Going Postal

Moist von Lipwig is a con man. He's had many names and many lives, but all that is over now. He's been caught, tried, and executed. He would have died too, except that Lord Vetenari has some special use for him. It seems the Clacks is being run poorly and is in need of a good rival. Vetenari believes that the time has come to revive the city's post office. But previous post masters have a strange habit of dying unexpectedly. Ah well. Moist has a choice: he can take this strange job that is likely to kill him, or refuse and meet certain death instead.

Probably my favorite book in the series (although I feel like I say this about all of them), Going Postal has a lot to offer. I've read it several times before, but I still laughed out loud show more through the whole thing. Unmitigated joy! show less

Reread 2026: So. Much. Fun!

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What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.

Moist von Lipwig's life of crime has finally caught up with him. With his neck in the noose, Moist watches the hangman pull the lever and wakes up... not dead and offered a job? Lord Vetinari offers Moist the chance at redemption by being named Postmaster and getting the old Postal Service back up and running again. The mail must be delivered.

Going Postal is the 33rd book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. This is the first book to feature Moist von Lipwig and the fourth in the Industrial Revolution sub-series. It's interesting that for a 33rd book in the series you can show more almost use it as an entry point without missing out on much more than a couple character cameos.

For a character that should have been despicable, I found Moist to be quite likable and sympathetic. Pratchett does a great job of letting us see that Moist has a underlying decency when dealing with most people at an individual level even though technically he's a con man. Moist also has some of the most wonderful conversations with Vetinari, which highlights just how brilliant a character Vetinari is. I'm glad he's given more page time in this installment. The supporting cast we're introduced to is enjoyable and quirky and human, even the golem Mr. Pump.

As with most Discworld novels my favorite part is how Pratchett deftly works in deeper themes into his books while still keeping them funny. This time he plays with the idea of Hope and its opposite, fear, corporate greed, collecting mania, doing the impossible, pokes fun at professional wrestling in the most highly organized bar brawl ever and more. Pratchett was a genius. His creativity is sorely missed. show less

Con-man Moist von Lipwig is rescued from the hangman and given an offer he can't refuse: revive the defunct Ankh-Morpork postal system or return to the noose. Unfortunately, the Grand Trunk, a cutting-edge clacks firm, is intent on snuffing out any potential rivals. Hijinks ensue.

Lipwig is an unusually malicious protagonist for a Discworld novel. I just gave my sister Pyramids to read and, flipping through the opening sections, I was struck by the pains Pratchett went through in the earlier novel to make the almost-assassin Teppic a sympathetic and vulnerable hero. By contrast, Lipwig has a clear-eyed view of his own amorality, although he sugar-coats the culpability of his victims. Of course, the conclusion of the novel asserts that show more Lipwig's compromised nature makes it possible for him alone to do the necessary dark deeds for the public benefit. (And just now, I've realized the brilliance of having economic predator Lipwig grapple with physical predator Gryle, who was a satisfying creepy sub-villain.) show less

This book was my first foray into Pratchett's Discworld, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were fun and convincing, as were the plot and the world. The social commentary was, with one or two exceptions, spot-on and masterfully done, and it never takes precedence over or gets in the way of the story being told.

Pratchett's prose is very stylized, but it works for me and adds to the fun of reading his work; likewise his humor.

I will note that if you find either off-putting, you probably won't enjoy this. This is definitely not the sort of book where the authorial/narrative voice fades into the background as you get into it; the voice is definitely front-and-center.

I'm not quite sure how to classify the tone of the novel - there are show more certainly comedic parts, and the book as a whole could even be classified as comedic, but there are also very serious and important themes, ideas, and social issues being discussed, and the book takes them seriously even at the most comedic moments.

None of the main characters are flat or only there for the joke. They never break characterization for a joke (or to move the plot along, either, for that matter), and the relationships they form with one another are well-rounded and genuine.

And to top it all off, it has a good ending. I won't spoil, but I will say that not only does the ending make sense from the characters, it also acknowledges the complexities of the issues at hand in a way that felt really refreshing.

It wasn't the sort of breathtaking, near-perfect read that I give 5 stars - almost nothing is - but Going Postal was very, very good, and I look forward to returning to the Discworld again sometime soon. show less

I hadn't read a Pratchett in probably a decade, and it was fun getting back into it. I enjoyed the humor, enjoyed the characters, and loved the social commentary. The book was written 20 years ago. A 'high tech' communications company uses dirty methods to gain a monopoly (but nothing illegal... nothing that can be proven at least), at which point its service goes downhill, costs skyrocket, workers are squeezed... wow, that doesn't sound like anything we have to deal with currently, now does it?

It was great fun to read, with the social commentary just subtle enough to be immensely satisfying. Von Lipwig was a delightful roguish character teamed with the usual cast of colorful misfit side characters

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. :)

This book, like all of Pratchett's, is laugh-out-loud funny in places, wryly humorous in others. I like Pratchett's books best when they poke fun at the established order of things because parallels to the real world can be drawn. The operations of the post office are an example of this. This is a very good introduction to the character of Moist von Lipwig, who chooses becoming the postmaster of Ankh-Morpork over execution. Will it be a fate worse than death? You'll have to read it for yourself...