Reaper Man

[Perdita X]

Something someone said somewhere on here (note the detailed precision of my recall!!) about Reaper Man being their fave DW book and my recollection of one of the denouement scenes towards the end has made me pick it up for an umpteenth re-read.

i had forgotten about the Whole Windle Poons being undead storyline and how this is the book where the bursar totally loses it !!!

Some hilarious lines so far!!

I think this is the one with the shopping mall and guerilla activity by the wizards - cant wait to get to that bit

Oh and I got the farmer lady's name wrong - I said Flitwick, it's Flitworth of course - lose 10 house points and stand in corner

 

[mspanners]

Reaper man is one of the best books terry has wrtten it has both pathos and humor by the bucket load.... when Death took and then reunited Miss Flitworth with Her lost Love I really felt for all of them and it was a clever way of reconciling the fact that He had done His duty in a way that made it fine for all Three of them, She was reunited with Her Lover, the pair of them ended up together even though He was lost many Years before and Death had a clear conscience about it, as when He was working for Her he had experienced life and learnt what it means to mortals to live.... something He had not experienced before. One of the best parts is when He had His dream and it turned into a Nightmare when He spotted the name on the life timer....

And as you have said it also has funny parts and sub plots.... Ridcully and Wow-Wow sauce, Whindle Poons (Sad to see Him go at the end, I was hoping He would have been a permanent addition in the books as I found His negativity funny!)....

 

[swreader]

I quite agree--one of the books I enjoy re-reading. The mall thing is a bit odd, but it does provide some really funny bits. And I agree that the whole Windle Poons line (illustrating the problems that the Auditors cause in their attempt to dehumanize DEATH) is both funny and touching.

And I think this may be my favorite DEATH book--it explains the Death of Rats, but the most important part, I think, is DEATH's concern for humanity and his feeling that he now understands humans much better. The idea of cutting each single stalk rather than using the awful threshing machine illustrates his concern--and adds a certain amount of humor also.

 

[kakaze]

Something someone said somewhere on here (note the detailed precision of my recall!!) about Reaper Man being their fave DW book and my recollection of one of the denouement scenes towards the end has made me pick it up for an umpteenth re-read.

That was probably my introduction:

Pratchett is one of my favorite authors and I've been reading his s books since I was in High School. My mom introduced me to them with "Reaper Man" (her favorite character in the series is Death).

It's one of my favorites as well.

 

[The rat]

The book has one of my favorite lines in all the Discworld Cannon:

"LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?"

Just gives me chills!

Also the whole Sally and Death scene (the one with the new socks) makes me laugh!

This is one book that makes Terry's genius just not stand out, but seems to have shined a spot light, written it in neon and shouted it from the mountain tops as to how great Terry is!

The emotions in this book is just so moving that it does make my vision blurry in some spots.

BW, any seem my 3/8th Gripply?

 

[swreader]

The book has one of my favorite lines in all the Discworld Cannon:

"LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?"

Don't know that I would go quite that far, Doug--but I have to agree that this is a seriously underrated book. As I said before--this is my favorite DEATH book, and one which combines some serious thoughts (about the nature of life and death, love, responsibility for others) with some hilarious bits.

I find the Mall thing a slight weakeness--it's not quite as well developed as it might be. But the idea is uproariously funny, and the bit with the wizards charging in to fight the monster is funny, and a rather sharp slap at their humanity and sense. It is the "undead" who insist on saving the quasi-deceased wizard Windle Poons. I was rather sorry to see him go, also.

 

[The rat]

The book has one of my favorite lines in all the Discworld Cannon:

"LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?"

Don't know that I would go quite that far, Doug

I didn't say it was the best for everyone! Just me.

-

-but I have to agree that this is a seriously underrated book. As I said before--this is my favorite DEATH book, and one which combines some serious thoughts (about the nature of life and death, love, responsibility for others) with some hilarious bits.

I find the Mall thing a slight weakeness--it's not quite as well developed as it might be. But the idea is uproariously funny, and the bit with the wizards charging in to fight the monster is funny, and a rather sharp slap at their humanity and sense. It is the "undead" who insist on saving the quasi-deceased wizard Windle Poons. I was rather sorry to see him go, also.

I think it is underrated too. This one is far superior to Hogfather in regards to the human condition, while HF is about human thought processes. RM just tugs at mnay heart strings along the way.

It is nice to see Terry continue the Dean's military thinking to HF though! From YO! to HUT! and where will he go in UA????

You can tell that Terry is a BIG Alien's fan in the Mall scenes can't you?

 

[Bouncy Castle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PLHIOwBeg

I just found this on YouTube.

 

[Tonyblack]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PLHIOwBeg

I just found this on YouTube.

That never got made by Cosgrove and Hall unlike Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music. I think that introduction was as far as they got.

The Auditors in that piece are totally wrong in my opinion. They are supposed to be all exactly alike and have no personality and yet in that clip there three of them look different and have different voices - that makes them personalities, doesn't it?

 

[Bouncy Castle]

One of them was Welsh!!

 

[Tonyblack]

One of them was Welsh!!

Must have been from the Tax Office in Llanishen!

 

[Trish]

The Auditors in that piece are totally wrong in my opinion. They are supposed to be all exactly alike and have no personality and yet in that clip there three of them look different and have different voices - that makes them personalities, doesn't it?

Which is why three of them were zapped.
A thinking being cannot help developing personality.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

And it was the 1st appearance for the auditors wasn't it? (my memory is well-shot today) Yet another case of Terry working hypotheses out as he goes - 'tis a brilliant writer who can do that in full gallop as he goes along and as Trish says - that's the whole point. Sentience demands individualism otherwise we might as well all be Borgs - or bees maybe?

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Nothing wrong with Bees they are essential to us. Long live the bees sad that they are dying out in their thousands.

 

[swreader]

You're right, this is the first appearance (and in my personal opinion the best) of the Auditors who indeed are not (by Terry's later description of them in ToT) allowed to have personalities.

But I don't believe that it's their thinking or sentience that distinguishes the Auditors from humans. They are completely rational and, in RM have what seems to me to be a hive personality.

But when we get to ToT, the Auditors become personalities because they have individuality. And while they are still, at least by their own lights, totally rational, they develop emotions and other human characteristics. The infection begins with those who have incarnated, but spreads to those that Death and the other four Horsemen battle. And that, of course, is why the incarnated auditors not killed already will disappear when the bodies have to sleep. This is a subject Pratchett comes back to over and over--and I think that perhaps what makes man human, in Pratchett's view, is a combination of the sense of separateness, of individuality plus the concomitant development of emotions.

Dug, I agree that we need to be concerned with Bees (of whom Pratchett seems to be very fond as illustrated in the Bee Dance in HFOS). And bees have considerable intelligence, and ability to remember and communicate. But they do not appear to have the individual and separate personalities or the ability to feel emotions of humans. BTW, some progress seems to be being made in combating CCD, though there is a long way to go.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Re Bees - also in Lord & Ladies where Granny considers it her greatest feat of Borrowing when she becomes the Swarm...

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Yes but there are Ok in the land of XXXX.

 

[Trish]

But when we get to ToT, the Auditors become personalities because they have individuality.

And that, of course, is why the incarnated auditors not killed already will disappear when the bodies have to sleep.

This is a subject Pratchett comes back to over and over ... a combination of the sense of separateness, of individuality plus the concomitant development of emotions.

Hmm, maybe.

Sleep is the "little death." Why, just ask John Donne!
I read it to understand that the incarnated Auditors were afraid to sleep because they could not know if they would wake with their 'new' senses intact.


On another level, the Auditors are bloodless, impersonal accountants. Not only the bean-counters of the universe, but the embodiment of IRS and Inland Revenue agents.

Any (accidental) brush an (A)auditor may have with humanity /person is "not in keeping w/ the job" and compassion gets wiped clean by a good night's sleep.

 

[Trish]

I find the Mall thing a slight weakeness--it's not quite as well developed as it might be.

Swarm mentality.

I took my daughter to the mall last night.
When I picked her up 3 hours later, I didn't know who the hell she was.
Talked, walked, spoke like someone else. Better said is "everyone else."

 

[poohbcarrot]

I love reading swreader's posts because they use words and phrases I simply don't know the meaning of.

The three stages of love was particularly brilliant. 8) I thought love was indefineable, not pigeon-holed into one of three categories - none of which I'd ever heard before.

What does concomitant mean?