In the wacky fantasy city of Ankh-Morpork, Moist von Lipwig is the best swindler in town, until he's caught and condemned to death for a life of crime. But the local tyrant, Lord Vetinari, has other plans: he fakes the hanging of von Lipwig's alter ego in order to appoint the arch-fraud as the city's new postmaster. He even assigns him an unstoppable golem as probation officer, in case Moist has any plans of escaping. The Post Office is obsolete, having long been outstripped by a privately-owned network of signal messages, whose monopoly is beginning to frustrate the city. Armed only with his talent for fooling people, Moist decides to give the corporate pirates (whose chairman is an actual pirate) a run for their money in order to see who is better at conning the city.
This is about the sixth Terry Pratchett book I've read. So far, it's the least humorous, but it's also got the best plot. Go figure. It seems that unlike Vonnegut, Pratchett needs to give up plot consistency for the sake of his jokes, and vice versa. Perhaps it's a function of British humor, or perhaps because most of his jokes are literal gags, they drive the story haywire. Either way, the book doesn't suffer from lack of humor; it's just slightly less cram-packed with its usual.
I once saw an interview in which Pratchett described the premise of his Discworld universe, of which Going Postal is a part. Nowhere did he mention the fact that his books are funny, not once. That would be like implying that your book doesn't have characters, or a plot. As usual, go figure.
Going Postal stands out from the larger Discworld collection by its characters. Apart from Moist, we have Mr. Pump, his golem probation officer, Who Talks In Capitalized Words And Isn't Quite Sure What Happiness Is. Moist's love interest, Adora Belle Dearheart, is a chain-smoking cynic and the only person who sees through Moist's various tricks and shams. As long as I'm discussing details, I thought the dynamic between Moist and Miss Dearheart was one of the most original romantic relationships I've ever read. Their attraction isn't random, as it so often happens, and Miss Dearheart is critical to the story as more than just a love interest. In fact, the story wouldn't work without her, and Moist's flirting is just a well-fitting backdrop. Take note, fiction writers: women are more compelling secondary characters when they have interests other than the main character. This works especially well if your protagonist is full of himself (or herself), but try to avoid the trap of making the love interest preoccupied with taking the protagonist down a notch. That's still a kind of obsession.
Other fun characters include Mr. Groat, the disgusting old postman who takes care of the abandoned post office; Stanley, Mr. Groat's young assistant who is obsessed with collecting pins until Moist accidentally invents stamp collecting; and Reacher Gilt, Moist's pirate-turned-CEO-for-better-pay nemesis.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is its theme. Pratchett plays the mailman storyline to its full advantage. Because Moist can't resist fooling people with style, he eventually establishes himself as a mailman messiah, promising "deliverance." His several near-death experiences are punctuated with discussions of angels, from which the book draws on the theme of divine messengers. Tied up with these is the concept that words immortalize their speaker. This has always entranced the likes of Dante and Shakespeare, but Pratchett can't resist immortalizing junk mail as well. It's just wacky enough to make sense.
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