Discworld is much less hairy than the real world (especially since Pratchett tends to ignore institutional injustice, which is probably why I have such a HUGE argument with his general acceptance of Vetinari's rule over Ankh-Morpork), but that is why I keep reading... the rules work in Discworld, but I don't think they work very well outside of it.