Review: Reaper Man
Daniel Orner
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The eleventh book in the Discworld series and the second one that
follows the character of Death, _Reaper Man_ is, above all, a great
read, and one that explores deep ideas in ways that most previous books
haven't.
The truth is that this is actually two books in one - a fact underscored
by two completely different fonts used for the two stories. The first
follows Death, prematurely retired by the Auditors of Existence, as he
finds himself on a farm with a small amount of actual life and time. The
second concerns the fallout from Death's retirement in Ankh-Morpork,
from the point of view of Unseen University's wizards and new zombie
(and ex-wizard) Windle Poons. The Death story is almost entirely serious
and the Ankh-Morpork story is almost entirely humorous, though naturally
there's some yin/yang leakage going on.
The Ankh-Morpork segment is Terry's first real foray into total farce.
Most Discworld books until now have relied on satire or story to propel
the humor; this is the first Pythonesque full-on comedy routine. The
ensemble cast of bumbling, argumentative wizards works wonderfully
towards this goal, and are very entertaining. Windle's journey, though a
bit more serious and replete with epiphanies on the nature of life,
involves a colorful cast of undead companions who provide lots of comedy
fodder.
On the other hand, Death's story is much more thought-provoking. Death
finds himself learning about humanity in general and his employer, Miss
Flitworth, in specific. He has to deal with the food chain, dreams, and
fear of death. The finale of the book is one of the most haunting pieces
Terry has yet penned, and never fails to send shivers down my spine.
Death is a surprisingly likeable protagonist, at turns confused, naive,
cold-hearted, or a complete badass.
One thing I noticed is the specific divide between the two sections in
terms of theme. The Poons/Wizard segments deal with excess "life energy"
and the dangers that poses, and take the opportunity to explore what the
word "life" means and what kind of consequences would occur if there
would be too much of it. The Death segments deal with, well, death, and
ponder what happens when life ceases, and what kind of light that sheds
on the living process. It's a very interesting contrast.
_Reaper Man_ isn't totally free from satire - horror B-movies and _Alien
_are parodied, for example - but it's the characters, humour and
philosophy that power this offering, one of Terry's strongest.
--
http://roleplayingjew.blogspot.com/ - An Orthodox Jew who plays Japanese
role-playing games? Strange but true!
Winterbay
I find Reaper man to be the best of the series. I especially love the
concept of supermarkets as parasites that lay eggs in the form of snow
globes that hatch into shopping carts :)
/Winterbay
Nigel Stapley
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> _Reaper Man_ isn't totally free from satire - horror B-movies and _Alien
> _are parodied, for example - but it's the characters, humour and
> philosophy that power this offering, one of Terry's strongest.
Parody != satire. The whole description of the shopping mall and its
accoutrements (e.g. the trolleys) as a sort of intrusive, parasitic and
alien form of life is a satire on the way in which our towns have been
generalised out of existence by such tacky taverns of tat.
I found that aspect of it to be the saving grace of the book, because I
find the death/little girl/Miss Flitworth aspects of it rather uninvolving.
--
Regards
Nigel Stapley
<reply-to will bounce>
Daniel Orner
You're right, I could have worded that a little more clearly. The same
sequence is a parody (of horror movies) *and* a satire (of the whole
shopping mall/commercialization phenomenon).