Terry Pratchett's Going Postal - The Play

This is only the second Discworld book I've read, but I'm definitely hooked! Pratchett's humor is a joy to read - sometimes even LOL-worthy. In this book, a convicted criminal is given the job of reopening the Post Office, which died out long ago after "clacks" towers came into vogue and could send messages much quicker. Now that the clacks company is exploiting its customers, though, the dictator decides he wants the Post Office to take them down, and Moist von Lipwig is the man for the job. The letters piled in the old Post Office building literally beg to be delivered and disaster, intrigue, murder and hilarity ensue.

This series does relate characters and places, but you don't have to start with book one to get into it. Each book can show more also stand on its own. Give Pratchett and Discworld a try if you're looking for a clever read - often critical and mocking of philosophical and political (though unbiased) beliefs. Intelligent humor - a great read! show less

A play adapted from a fantasy novel series would usually be something I wouldnt even bother with, but this worked well, even though the characters were apparently established in the series which I haven't read. The play stands just fine on its own, and establishes the characters well. It is strange and surreal, but then you'd expect that for fantasy. The premise of the play comes down to the age-old battle between man and machine, culminating in a John Henry-like challenge pitting a horse-mounted post office against a hgh-tech, failure-prone telegraph system. Perhaps if John Henry had a golem to help him, he would have won? Highly readable, but I imagine it's more fun staged.

Terry Pratchett is a master and there were so many moments during this where I stopped the book to laugh. Beautifully done, what a great listen.