Nation

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Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#83
Mixa said:
=Tamar said:
I love that the name is "Imo" - internet slang for "In my opinion".
Oooh, I never thought about that! :laugh: Maybe the Spanish translator should have changed the name to Emo = En Mi (Humilde) Opinión.

Mx
Plus, Terry has mentioned that people who post IMO or IMHO were really annoying to him. To him it meant that the user was completely disregarding the rest of the opinions in the conversation. I always think of Terry when I see IMO or IMHO
 

Dotsie

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jul 28, 2008
9,068
2,850
#84
Terry said:
"...something that distinguishes the Mr. Windlings of the universe is the term "in my humble opinion," which they think adds weight to their statements rather than indicating, in reality, "these are the mean little views of someone with the social grace of duckweed".”
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#86
Going back to the discussion about whether the book is "dark" - I would say that, yes it is very dark. A young man whose world and just about everything he knew, has been literally wiped out. The grieving process that he goes through, the burying of the dead, the wish that he had died along with his world is incredibly dark. Terry deliberately takes everything away from him - everything except the person he is deep inside. The darkness is such that it says that sometimes everything must be destroyed if it is to be rebuilt and rebuilt better - with new ideas. Mau discovers his past and that discovery also destroys a part of him. It destroys his faith in the gods, but reveals the power of humanity. This is just the darkness of Mau's journey. Just about all of the other characters also go through a destruction of their beliefs and a reawakening. They find who they are and not who other people tell them to be.

The main female character also goes through a huge change due to having her personal world destroyed. She changes her name from Ermintrude to Daphne, a move that is a part of her breaking away from her pampered privileged life. Unlike Mau, it seems she wasn't particularly religious. She had a scientific mind that she had not really been allowed to improve. In the Nation she has to use her scientific mind, but also learn to be human. The bizarre scenes where she is trying to hang on to her class structure is excellent because, like Mau's religion, she had clung to it until she realised just how useless it was to her.
 

Mixa

Sergeant
Jan 1, 2014
1,017
2,750
Barcelona, Catalonia
#87
I completely agree! I think it's one of the darkest Pratchett books I've read. It blew me away... It's deep, and hilarious, and harsh... Every time I read it I like it even more!

Mx
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
15,992
3,400
47
Melbourne, Victoria
#88
I found Nation more deep and uplifting than dark. I think Nation ranks up there with "Small Gods" in terms of depth of thinking.

I still think that Terry's darkest novel is a toss-up between "Night Watch" and "I Shall Wear Midnight". For me, NW signalled a new direction in Terry's writing - it was a very powerful book, and very, very funny too.

ISWM, for me, is dark mainly because I am familiar with the history of witch-hunts. The Cunning Man, especially, was enough to nearly give me nightmares. It's evident that Terry is familiar with witch-hunts, too. I was particularly struck by how viciously Roland - and the Chalk - turn on Tiffany and the Wee Free Men here.

And just think of poor Amber Petty and her miscarriage in ISWM. She's only thirteen. :-(
 

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