{"id":4246,"date":"2017-07-04T05:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4246"},"modified":"2017-07-02T10:30:33","modified_gmt":"2017-07-02T17:30:33","slug":"mark-reads-the-truth-part-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/07\/mark-reads-the-truth-part-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Truth’: Part 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighteenth part of The Truth<\/i>, sometimes, you have to go against your nature. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>. <\/p>\n

Oh, this book<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The Aftermath<\/b><\/p>\n

Bravo to Dragon Elexus, Arthur, and rukbat3 again<\/i> for the brilliant way these sections have been split. I loved that I was dropped into the immediate aftermath of Mr. Pin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. This whole sequence is written with a frantic energy, one which speaks to the energy of this situation. William knows that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on to something once so many details\/clues drop into his lap. The main impetus for that was Mr. Pin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dis-organizer, which ironically didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help Mr. Pin escape but rather exposed this entire conspiracy to the one person who was willing to blow it wide open. Pratchett doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore the cost of this intensity, however, and it leads to one of my favorite moments in this whole dang project.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get there in a bit. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to be satisfied with here, from Goodmountain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s realization that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just coincidentally stumbled onto a revenue source, to Sacharissa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revenge on her childhood \u00e2\u20ac\u0153friend,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to William finally coming into his own as a reporter. This all unfolds as the group pieces together the majority of the conspiracy, too! So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all very overwhelming for the reader, too, and I love that. BRAVO.<\/p>\n

Somehow, the book isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even over either. Lord.<\/p>\n

The Inquirer<\/b><\/p>\n

But there are a lot of pieces here I want to discuss. Let me start with Sacharissa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confrontation of Mr. Carney. In terms of antagonists, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty far down the ladder in terms of importance in The Truth<\/i>. Still, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s immensely unlikable, and his rapport and history with Sacharissa leaves a lot<\/i> to be desired. He is obviously<\/i> overjoyed with the idea that he can rub Sacharissa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure in her face, and the fact that William will have to watch it and<\/i> accept it? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the cherry on top. Indeed, Pratchett writers Carney with a vicious joy, so, like any good antagonist, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of fun to be had in watching Carney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intentions backfire on him completely. Admittedly, I thought that Sacharissa and William were merely distracting Carney so that the dwarves could steal the printing press belonging to The Inquirer<\/i>. What actually<\/i> unfolds is way more satisfying, though, because Sacharissa gets to embarrass Carney while proving that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153silly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d girl he thought she was. Plus, they pay their entry fee to the Guild! EVERYONE WINS. Except the losers, of course.<\/p>\n

Composition<\/b><\/p>\n

I was also thrilled by the section where William wrote the article that is most likely going to change his life forever. Just as a writer, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to see someone at work like this, especially since the team edits it IN REAL TIME. It reminded me of my time as a journalist back in high school and college. There was a time when I really wanted to work for a major paper, so this kind of creative energy is infectious to me. I LOVE IT. This article feels like it might be the thing that catches on in Ankh-Morpork, and William has a knack for the drama<\/i> of journalism. A part of me is still nervous because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, what if no one reads it? What if that Ankh-Morpork logic settles in and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just dismissed?<\/p>\n

The Shock<\/b><\/p>\n

I mentioned the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cost\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of this story earlier, and I do believe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the best part of this whole story. I was<\/i> curious as to how William would react to discovering that his father was most certainly involved in this conspiracy to depose Vetinari. I get why he balked at actually naming the conspirators or their leader in the paper, though I believe this oncoming confrontation is a bad, bad idea.<\/p>\n

However, what I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect was the amount of introspection that we got from William. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partly because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so rare<\/i> for people who come from such immense privilege as William does to look within themselves, to examine their lives for complicity and inactivity. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much more comfortable to shield one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s self from this act rather than make the effort to say what William does here. I should note that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just say<\/i> he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s privileged, either. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not enough. The Times<\/i> has become more than just an attempt to tell the truth; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now an active force against the very people who tried to steal away the government in Ankh-Morpork.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also William\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apology. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also his means of saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jesus, I lived a fucked up<\/i> life, and I am doing the work to reject as much of it as I can.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That life \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one of privilege where people believe that they are not subject to the rules and regulations of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ordinary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is much further away for William than it used to be. Is it completely gone? No. William will have to continually<\/i> work his entire life to make sure he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t slip back into the de Worde tradition, as he puts it.<\/p>\n

Nature<\/b><\/p>\n

Which is why the message here struck me so hard. As I said on video, I had not realized just how much of this book deals with people fighting against their nature. This long section covered William\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle with his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nature,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which was the privilege he received as a de Worde. But Otto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been fighting against his<\/i> nature, too, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stunning second scene with Mr. Tulip and Death that suggests that even someone as horrible as Mr. Tulip has the capacity to resist who he once was. (Again, Pratchett doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let Tulip off the hook for what he did. On top of that, Pin gets a rather brutal comeuppance, too!) There are personal truths that are obstacles, too, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so blown away that this book addresses that so fully.<\/p>\n

I REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK AND I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M NOT EVEN DONE WITH IT.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/Gof3CyXdsxw?a<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Please visit my new site for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"