Johnny and the Dead

Johnny Maxwell is back and this time he can see ghosts, who are pissed off that their cemetery is slated for demolition after being sold to developers in a dodgy real estate deal.

There's a lot about the importance of tradition in this one; not tradition in the "this how we've always done things and why should we change them now" sense, but as a way to respect and remember those who came before. Of course since this is Pratchett he turns it all topsy-turvy, so the living become keepers of the past while the dead get a new lease on, er, life.

A loose sequel to 'Only You Can Save Mankind', but it's also an excellent standalone novel, and I have a hazy memory I might have read it first.

Johnny is an undistinguished child growing up in Blackbury, a Northern city in the 1990s. His parents are in the middle of getting divorced, and his friends are a rag-tag assortment - the fat computer geek, the skinhead with a heart of gold, and the black one who loves brass band music.

Johnny's gift / problem is the ability to see things that other people don't. In Only You Can Save Mankind, this manifests as talking to the ScreeWee in his computer game, and having to engage with 'what if I was really trying to commit genocide on an entire other race of sentient beings? In Johnny and the Dead show more he becomes aware of the dead in the cemetery, which is due to be demolished to make room for a new office block.

This gives rise to a sweet story, where the living work out the importance of knowing about the past, and the dead (who are definitely not Ghosts, just Dead) work out the importance of letting go of the past and moving on to be free and happy. .

'You listened. You tried. You were there. You can get medals just for being there.'

It's a warm and uplifting book that I think is one of my favourites of all the Pratchetts, with his trademark humour and a deep love of the world.

'Johnny blinked. And looked around at the world. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, wonderful. Which wasn't the same as nice. It wasn't even the same as good. But it was full of ... stuff. You'd never get to the end of it. It was always springing new things on you.' show less

Yes, my ranking's probably high because Pratchett is no longer with us (sob). But this is still an entertaining read, with more insight and soul than usually implied by the YA label. Johnny and his buddies are fun and interesting characters to hang out with, and the take on time travel is refreshingly original and hilarious. I'm only sorry that Pratchett only did a trilogy instead of a longer series. And no one else had better try ... narrativium may be everywhere, but talent's rare and Pratchett's brand of magic rarer still.

Ei ole just palju inimesi, kes surnuid näeksid (ja ega paljud tahakski). Kaheteistkümneaastane Johnny Maxwell aga näeb. Ja tal on neile halbu uudiseid: linnanõukogu plaanib surnuaia kinnisvaraarendajatele maha müüa. Kuid surnud ei kavatse seda lihtsalt lamades ootama jääda... eriti kui homme on Halloween. Pealegi hakkavad surnud aru saama, et nende elu on palju lõbusam nüüd kui... noh... elus olles. Iseäranis juhul, kui mõnest reeglist mitte kinni pidada...
Tegemist on teise raamatuga kolmeosalisest Johnny Maxwelli sarjast, mis on saanud mitu auhinda ja võlunud ohtralt noori lugejaid.

There are certainly good things here. There is thought and care and humanity, maybe a bit too younger readers to get in fact. However there are a lot of smaller issues.

The structure is odd, it spends a lot more time with the dead than your expecting rather than focusing on Johnny. It has less to say of Johnny personal life than the previous book and the dead are a less compelling group than the Scree-Wee from the last book.
I might be a little biased on that as i do like aliens and videogames more as an aesthetic over the undead and civic responsibility anyway ;) .

The writing also has some issues, the jumps between scenes are jarring.. although i did read an e-copy, those may not be as bad in a hardcopy. Also there are a number of points show more with multiple characters talking and it can be quite hard to tell who’s saying what.

Anyway... i still liked it a lot in places although it doesn’t stand up to the previous book and i look forward to finishing the trilogy. show less

Twelve year old Johnny Maxwell is cutting through the cemetery one day with a friend when he knocks on the door of a tomb and the inhabitant answers the door. Johnny is the only one with the unique ability to wake up the dead and soon they are bothering him to stop the proposed development of their cemetery for a large corporation's offices. Once they discover they can leave the cemetery, go to the movies, and travel over telephone wires to chat on late night radio talk shows everyone else starts feeling that something isn't quite right around town too. As always, Pratchett's twists and turns of plot and conversation are hilarious while telling an enjoyable tale about living life to the fullest even after you're dead.

Terry Pratchett's second book in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy starts out wonderfully. We find Johnny can talk to the dead, and as he does so, comes to learn more about the history of his town and good lessons about respecting the importance of those who came before you. This isn't to say it's a preachy book. It's a Pratchett book, meaning there is humor and cunning insight.
The problem, however, is that Pratchett seems to rush the last half of the novel. I wonder if perhaps the smaller length found in the young adult novel proved to be a bit too cumbersome for his storytelling. There's enough plot here for at least a hundred more pages, but I'm guessing editors made him cut it down. In the process, the conclusion of the story rushes by show more and all the build up ends up being a bit of a let down. It's still a wonderful book though, and worth a read by children and adults alike. show less