Nation

by Terry Pratchett

book data

1,368 ratings, 4.16 average rating, 480 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		40%
4		38%
3		16%
2		2%
1		0%

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published

October 1st 2008 by HarperCollins

binding

Hardcover, 367 pages

literary awards

Printz Honor, 2009, 2009 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production Honor

isbn

0061433012 (isbn13: 9780061433016)

description

"The sea has taken everything."

Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, some

...more

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11/01/08

Michael rated it:

bookshelves: read-in-2008

Read in November, 2008

I suppose that after twenty-five years of writing DiscWorld novels, Terry Pratchett has earned the right to do something a bit different. And different is precisely what he does with his latest novel, "Nation."

"Nation" is a story set in a parallel universe to ours, but it's not the world of DiscWorld. (Though it could someday be, I suppose, though I hope Pratchett resists the temptation to "tie together" all his universes).

Mau is a young ...more I suppose that after twenty-five years of writing DiscWorld novels, Terry Pratchett has earned the right to do something a bit different. And different is precisely what he does with his latest novel, "Nation."

"Nation" is a story set in a parallel universe to ours, but it's not the world of DiscWorld. (Though it could someday be, I suppose, though I hope Pratchett resists the temptation to "tie together" all his universes).

Mau is a young boy, sent on a quest to become a man by his tribe. Daphne is a young girl on a large ship from a "civilized" nation, headed out to join her father at a foreign post. This unlikely duo cross paths when a huge wave wipes out Mau's entire village and shipwrecks Daphne on an island with him. Together, the two must learn to forge a new civilization, figuring out what is essential to keep from their old lives and what can and probably should be discarded from their old ways of life.

Eventually, the two begin to forge their own civilization and soon have various refuges showing up, looking for shelter who become part of the new nation being formed on the island.

As I said before, if you're looking for your "typical" Pratchett, you'd be best advised to pick up a DiscWorld novel. That's not to dismmiss "Nation," but instead to say that this story has the same style but is distinctly different. Pratchett still has a way with words, but it's used less to humorous effect here and more toward building the world and finding new and interesting ways to describe things.

And this is a novel that is firmly about the characters of Mau, Daphne. Pratchett spends a good deal of time early in the story estabishing who they and the backgrounds they come form, all before beginning to tear it down and rebuild things. It's an interesting process to watch unfold on the page and it leads to some interesting observations by Pratchett through the eyes of his two characters.

In his epilogue, Pratchett says he hopes this novel will make readers think. And while there were moments in the story where I wondered what he was up to, I will have to admit the ideas, concepts and torn-down assumptions from this novel have stayed with me long after the last page was turned.

It's not DiscWorld. It's some very different. And it's something very good. (less)

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10/05/08

Chrissy rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Disclaimer: I'm about to wax poetic in a totally corny way. Just warning you!

I am, and have been for years, of the opinion that Pratchett is the best writer there is. He continually serves up pitch perfect depictions of spectacular characters who are both wonderfully inventive, and at the same time purposefully normal. And in every book, hidden in the hilarity, and the side splitting satire, is a perfect pearl of truth about human nature. I remember when I first found one. It was the...more Disclaimer: I'm about to wax poetic in a totally corny way. Just warning you!

I am, and have been for years, of the opinion that Pratchett is the best writer there is. He continually serves up pitch perfect depictions of spectacular characters who are both wonderfully inventive, and at the same time purposefully normal. And in every book, hidden in the hilarity, and the side splitting satire, is a perfect pearl of truth about human nature. I remember when I first found one. It was the slender and yet unbreakable thread connecting the commercial idiocy of our Christmas season with a sweaty desperate beast running for it's life through a winter night, knowing its death was inevitable. Hogfather was a revelation for me.
For years Pratchett fans have been telling anyone who will listen that only the jokes kept Pratchett from being called a literary genius by the mainstream. For me, Nation is the final proof. No story that opens with such soul-deep sorrow can be called a comedy. There is some humor of course. The foul mouthed parrot is hard to miss, but even that has a somewhat sinister explanation. This is the first Pratchett book that I had to finish in one sitting. Always before they were savored over days. I knew I could trust Disc World to be alright in the end, and if some people met death in the process, well, he's a pretty good guy all around, so where's the harm in that. But Nation is not set on Disc World, but much closer to home, so I had to stay up until 3:15 AM to see how it all ended. Death is a much scarier guy in this book, although, at the end, much the same. The pearl of wisdom in this book is not small and not hidden. It's sitting right out there in the middle of the stage with flashing lights over its head. This is about why we believe or choose not to believe. In something. In anything. It's about us, but then again, it always is, even when its also about trolls and dwarves. And, as always, it is the characters that catch me. Two seemingly normal individuals, made extraordinary by circumstances and the way they react in those circumstances. In the end, I love Pratchett because he can show me characters that I know are human all the way to their toes, and yet, they give me hope. Mau, Vimes, Granny Weatherwax, even the Patrician, they don't do what they do so that people will thank them, appreciate them, worship them. They do what they do because it needs doing, and no one else stood up for the job. They do the hard jobs, they give up certain niceties in life so that at the end of the day, all is well, not just for them, but for everyone. It gives me faith that somewhere in this world there are men and women like that. It gives me hope that the human race as a whole might be worthwhile. In the end, all I can say is, Terry, Thanks.(less)

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5 comments

07/15/08

Amy rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-books-read, amazon-vine, favorites, young-adult

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: everyone

This is a book that I found myself calling wonderful from the very beginning and immediately knowing it would be a favorite. It's one I'd recommend to nearly anyone. Be sure to buy a copy when it comes out in October of 2008.

This alternate history takes place in a time when the redcoats were plopping down flags on islands without asking the permission of the natives. Most authors fail to give such natives equal or superior intellectual status with their European contemporaries. Inste...more This is a book that I found myself calling wonderful from the very beginning and immediately knowing it would be a favorite. It's one I'd recommend to nearly anyone. Be sure to buy a copy when it comes out in October of 2008.

This alternate history takes place in a time when the redcoats were plopping down flags on islands without asking the permission of the natives. Most authors fail to give such natives equal or superior intellectual status with their European contemporaries. Instead, such people are painted as savages. Pratchett seeks here to blur the normal lines between civilized and savage and redefine these words.

The story begins when "savage" Mau returns to his particular island for his ceremony of manhood only to find that the entire Nation has been swept away in a tidal wave. Upon his return, he finds Daphne, a "civilized" European teenage girl, who has been washed on shore in the remains of her ship. Out of fear, Daphne immediately and savagely tries to shoot the native islander. They eventually have to look past their pre-conceived ideas of each other as different varieties of savages to make the Nation live again. Soon other survivors from around the area begin to show up to take refuge there. Mau finds himself stealing milk from a wild hog and Daphne finds herself delivering babies and making beer. After Mau retrieves a fourth never-before-seen god anchor from the sea, Daphne urges him to go one step further and roll away a very ancient stone from the mouth of a cave to uncover other secrets of his forefathers. This is when a most amazing and unexpected discovery surfaces that "turns the world upside down" and puts into question history as we know it.

Benjamin Franklin said in his essay "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" that "if we could examine the manners of different nations with Impartiality, we should find no People so rude, as to be without any Rules of Politeness; nor any so polite, as not to have some remains of Rudeness." In Nation, Pratchett seeks to define the difference between the civilized and the savage in a different way than we normally do. Is one country civilized just because they were luckier in their inventions or the natural resources available to them? Is a cannibal more savage than a man who kills people and other living beings just for the fun of it? Could only Europeans come to logical conclusions about life and the nature of the universe?

I wish this had been written by an American author so I could assign it in my American literature class. I just had my students debate whether native American Indians were civilized or savage. This book would have been the perfect accompaniment to that debate.

(less)

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06/17/08

Lynn rated it:

(review of isbn 0385613709)

Read in September, 2008

The premise is simple - a devastating tidal wave brings two young people of widely disparate cultures together on a tropical island. The resulting story is anything but simple; packed with vast and universal themes, mixed with humor and peopled with vivid characters. This has to be Pratchett’s best. Like all his stories, the humor and the inventive quirkiness makes for a delightful read yet this is a story that also thoughtfully explores an array of fascinating themes ranging from faith, fr...more

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07/27/08

Elizabeth rated it:

Read in August, 2008

This is YA so I won't give it an official review, but man is it top notch stuff. Faith and desert islands. Foul-mouthed parrots and science. It's a little like Swiss Family Robinson, a little like Casablanca, and a little like nothing I've read before. Grand great stuff.

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12/31/08

Judith rated it:

bookshelves: childrensfiction

Read in December, 2008

I am a huge fan of Pratchett's children's fiction--I think Johnny and the Dead is one of the all time great children's books, and I'm sorry it's not more widely known. Nation is the latest, and it's a stand alone, not set in the Discworld, but on a South Pacific-ish island in an alternate version of our own world. It's about faith and love and family and community and race (similar themes to the film Australia, which I saw the day after I read Nation and to Octavian Nothing in that regard) and w...more

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11/04/08

Christopher rated it:

bookshelves: alternate-history, fiction

Read in November, 2008

Terry Pratchett is very angry.

At first glance, it looks like Pratchett has combined the descriptions from Simon Winchester's Krakatoa and the Indonesian tsunami with the central question of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel (i.e. why do the Europeans have all the stuff and pacific islanders don't).

But that's the surface, in this case much of the plot. The deep part is a look at the process of grieving. It isn't the simple seven steps. Our main character Mau (I k...more

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09/08/08

Kayleigh rated it:

Read in September, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I think it's his first non-Discworld fiction book since Johnny and the Bomb (correct me if I'm wrong) and it actually doesn't read like a Discworld book. It's still got the little details and the hints of bizarrity which show it to be by Pratchett though.

SPOILERS!!!!

I make no secret of loving world-building and stories told from non-western human POVs and this book has both. It's set in an AU Earth, where the continents are set out a little differently (both geographicall...more

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02/02/09

Cait rated it:

bookshelves: theoretically-written-for-children

Read in February, 2009

recommends it for: people who like awesome, people who can read

Dear Terry Pratchett,
It is entirely unfair that every book of yours I read increases my estimation for you. At some point, you will no longer be able to live up to my expectations, and on that day I am probably going to cry.
Sincerely, Cait, who is kind of thinking about getting a hermit crab tattoo.

I kind of don't want to talk about the plot, because: "Native boy and English girl survive tsunami, build empire of survivors and create a nation of science!" ...more

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08/26/08

Michael rated it:

Read in November, 2008

Just this moment I realised that it may be time to start thinking about Terry Pratchett's legacy. I've been reading his Discworld novels since 1990 (wow...) and I can't pretend that all of them are great books, no matter how many times they make me laugh. Nation could be his legacy. It captures his humor and his insight into the human spirit - a very hopeful outlook - that reminded me strongly of Small Gods, my favorite of his books. If he can make you care about the characters in 300 pages, and...more

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11/17/08

Kristin rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in November, 2008

Nation isn’t set in the Discworld universe, which is a bit of a departure for the author.

Mau is a young boy/man, who was on his way back to his tiny island after his coming-of-age trial and discovers his Nation - everyone - has been swept away by a huge tidal wave. Daphne is a young girl on her way to meet up with her father who has become governor of some outlying colony. Her ship was caught in the same wave, deposited on Mau’s island, and she is the only survivor.
...more

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12/06/08

fairrosa rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, 6-8grade, bestbooks, childrensbooks, fantasy

Read in December, 2008

I file this under fantasy because it IS. And maybe slightly Sci-Fi as well since it does deal with "science" and is set in a parallel universe. In reality, it is a fantasy set in an alternative world in an alternative history. (Reminded me of Jonathan Strange a bit.)

It was not a book that I was compelled to read in a couple of sittings but it was a book that I definitely savored -- for its thinking (Author's Note: This book contains some [thinking]. Whether you try it ...more

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01/29/09

Nick rated it:

bookshelves: young-adult-fantasy

Read in January, 2009

Very different from his other works. Less flippant and much more thoughtful, but still with quite a bit of humor. The underlying questions about faith and religion were from a very different viewpoint, and quite interesting.

In a way, I would like to see more about the world where this took place. Either one of the two disasters could have huge effects, but taken together they would be devastating.

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06/23/08

Erin rated it:

bookshelves: essentials, fiction

Read in June, 2008

Pratchett takes on imperialism, religion, women, men and fate.

He does it well, and with greater grace than I can explain without spoilers. Just read it because I told you so, okay?

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01/16/09

Laura rated it:

bookshelves: adventure, fantasy, pratchett

Read in February, 2009

As much as I try to keep an author's personal life separate from his or her work, I can't deny that Pratchett himself was in my head while I read Nation. The book's themes of loss and grief -- the good kind and the self-destructive kind -- and history and memory just wound themselves around my brain until I was basically visualizing it as Pratchett's own grieving process in book form. That made it a little heavy for me; perhaps a little heavier than it should have been. After all, this is Ter...more

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10/05/08

Snickerpants rated it:

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Snickerpants by: No one - I pre-ordered it
recommends it for: Anyone

So this is the latest book by Mr Pratchett and the first published since he went public with the fact that he has a rare early-onset form of Alzheimer's disease. That doesn't really have much to do with the book, I just think it's interesting to note that he is still a great author and I hope to h*ll he continues writing up until he can't anymore.
As for the book...This is, in fact, NOT a Discworld book. Nope. There is a San Francisco and a Boston and not one mention of wizards, luggage, o...more

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10/05/08

_inbetween_ added it (review of isbn 0385613709)

Read in October, 2008

A really good book about death and belief. As the author is a humanist (and feminist, if you will), it's about belief in people, in yourself.

What seems to start out like a typical "native legends" story of course has the Pratchett twist, and even though I worried that he's now reevaluating faith, it's a sure sign of a good book when I don't check to see how many pages I have left, but am delighted that I'm only 11 pages in - oh no, already 50 pages in - etc.
Though today ...more A really good book about death and belief. As the author is a humanist (and feminist, if you will), it's about belief in people, in yourself.

What seems to start out like a typical "native legends" story of course has the Pratchett twist, and even though I worried that he's now reevaluating faith, it's a sure sign of a good book when I don't check to see how many pages I have left, but am delighted that I'm only 11 pages in - oh no, already 50 pages in - etc.
Though today the outset of the story reminds me most of the tsunami that killed so many people in South East Asia, Pratchett had started on this book in 1994. With a prominent landmark on the Nation's map being "The Beach" and big pigs, Pratchett as usual nods at classics like Alex Garland's or William Golding, though Shakespeare's Temptest, Peter Pan's Never-never-land, Crusoe and other classic island stories will also come to mind.
It's very beautifully made, with even the glued on inside paper having a faint decoration (and a crab :)), but what with Mau having to burry his whole people and the usual philosophical, melancholy tone of his non-DW novels, I'd never characterise this is a typical children's book. There's the adventure and kids struggling to survive in nature together, more Secret Garden or Pullman's HDM than Goldin's LotF, but underlying it more so than in all of Pratchett's books is the doubt of old beliefs, the mental struggle with the demands of religion or state that are illogical and painful for the children.
Or at least while Ermintrude/Daphne is trying to get a life of her own, Mau is looking for his soul, which his belief tells him was lost, like a hermit crab without a shell, when the big wave came. And in typical, blessed Pratchett fashion, the first hints of racism are from an old islander and directed at the pale, unbaked girl.
The disadvantages of it being a children's book are in the too long explanations and repetition of thoughts, although I have the same problem with most later DW novels while most other readers are fine with and actually need more clarifiction (cp. complaints about more oblique SF novels).

ETA: I couldn't read the book in one day as usual, and just at the best chapter I was interrupted ten times. "Rolling the Rock", shortly after the middle of the novel, was brilliant, bringing actual tears of joy like Pratchett used to do in the old days. The themes and notreallybutstill-messages are tightly woven into hilarious little actions that are all showing something and still furthering the plot. Regrettable Examples and the islanders behaving like Austen characters and the pantaloon birds like the dodos in Ice Age and ...

So I forgot some other comparisons, although Moby Dick and Bounty are obviously referenced. Even Blue Lagoon, in an astonishingly, refreshingly teen-sexual way, that even if it never turns into anything must be liberating.

Mau being so bothered by "why are they [trousermen] so much smarter than us" is one of those rare, unclichéd bits that set Pratchett apart; he doesn't subscribe to fake idyls. "Nation" ends in the vein of Dark Materials and Peter and Wendy, but the return of the tree-climbing octopus lightens the present-day chapter, and the meta (about how other turn-outs would have been more narratively satisfying) lightens what I consider a dangerously mellowed Pratchett belief-is-good message; leagues better than the likes of Hoeg, perhaps on a par with Lindgren.(less)

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4 comments

10/02/08

Caroline rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, read-in-2008, young-adult

Read in October, 2008

Nation is a hard one to review--it's quite different than anything else I've read of Terry Pratchett (and I've read a lot!), and it's one of those rare young adult novels that ask the readers to think about serious topics rather than just telling a silly, fun story. As Pratchett is aging, it really seems like his stories are taking a much more brooding and serious tone, with only hints of his wit and sarcasm throughout.

The characters are all very interesting and complex, especially t...more

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08/05/08

Elizabeth rated it:

bookshelves: terry-pratchett

Read in August, 2008

This book tells the story of a small nation in the supposed South Pacific that is destroyed by a large tidal wave and is rebuilt by a boy who is no longer a boy but not yet a man, Mau, and a young girl who is heir to the British throne whose ship crashed on his island. While overall focusing on the general theme of what is a "Nation" Terry Pratchett also deconstructs themes of religion, belief, death, survival and science, but more particularly, what if we have it backwards, and the w...more

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06/01/08

Beth A. rated it:

(review of isbn 0385613709)

bookshelves: fantasy, favorites

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: Everyone!

This is not a Diskworld novel. I thought I would miss the Diskworld and all my favorite characters, but I didn’t, not for a minute.

This is a more serious novel. The language is even a little more formal. Pratchett drew me right into the story and I fell in love with the characters. Mau was so strong and brave and vulnerable. Erminturde/Daphne was kind and somewhat silly at first, trying to “maintain standards,” but then you find out that she has been trained in ‘the scientifi...more

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"It takes an unusual man to make up a hymn in a hurry, but such a man was Captain Roberts. He knew every hymn in <i> The antique and Contemporary Hymn Book, </i> and sang his way through them loudly and joyously when he was on watch, which had been one of the reasons for the mutiny." More quotes...