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McSpankWich posted:I am definitely finding all the novels underwhelming, but probably solely based on the hype other people give them. Even the freaking librarian always comments about how much she loves them every time I take one out "Oh I try to reread the whole series every few years! Enjoy!" I can't imagine going back and rereading any of the ones I've read so far. This is what makes Pratchett so strange. I have read a couple books, including Guards Guards, and not really been impressed at all, yet some people are SUCH FANS and I can't figure out why. Is this how people who hate MST3K feel?
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Apr 12, 2024 18:16
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Phrased that way it's like the inverse of the common criticism of people like Malcom Gladwell. Perhaps Pratchett seems simplistic in areas you don't care about, but then skilled and artful in areas you do. I like that description, that sounds like a good author. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Pratchett has been imitated a lot but he's also extremely British in a way that may not always vibe with American readers. If you look at the annotations linked above a great deal of the stuff he writes isn't just "generic British joke", he's referencing very specific British cultural touchstones that American readers are unlikely to pick up on. I don't have any trouble enjoying Wodehouse or Jerome K Jerome or Sarah Caudwell or POB or Jasper Fforde or stuff like Sandbaggers or Tolkien for that matter etc etc etc. I mean, I don't know if HHGtG is any less British or any less comic, or that far away from fantasy, but it succeeds in a way Discworld doesn't for me. I think it's more likely to come down that for my tastes Pratchett is in the end too reserved and too inert. I was drawn in with stuff like oo luggage, oo orangutan librarian, but in the end I find the writing and the ideas and the humor underwhelming. I have a friend who REAALLY REALLY loves them -- I think generally I like people who like Pratchett -- but for me they got no pizazz. Hieronymous Alloy posted:The other thing with Pratchett is that lots of people had tried to write comic fantasy and the only remote prior successes were parts of Robert Asprin's Myth series and national lampoon's Bored of the Rings. (Of "dildo and frito bugger" fame). You forgot
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Apr 14, 2024 19:23
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