This is another book in the discworld series. I enjoyed the last one I read, and there are a lot of discworld books at the foreign bookstores and book exchanges in Japan, so I decided to pick up another one.
As I mentioned in my review of “Going Postal”, a friend told me that some of the discworld series are better than others. I’m assuming “Monstrous Regiment” is one of the better books. It wasn’t just a funny read; there was actually a lot of relevant satire to today’s world.
I’d like to think that’s my opinion, and that I wasn’t influenced by the critics, although I do have to admit I was impressed by the quotes on the inside jacket (even though I know you can’t always trust those things, but…)
“An extended morality tale, on the subjects of pacifism, intolerance and gender, gathered together into a military adventure. It is how John Lennon would write a Sharpe novel if Bernard Cornwell left him to it…A great piece of writing akin to Jonathon Swift”--- Daily Express
“A fantasist who loves naff humour and silly names, and yet whose absurd world is, at heart, a serious portrait of the jingoistic fears that keep us at each other’s throats.”---The Times
et cetera
The book touches on a lot of themes: gender discrimination, religious fundamentalism, and patriotism being the big three.
Fantasy is obviously a great medium to do satire in, although at times it has its limits, and Pratchett seems to be stretching up against them at times. The story is loosely modeled on the Napoleon wars, and yet the fantasy world it is set in is one of swords and sandals, not guns and rifles. Pratchett substitutes the crossbow and catapults for guns and cannons, but you can feel him stretching sometimes.
Also, there is the question of how relevant an anti-war story modeled on the Napoleon wars is to today’s world. And yet certain passages seemed to me to be very dead on. For instance, this passage as the main character Polly reflects on the continual state of warfare.
“There was always a war. Usually it was a border dispute, the national equivalent of complaining that the neighbor was letting his hedge grow too long. Sometimes it was bigger. Borogravia was a peace-loving country in the midst of treacherous, devious, warlike enemies. They had to be treacherous, devious, and warlike, otherwise we wouldn’t be fighting with them, eh? There was always a war.”
Or this conversation among the soldiers:
“And what you’ve got there, my friend, is patriotism. My country, right or wrong.”
“You should love your country,” said Shufti.
“Okay, what part?” the voice of Tonker demanded, from the far corner of the tent. “The morning sunlight on the mountains? The horrible food? The damn mad Abominations? All of my country except whatever bit Strappi is standing on?”
“But we’re at war!”
“Yes, that’s where they’ve got you,” sighed Polly.
“Well, I’m not buying into it. It’s all trickery. They keep you down and when they piss off some other country, you have to fight for them! It’s only your country when they want you to get killed!” said Tonker.
A lot of this is borrowed/ plagiarized from the conversations of soldiers in “All Quiet on the Western Front”. But I don’t think Remarque would mind.
Link of the Day
(via Bierma's Blog)Death Row Prisons: Protecting the Sanctity of Life
Anticipating a possible replay of his September heart attack, [76-year-old death row inmate Clarence] Allen had asked prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, a request prison officials said they would not honor.
"At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life," said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon. "We would resuscitate him."
Video Version
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