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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pratchett Impregnated By Aliens: Gives Birth to "The Truth", November 21, 2004
Two random immages occur frequently when reading a Terry Pratchett Discworld book. The first is of time lapse photography, the type used in nature or wildlife programs. One can see a seed planted, germinate, sprout, and then blossom into a flower in a manner of seconds even though it might take weeks to occur in `the real world'. The second is of a frog in a pot of water. It is a time worn cliché that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will leap out immediately. However, if you drop a frog into cool water and gradually bring it to a boil it won't think about jumping out until it is too late.
Terry Pratchett has a marvelous habit of taking devices or institutions that have developed over time in our word and subjecting them to the literary equivalent of time-lapse photography when he imports them into Discworld. Typically, the devices, be they guns (Men at Arms), movies (Moving Pictures), or the modern postal system (Going Postal), are introduced and evolve very quickly., In presenting us with guns, movies, or postal networks formed in such short order Pratchett highlights the perversions these great inventions are subjected to over time that are not so readily apparent when you live through the gradual changes. The reader, like the frog, is presented with a proverbial pot of boiling water and, no doubt, on reflection must ask him or her self, how in the world did we ever let things go this far? This is exactly what Pratchett does with the newspaper business in The Truth. As you witness the time-lapsed development of the institution known to us as the press you cannot help but shake your head and say, how did it ever come to this?
The plot has already been well summarized on the product page. Suffice it to say, Pratchett does his typically splendid job setting up the establishment of Ankh-Morpork's first newspaper by the aptly named William de Worde. The cast of characters includes Otto, the vampire photographer. Otto is fresh from the vampire equivalent of a 12-step program and struggles mightily to avoid a relapse.
Of course the press needs to have a story and Pratchett gives us the Ankh-Morpork version of Watergate. A crime has been committed and the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, is the prime suspect. It appears in fact to be something of an open and shut case. Of course, the truth is not always what it appears to be. De Worde soon comes to suspect that perhaps, just perhaps, the oligarchs that don't suffer Vetinari all that gladly just may have something to do with all this.
Every investigative reporter needs a source and Pratchett gives us the Ankh-Morpork version of Deep Throat, this time in the form of Pratchett's most intelligent creations, Gaspode, the talking dog. Call him "Deep Bark" perhaps. The words Pratchett puts in Gaspode are pure Pratchett and are funny and insightful. Also worthy of note is Pratchett's characterization of the inevitable collision of the press with the police in the form of the dealings between de Worde and Command Sam Vimes.
Events wend their way to their inevitable conclusion. Will Commander Vimes be forced to `round up the usual suspects' or will de Word uncover that elusive thing called the truth? Inquiring minds want to know!
The Truth is up to Pratchett's usually high standards and will be enjoyed by both Pratchett old timers and those new to Discworld. For newcomers, the Truth is an excellent place to start.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's Pratchett, and therefore I love it., November 1, 2000
The title of this review notwithstanding, I'm not *quite* a blind fan of Mr. Pratchett. I have a particular fondness for his bits with Nanny Ogg in, "Pyramids" is one of my favorites, and there are some of his books I can take or leave.This one, I'm honored to inform you, is the former. I'll take it. Pratchett himself is a former newspaperman, and one gets the impression that most of his pokes at the press industry are dead-on, if couched in fiction. We're back in Ankh-Morpork, in which his knack for the surreal and head-scratchingly amusing always seems to be let loosest. Several honored characters return: Death, the Bursar (whose cameo prompted hysterical mirth on my part) the Patrician, the City Guard, Gaspode the Talking Dog, and Foul Ole Ron, among others. New folks who one really feels ought to join the regular cast are introduced: Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, most notably. Chances are they won't be back, but I look forward to again encountering Otto. Diversified Pratchett fans may notice a faint resemblance of these two to another pair of black-suited, unscrupulous gentlemen in "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, with whom Pratchett has collaborated in the past. The resemblance is largely superficial, however, and Mr. Tulip particularly is a cleverly made and vastly amusing character, given to the peculiar mode of cursing permitted by Discworld's Universal Censors: "-ing!" Otto, the reformed vampire and Anhk-Morpork Times staff photographer, is a further joy to read. The complications with his salamander-flash camera made me laugh until I got a cramp. If there is one failing in this book, it is that the 'side' characters are so fantastically interesting compared to our protagonist, a comparatively normal human citizen. He *is* a disenfranchised noble with family strife, and it is he who, in traditional Pratchett style, conveys the true and even serious 'lesson' of the book. He's a good character, and serves his purpose well, and pushes the story along. But it's the other characters who steal the show. This is really one of his better offerings. Not just in recent years: I'd rate it as one of his ten best out of his bajillion-some in print. Its obvious and pointed grounding in experience leaves one feeling sager about the business of journalism, as well as delicate about the ribs and damp about the cheeks. Good, good stuff.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Truth will make ye fret!", November 27, 2000
"The Truth," the twenty-fifth Diskworld novel by Terry Pratchett, is a great way to celebrate a silver anniversary! Pratchett fans already know that his different novels cover several paths: certain ones follow the witches of Lancre, others Death, the Wizards of Unseen University, or the Watch of Ankh-Morpork. This is an Ankh-Morpork novel, and much in the style of "Moving Pictures," "Soul Music," or "Maskerade," a familiar cultural aspect of our own world becomes public and popular in Diskworld--creating grief and strife for everyone and a lot of fun for the reader! The usual concoction of magical, political, and sociological troubles are afoot in Ankh-Morpork when dwarves bring movable type to the city and Diskworld's first newspaper, "The Ankh-Morpork Times," (motto: The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret") hits the streets. Many of Pratchett's well-loved and familiar characters are here: Sam Vimes, Carrot and Angua, talking dog Gaspode, the irrepressible C.M.O.T. Dibbler--but the spotlight's fully upon William de Worde, determined to make the written "Truth" public. There's a solid mix of old and new characters: a vampire photographer who crumbles into ash each time his flash goes off, two ruthless assassins vaguely reminiscent of a pair from a recent pop-culture movie (down to a discussion of what they call a sausage-in-a-bun in Quirm: 'le sausage-in-a-bun'). A running subplot featuring a dastardly conspiracy against Lord Vetinari moves the action along, but it's actually the story of the struggle of William's conscience and means to bring the truth to Diskworld's population...whether they can handle it or not. A good deal of sociological truth is neatly and unobtrusively sandwiched between the witty writing, including allegories on the rise of the Internet and the ways to deal with flood problems in our own society. But it's Pratchett's sharp wit and unparalleled turn of phrase that drive the book and justly attract the fans, and his writing is as golden as ever, from the off-handed mot juste to the groan-out-loud pun (photographs taken with magical 'dark light' are referred to as 'Prints of Darkness'). I'd go as far as to say that Pratchett is the twenty-first century heir to P.G. Wodehouse (and that's the highest praise possible from me). No other contemporary writer can make an elaborate joke or off-handed comment seem so casual, so easy, so natural, that we all think 'I could do that' until we actually try to sit down and dissect what's so funny about the sentence. In the UK Pratchett sells more than Stephen King and John Grisham--he's not quite at that point here in the US, but certainly deserves to be. Finally, in my review last year of "The Fifth Elephant," I chided American publisher HarperCollins for not publishing that book simultaneous with the UK edition. I'm happy to report that we'll be able to get this one on the same date as the British friends. Thanks, HarperCollins!
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