HF: It's difficult to talk about the story itself, isn't it?

[Jan]

Hi everyone

After rereading the Hogfather and very much enjoying it, I nevertheless feel it's very difficult to talk or write about the actual novel.

Granted, you can talk about clever quotes and quirky characters at length, but does anyone else feel it's difficult to really talk about the story and the characters' actions?

I am not 100% sure what it really is, but for me it's maybe difficult because the book is so clearly "crafted" and "meta", that the characters do not really feel like actual people that do stuff due to their own motivations, but because they are part of this storytelling clockwork that is constructed to comment on human nature...

The characters are fascinating and fun, but due to the high degree of stylization and the meta-perspective of the narrator they also feel very... artificial? Don't get me wrong, I love the book, but in a way it doesn't really feel like a novel and more like a parable or lesson - written by a very intelligent and witty person...

Does anyone else feel similarly?

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

I think this is the perfect explanation as to why I can't read Pratchett. I love the humour, and I very much admire his work, but I need to be invested in a character to really enjoy a book, and I'm simply not able to with these books. I feel the same way about the hitchhiker books. They are a step outside of reality and it isn't so much that there are no consequences, as I don't feel concerned about the consequences. There is a distance, for sure.

[Julie]

I enjoyed it, but yes: I felt I was along for a ride and just rolling with it.

Going to be honest: I occasionally had a hard time keeping track of all the subplots. It took me longer than it should have to catch on to what glingleglingleglingle meant because in my head I assumed:

Jingling sound = sleigh bells = Hogfather = the consequence of Teatime's actions means that the Hogfather is connected with B. S. Johnson's Bathroom somehow. Now that I've read it, I'll recognize the nonspecific description of the "new being" for what it is and not assume it to be an amnesiac figure who must learn the meaning of Hogswatchnight to Remember Who He Is.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "I think this is the perfect explanation as to why I can't read Pratchett. I love the humour, and I very much admire his work, but I need to be invested in a character to really enjoy a book, and I'..."

I think this might be why I've only stuck with the Tiffany Aching subseries. You really get a story with arc with those books, starting from her childhood, and they get darker as she ages and has to deal more with Winter....

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Thanks, Jenny. I might give them a try. :)

[Lee]

i found Hogfather to be the hardest review I wrote all year.

[Albert]

Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "Thanks, Jenny. I might give them a try. :)"

I can also recommend the City Watch storyline if you want a tighter story and more character growth. Starting with Guards! Guards! and continues with Men at Arms and my personal favorite Feet of Clay.
The recurring cast grows older and wiser, there is friendship and loss and in the background the city of Ankh-Morpork gets more and more developed.

[Nils]

The Death books are prone to this, as they very directly handle the archetypes and the universe that runs on Narrativum.

[Caitlin]

I think this sums it up well for how I felt as well. I kept reading because I liked the quotes, and I was very happy I didn't lem it because of the bit with the sun, but I didn't connect with any of the characters. I suspect that is why I didn't finish until yesterday - I had to push myself to go back to it to finish.