Going Postal

In Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal we meet Moist von Lipwig for the first time. Unfortunately for Moist we meet him mere hours before he is to be executed. You see up to this point Moist has been a con artist, and when you indulge in that sort of activity in Ankh-Morpork it won’t be long before the Patrician hunts you down. Fortunately for Moist, Vetinari has bigger plans for him than a simple hemp fandango.

This novel finds Pratchett at top form. He has a new main character (who seems to have become Pratchett’s favorite for the moment given the number of Moist involved books that have either come out or are planned since this novel) to play with, and of course all of the characters like Vetinari that inhabit Ankh-Morpork. What makes Moist a good new toy is that he is unlike any of the previous main characters.

Here we have a newly reformed confidence man who is almost learning to live for the first time. He learns to use his powers of persuasion and guile to help people and set things right rather than just to make a quick dollar. However, since this is the Discworld everything is a bit quirky. He is tasked with rebuilding the Postal system and ends up competing with the “clacks,” (a system that is somewhat like a visual telegraph) which was probably Vetinari’s plan all along. Moist finds his only real help at the start to be a crazy old man, and a possibly autistic boy enamored with pins. Oh and of course Mr. Pump, the golem who is Moist’s bodyguard/parole officer.

The novel really shines as Moist progresses from feeling wronged and hating his situation to really getting into the spirit of the thing. I am glad golem’s feature prominently in this novel. I have always felt that Pratchett’s golems were an interesting bunch, but under used, and this novel starts to remedy that.
Of course there is the arch enemy Reacher Gilt, who in many ways is a mirror of what Moist might have become had he not been caught. In the end though Moist proves to be the wiser of the two, and in essence the better con-man. The Post Office is a perfect place for Pratchett to work. There are so many things about Postal service and the idea of going Postal, that really play right into Pratchett’s sarcasm and love of turning everything in the world on its ear.

I listened to the audiobook version of Going Postal read by Stephen Briggs. Briggs did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life, and chose voices for each which very much matched their character. This novel not only introduced Moist von Lipwig, but also gave us an better insight into the way Vetinari thinks and acts. This is one of Pratchett’s best works I give it a 4/5.