In the second half of the first chapter of Going Postal<\/i>, I was not ready for this. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I love that I am now on to my thirty-third book in this series, and Pratchett STILL has surprises for me. The opening of this book is a shocker (though very<\/i> in-character for Vetinari), but not just because the main character \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly an unexpected thing, but the very character of Moist von Lipwig feels so unlike the characters we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten before.<\/p>\n
He is a pragmatist; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cynical; his view of humanity is not hopeful or kind, but a product of his self-interest. And while we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite know what it was that he did to land in jail and get executed\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI assume it has to do with the $150,000 he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got hiding somewhere. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thing: that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only part of a long, long line of fraud. Because Moist von Lipwig is a professional con man, and he has spent his entire life screwing people over. So, at the start of this, he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly a likable character. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that is something to judge the value of a book, either, because I love<\/i> unlikable characters. I like messiness and honesty and complexity. And Moist, after being saved by Vetinari, is still GLORIOUSLY messy. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t waste any time IMMEDIATELY betraying the second chance he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given.<\/p>\n
Of course, the question of WHY hangs over all of this. Why the hell does Lord Vetinari believe that of all people, professional conman and thief Moist von Lipwig is the best person for refurbishing the Ankh-Morpork post office? I mentioned on video that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know<\/i> there was postal service in the city, at least not in an organized sense. Now, Vetinari is usually ahead of the curve in terms of how Ankh-Morpork changes, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s likely a very important reason why this needs to happen now. Thus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a stretch that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some value he sees in Moist that he wants to be applied in this specific instance.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But a post office<\/i>? Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you want someone trustworthy? Honest? Deeply organized? Appreciative of the civic value of the postal service? Instead, this<\/i> is who he chose?<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Er… when you… sentenced … Alfred Spangler\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well done. Do carry on.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u201dyou said he was a natural-born criminal, a fraudster by vocation, a habitual liar, a perverted genius, and totally untrustworthy!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something there, right? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to be!<\/p>\n But Pratchett doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this easy. After being saved from a hanging, Moist is offered a job, set free, told to be at the Post Office in ten minutes to meet his parole officer, and he… well. I guess I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not surprised, given what little I know about him? Because he flees. And why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he? Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a man who has always<\/i> run away from his problems, who has used his plainness as a person to blend in, who charms people out of their belongings and money, who knows how to escape better than anyone else. (Though perhaps he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d find some kinship in Rincewind, who is also rather thrilled about the idea of just running away.) Running away is second nature. Running away makes sense. Running away is far more comfortable than staying, and I got the sense that Moist has never, ever<\/i> held himself accountable for anything he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ever done. Hell, even as he approached the gallows, he still thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be saved, that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be able to dodge that<\/i> consequence as well!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Well, Moist gets a wake-up call in the town of Hapley, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s both literal and figurative, and it comes from Mr. Pump, his parole officer. WHO IS A GOLEM. (And I must say it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really cool that Pratchett has Vetinari firmly scold Moist more than once about Mr. Pump\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pronouns!) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a funny scene both in its absurdity\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe reader and<\/i> Moist don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know who is chasing them, who clamped his horse, how he was found\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weirdly satisfying. Oh, you thought you could get away from Lord Vetinari? Sir. SIR. That just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen. Vetinari only lets<\/i> people escape, and that is ultimately part of his plan, too.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I have a theory about that, though. I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a chance that Mr. Pump can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> actually harm Moist, but rather, Vetinari and Mr. Pump are just leveraging the potential<\/i> of harm. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible that Vetinari has changed the rules and used a scroll to grant Mr. Pump the moral permission to hurt Moist as needed, but I suspect it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually gonna happen.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So this is Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice: he can remain in Ankh-Morpork and take the opportunity given to him by Lord Vetinari, or he can choose Mr. Pump, an eternal chase across the Disc that Mr. Pump will never<\/i> tire from. The better option seems obvious to me, but I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out why Moist is so suited for this!<\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/2gaDw1w2-KQ<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the second half of the first chapter of Going Postal, I was not ready for this. Intrigued? 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