by asleif_dufansdottir 6 Replies latest social entertainment
OK - Who here has read this book?? I'm in the middle of it and it's a great sardonic commentary on religion...especially abusive patriarchal religion...
To those of you who have had the misfortune of not being acquainted with Terry Pratchett...Go Get It if you like that kind of fiction. Very similar to Douglas Adams and some other irreverent and amusing authors.
Small Gods is wonderfabutastic. In another Pratchett book, Pyramids, there is some pretty cool religious commentary; where the High Priest is outraged when the gods have the temerity, not just to actually exist, but also to turn up and start doing god-like things. They shatter the falsehoods of the beliefs built around them and totally ignore him.
But Small Gods is better. Pratchett is one of the best comedic writers alive. It's all set in this world on the back of four elephants who stand on a giant turtle that swims through interstellar space with this little sun orbiting around it. Magic is real. Light travels at the speed of sound. And interspersed amongst the stories are some of the best observational humour and social commentary that you can find.
I love Pratchett - some of my friends have told me I am a scary combination of Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax (they didn't say which parts of who but I can guess)
Terry Pratchett may well be God, as far as I'm concerned. A brilliant writer, who can make me laugh and think at the same time.
Expatbrit
I've read the book, too. It's excellent, as is all of his stuff.
Quotes from Small Gods
"Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure."
This section brings to mind JWs and shunning...This is Didactylos, a philosopher from another city, talking to Brutha (the protagonist) about whether people are sure they have "the truth" in their religion:
"And in your Citadel I saw a crowd stoning a man to death in a pit. Ever seen that?"
"It has to be done, " Brutha mumbled. "So the soul can be shriven and-"
"Don't know about the soul. Never been that kind of a philosopher," said Didactylos. "All I know is, it was a horrible sight."
"The state of the body is not-"
"Oh, I'm not talking about the poor bugger in the pit," said the philosopher. "I'm talking about the people throwing the stones. They were sure all right. They were sure it wasn't them in the pit. You could see it in their faces. So glad it wasn't them that they were throwing just as hard as they could."
Brutha speaking to his god Om (who is quite like Jehovah, actually) who has had an unfortunate reduction in his power base (gods need people to believe in them to have power):
"You could have helped people," said Brutha. "But all you did was stamp around and roar and try to make people afraid. Like...like a man hitting a donkey with a stick. But people like Vorbis (the bad guy, a priest) made the stick so good, that's all the donkey ends up believing in."
"That could use some work, as a parable," said Om sourly.
"This is real life I'm talking about!"
"It's not my fault if people misuse the-"
"It is! It has to be! If you muck up people's minds just because you want them to believe in you, what they do is all your fault!"
As I said. I think the book is a brilliant treatise on religion and how people react to it. I even see a bit of myself in good old Sgt. Simony, who is furious at the gods for not existing Matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few of us on this board aren't good and peeved at ol' Jehovah for not existing the way he was supposed to.
Small Gods is arguably the best book he ever wrote! Very funny a very deep at the same time...
Another real good one is Guards Guards! (a secret society summons a dragon, spoof on The Hobbit and secret societies, one of the members of this secret society is Brother Watchtower... :) )
Good Omens written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman takes a spin on Revelation and end-time prophesies, witnesses are mentioned ofcourse. Very Very Funny!!
Interested in science? Read The Science of Discworld. This is not like those other books with The Science of in the title like The Science of Startrek. Rather, it is a humorous look on the origins and headings of science, very deep. It uses the wizards of Unseen University to illustrate parts of current science and to add some humor to it all.
I enjoyed reading Pyramids but do not consider it very good. I liked the inside look into the assassin's guild, yet the rest of the book was...well, not that good.
Well just my two cents...
Greven a big fan of TP, Douglas Adams, Black Adder, Monty Python etc etc
