I have a great fondness for the Discworld novels in general and for novels about Death in particular. This novel was a re-read for me but it has been many years. It didn’t disappoint this second time around either.

Pratchett manages to paint a picture of a world that is profoundly different from the one we in habit but at the same time the world is exactly the same. He pokes fun at those traditions that everyone in the western world will recognize even if they themselves do not take part in them. Take for example this quote:

“Death looked at the sacks.

It was a strange but demonstrable fact that the sacks of toys carried by the Hogfather, no matter what they really contained, always appeared to have sticking out of the top a teddy bear, a toy soldier in the kind of colourful uniform that would stand out in a disco, a drum and a red-and-white candy cane. The actual contents always turned out to be something a bit garish and costing $5.99” (pg84)

I guess that I am not the only person who looks at the pictures of Santa with a certain amount of scepticism.

Not to mention the fact that as the daughter and sister of computer nerds I loved all the sections with Hex (the machine the student wizards at the UU are building). I especially liked this exchange:

“I don’t actually think’, he said gloomily, ‘that I want to tell the Archchancellor that this machine stops working if we take its fluffy teddy bear away. I just don’t think I want to live in that kind of world.’

‘Er,’ said Mad Drongo, ‘you could always, you know, sort of say it needs to work with the FTB enabled…?’

‘You think that’s better?’ said Ponder, reluctantly. It wasn’t as if it was even a very realistic interpretation of a bear.

‘You mean, better than “fluffy teddy bear”?’

Ponder nodded. ‘It’s better,’ he said” (pg441)

He makes astute observations on what it means to be human and what we humans expect out of life.

The book contains all the usual suspects, including the senior wizards at the Unseen University, who, as per usual, manage to make the situation worse while thinking that they are making it better.

Apart from Death the main character of this book is his granddaughter Susan. Susan tries very hard to be a perfectly normal human, thankyouverymuch, but this is somewhat hard when your hair’s default position is a prim bun, you see imaginary monsters and you can do the voice. Susan ends up being the heroine of this book after her grandfather expressly tells her to not get involved.

As with most of Pratchett’s books you don’t really have to have read any of them before to understand what is going on, but it certainly helps. ( )

Terry Pratchett does Christmas. Pratchett, like Tolkien, is interested in the origins of things, and here he prods a little at the origins of our mythical figures, Santa and the Tooth Fairy and their ilk. Susan Death is along for the ride, as is Death himself, both some of my very favorite Pratchett characters. There is a part where it strongly reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Death does a good Jack Skellington. Great book. It has a BBC movie version, too, in case you're a huge Pratchett fan like me, and don't know. ( )

Hogfather is generally reckoned to be one of Pratchett's "lesser" works. But every time I read it, I'm more and more impressed with this book. It's tightly plotted--apparently casual comments turn out to immensely important, such as the conversation about the amenities provided by the fancy bathroom at Unseen University. Characters like Susan and her grandfather--like the reader--learn a little bit more about the human condition. Lots of Christmas traditions are given classic Pratchett satiric treatment, it's true, but at the conclusion, readers are as thoughtful about, say, the history of Santa Claus as they are amused by Pratchett's send-up.

Every time I read a Pratchett novel, I'm reminded more and more of Dickens. (Actually, since I read all of Pratchett's oeuvre first...every time I read a Dickens novel, I'm reminded more and more of Pratchett.) ( )

The subject of Hogfather is Christmas. Except on Discworld, it's called Hogswatch, the jolly old fat man is the Hogfather, and he rides around in a sleigh pulled by four large boars named Gouger, Rooter, Tusker and Snouter. Like Santa Claus, the Hogfather goes about climbing down chimneys and leaving presents for children. But this year, things are a little different. The Hogfather seems to have gone on a diet because he's nothing but skin and bones--well, actually, just bones. It seems the Hogfather has died and Death has stepped in to take over. The Death of Rats is busy warning Susan Sto-Helit what Death is up to when he drops down her chimney. Susan is a governess with a few special talents. You see, Susan is Death's granddaughter. The daughter of Death's adopted daughter and her husband, Death's former apprentice. Susan demands an explanation and Death reveals that the Hogfather is dead. When Susan demands to know why he is doing this, he refuses to answer and tells her it is not her business. So when Susan begins her investigation. She's joined by the Death of Rats, an annoying talking raven, and the God of Hangovers. Also on the case, though they don't know it, are the intellectual elite of the Unseen University. The wizards, led by Archchancellor Ridcully, are working on the problem of mysteriously appearing gods. Gods are popping out of thin air--the God of Indigestion, the Eater of Socks, the Cheerful Fairy and the Wisdom Tooth Goblin, to name just a few. ( )

Enjoyable, if somewhat uneven. Hogfather is at its best when Susan and Death are the ones "on screen", as it were, though the real gems -- as always -- come when Pratchett offers his views on humanity, reality, and the power of belief. ( )