Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

Going Postal was the first book by Terry Pratchett I've ever read. It's set in his Discworld, and as an introduction I actually felt that I wasn't missing much by not knowing all about the Discworld before-hand. Pratchett is obviously well-known and much-read, as there are 34 books in his Discworld series. That's pretty amazing.

As far as writing goes, though, I can see why people like him so much. I mean, I did too. He's funny, but the story is never just a punchline. I mean, it was a good story with solid, well-developed characters that you couldn't help liking (or not, as the case may be). The plot was interesting, but this was no thriller and there was hardly a plot twist to be seen. You could practically see the end coming from a quarter of the way through the book. But all that was alright, since it was thoroughly entertaining anyway (and hey, if you can watch TV, you can deal with completely transparent plots).

What I found most interesting about the book though, was its subtext. On the surface, the book was about one man's struggles to re-establish the postal service in Ankh-Morpork after years of dereliction and decay. But as Wikipedia says:

Going Postal, as a Discworld novel, is filled with references and parodies — here the references include GNU, crackers (specifically, phreakers), AT&T, and The Smoking Gun. A critique of libertarianism is also a theme in the book, dovetailing with an extended parody of Atlas Shrugged and more generally the works of Ayn Rand.

As usual, comedic satire is the best way to illustrate the flaws in others' arguments. It's too difficult to explain, but part of the story is the postal service's competition with the much faster "clacks" communication system. The difference is the postal service is a government function whereas the clacks is privately owned. It's not a direct parallel, but it's a parody of what happens when there is a complete lack of government oversight, and actually it makes a compelling argument. I think it's great that Pratchett can write a fun, good story, but also work satire and social commentary into it. In short, good work.