Nation

Title: Nation
Author: Terry Pratchett
Published: 2009 bu Corgi (orig. 2008)
Genre: The end of the wooorld!
Pages: 410


This is one of the books I rescued from the book-dumping neighbour some time ago! After reading time and time again on the internets that this is considered widely as one of Pratchett's best books, if not the best, I was glad to be able to just pick it off the shelf and get reading.

Mau is on his way home from the Boys' Island on a little canoe, ready and eager to become a man once he reaches the Nation. Daphne is in a big ship, on her way from England to the other side of the world to join her father. Then a huge wave rolls over the sea, ship, island and canoe, and nothing is how it used to be. Nothing will ever be the same again. The Nation is gone, the ship wrecked.

Nation is full of Pratchett's effortless humour, situations both amusing and heart-breaking, and quite a lot of food for thought! There are themes of identity, past and future, gods and beliefs, family and home. And souls. And bird vomit. But the book is not preachy: the pace doesn't drag, and you can read it as a great adventure. (Author's note at the end points out that whether you try thinking or not is up to you.)

I have to agree that this is pretty much Pratchett's greatest, even if Small Gods still reigns supreme. That one's really due for a re-read!


   'I know what happens to people who get bullied,' she shouted, even louder this time. 'They end up thinking they really are no good! It doesn't matter that they work so hard they fall asleep at their desks, it's still never enough! They get timid and jumpy and make wrong decisions, and that means more bullying because, you see, the bully is never going to stop, whatever they do, and my-- the person being bullied will do anything to make it stop, but it never will! I'm not going to put up with that, do you understand? If you don't mend your ways in very short order, there will be trouble, understand?'
   I'm shouting at a rock, she thought as her voice echoed off the mountain. What am I expecting it to do? Reply?
   'Is there anyone listening?' she yelled, and thought: What do I do if someone says 'yes'? For that matter, what do I do if they say 'no'?
   Nothing happened, in quite an offensive way, considering she'd taken a lot of trouble to get up here. 
   I've just been snubbed by a cave full of dead old men.