Going Postal
Ratings252
Average rating4.4
This book started out slowly, it took a while to care for the main character. The first meeting held by Lord Vetinari with other town representatives took way too long, and I was thinking that he was the main character of this story.
Then the real main character Moist came into the picture, and as the story unfolded, I couldn't believe this was really going to be a book about a postal worker. Were it not for the intelligent style of writing of Terry Pratchett I might have stopped reading the book.
Things started to get interesting when the con artist began to use his skills for the public service. During the book he is confronted with another one like him, but more powerful and really evil. He must find a way to outwit him.
I really liked how he changed his evil ways by forcibly having to interact with common, good, hard-working people. He saw the harm his lies have caused in the past in the lives of so many innocents, when used for selfish interest.
This is not a book that had to be set on the Discworld. That Terry Pratchett does choose to place the unexpectedly likable Moist von Lipwig within the political climate of Ankh-Morpork is quite the flex. It's an author using his considerable world-building to deepen the humour and vibrancy of a polemic on corporations. Pratchett pulls it off with the Discworld's arsenal of guest star's from the Patrician, the City Watch and even Unseen University chiming in to enhance your return on investment. :)
Pratchett is such a master. This story is fun, light, surprising, and fanciful. You don't need to be immersed in the series to enjoy it.
I wish I had read this one before Making Money, though.
putting this down cause i’m not really liking it much. maybe i’ll return to it someday but so far vetinari feels like he’s being overused ☹️
I never really got into Terry Pratchett way back whene, and apart from Good Omens was somewhat diffident of dipping my foot into such a long established world. But someone on reddit suggested Going Postal as a taste that stands alone and I am so glad I did. Thoroughly enjoyable, whimsical, lovely characters. I think i will be back for more.
Just becomes more relevant as time passes. Loved the comment abour employee of the month. Had forgotten how perceptive Pratchett was.
Why did I dislike this one so much? I kept wondering as I read, is this really Sir Terry, or is it poor fanfic? I found it heavyhanded, with an unpleasant aggressive edge and none of the warmth I expect in his books. It does improve: the last third develops themes of moral ambiguity with undertones of growth and loss... and redemption, although not enough to carry over into redeeming the entire book. Just enough to bump to three stars.
This is one of the very best of the Discworld books, and furthermore it's one of the most accessible of them. Although plenty of the usual Discworld characters make brief appearances, you don't need to have met them before; and the central characters are brand new, making their first appearances.
The story is of a con man forced to go straight, the enemies he makes in doing so, and the difficult and dangerous woman he falls for. It's set on the Discworld as usual, in the city of Ankh-Morpork, but newcomers can understand it as a rather steampunk alternative-19th-century city with traces of magic about it. However, magic isn't important to this story, which deals in confidence tricks, crooked finance, the running of a postal service, and a sort of primitive Internet using semaphores instead of electrical signals.
The underlying story is serious, but it has bizarre and humorous elements to it. The brand-new central characters are good and worth meeting, and you may also appreciate Lord Vetinari, who appears in most of the Discworld books, being the ruler of the city.
A film has been made of this book, and it's a good film, well acted, but as usual it doesn't do justice to the book because so much has to be cut to make a film.
A great Discworld novel that has all of the best parts of Pratchett humor and writing. The characters are novel but still believable. Two of my favorites: a con artist turned Postmaster General of a defunct and rather insane Post Office; a tyrant who rules well and novel ideas of employment. The puns and wordplay are also at their best and often elicit a smile or groan (even better as an audiobook)
Příběh i postavy jsou pěkné, ale bohužel asi nebudu patřit k těm, kteří jsou světem Pratchetta naprosto nadšení a fascinováni
Going Postal is a fun, fast-paced adventure through a familiar yet new reality. It feels like our world is grasping at the sort of humor and magic that Terry Pratchett instills in this novel. I was surprised, delighted, and engaged. I found that I was enjoying myself enough that I had no grumblings or gripes about the story, the characters, or the writing. I loved every piece of it.
A door has been opened to the world of Pratchett novels, and I can't wait to read the next one.
I found it somewhat perplexing that Pratchett's best Discworld book would be this one (for me).
The series on Death and the one on Miss Weatherwax were always my favorites. Rincewind is simply boring. But ‘Going Postal' really takes the cake. It's quite clever and touching.
Besides, it made me feel respect for Vetinari, almost wanting to know what our world would be like with a benevolent dictator.
This is, unlike many Discworld books, not just a light read, but rather an inventive book about greed and the pride of a job well done. The way the “clacks” were run mirrors that of many corporations of our own world, which was in itself gripping enough. It's hard not to like a book that pokes so much fun at managers and the rich.
One of Pratchett's finest. Moist is a thoroughly enjoyable character and you get a decent helping of Vetinari to round everything else. If you're a computing history nerd, you'll find the entire phreaking/hacker culture/Bell Labs nods and metaphors to be enjoyable as well.
Clever commentary as always
Wonderful character in Moist von Lipwig and the antic he plays. A scoundrel forced to work in a respectable job but able to use his trickster ways to outwit even more nefarious competitors. Highly recommended.
I fear that perhaps Pratchett's fans have overhyped him to the point that someone like me, who had never read a book by him before, is going to be underwhelmed when they finally pick something of his up.
Going Postal was my first Pratchett (excluding Good Omens, as it was a collaborative and thoroughly enjoyable endeavor). Going Postal was amusing; I snickered a few times and enjoyed the exploits of Moist von Lipwig. But upon finishing it I didn't really retain any impression after it. It was like watching a Disney Made-for-TV movie.
It was a nice way to take a break, though.
Antihero with worst name ever makes for a funny caper of a story. Pratchett brings his razor sharp social commentary with a good coating of humor to make it all palatable. Great stuff. Can't believe I got this far into adulthood without having read Pratchett (this is about the 7th of his I've read).
Quirky, foreign, and a little reminiscent of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this book had me laughing out loud. The humor's not for everybody and there's a lot of drier plot pages in between the great ones. Even still, this is a great travel read.