Reading, part 3

Terry Pratchett's Making Money is a hilarious and thoughtful commentary on the true value and meaning of money in society, and the resulting neurosis that often result from material obsession.

Money is the gazillionth novel of the DiscWorld Series, in which trolls, dwarfs, vampires, golems, Igors, and humans grudgingly co-exist in the massive metropolis Ankh-Morpork. Rather than following a strictly chronological order, each book in the series focuses on a different character in the fictional world while integrating other characters into the story.

It's difficult to summarize Pratchett's style, though many critics have tried (better than me). To put it plainly, reading any one of his novels will cause uncontrollable giggling, especially in public places such as the bus.

Pratchett's stories have a wonderful, life-affirming quality that is seldom found in 'science fiction' books, I think. And yet, his grasp of the seriousness and absurdity of real life problems translates effortlessly into his DiscWorld.

The many layers of these stories include first an instantly engaging plot, accompanied by exceptional character development. Then some of the jokes within this are what you might call high-concept puns, which will leave you laughing far later (believe me, it's brilliantly simple).

The protagonist in Making Money is Moist Von Lipwig, a former and current criminal who literally escaped death with the dubious assistance of the city's "ruthless dictator", Vetinari. The author makes very unclear the circumstances of Lipwig's release, but establishes that he was a very intelligent thief.

For more unknown reasons, Vetinari is "persuading" Lipwig to transfer from the head of the post office, which he has operated far too successfully, to the chairman of the bank.

The genius of this novel is that Lipwig's character is inherently likeable and commendable even though he is literally a crook in charge of a bank (another awesome joke). In contrast to the abhorrent family who owns the bank, he seems like a mild trickster next to the soulless, sinister band of greedy and back-stabbing Lavishes.

Lipwig contrives to outsmart the Lavishes and control a threatening group of Golems, mythical beings that play a big part in the plot.

Pratchett's finesse with story telling is widely-respected around the world, and I can see why. He keeps the dramatic suspense building until the very end. Don't try to figure out what's happening, just roll with the story and laugh at all the jokes. It's truly hilarious.

His sense of irony is impeccable, and the different groups of citizens hold their own prejudices which are thinly veiled as social commentary.

Fair warning: these books are highly addictive and not to be trifled with by the casual reader.