Nation - Books (Terry Pratchett, Hardcover)

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Customer Reviews of Nation

Jaelle
Spain
4th December 2008

The best of Pratchett
First of all I have to say that I love Discworld. I knew Nation was not a Discworld book, but it's a Prachett book and I thought it was worth a try.
And I was right. This is not Discwold, and, after reading it I wonder why does Pratchett lose his time writin Discworld when he can create such a wonderful book...
It's a story abot what makes us human, about love (not only to a person, but to your whole nation), about the nature of gods...
Read it, it will amaze you

debz
Scotland
3rd December 2008

Not what I expected.
I only gave this book 4 stars as I was expecting the usual side-splitting TP novel. It wasn't. It was still funny but not laugh-out-loud (except perhaps the shark story) and it didn't have the twisting and turning plots of his other novels. It was also fairly obvious where the story was going but what made it magical was the way in which the story was told. It's basically a story of growing up and the responsibility that brings but TP has such a creative way of explaining things that you won't be disappointed even if you did buy it like me expecting hours of hilarity. It's been a few weeks now since I read the book but I'm continually finding myself thinking about it. A book that makes you think about things is a good book. I'm glad I read it. Thank you TP. Can we have a Granny & Nanny one next though? We all need a bit of cheering up. xx

Werthead
Colchester, Essex United Kingdom
2nd December 2008

Pratchett at his most thoughtful
Terry Pratchett had been talking about a book called Nation he'd really wanted to write for almost half a decade when he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. According to rumour, he'd already begun working on the next Tiffany Aching Discworld novel, I Shall Wear Midnight, but upon hearing the news he dropped it immediately to make sure Nation was written first.

Nation is not a Discworld novel, but is instead set in an alternate history very similar to our own late 19th Century when the British Empire was at its height. A tidal wave sweeps across the Great Southern Pelargic Ocean (the South Pacific) and wipes out the tribal civilisation of the Mothering Sunday Islands. In particular, the island simply known as the Nation is totally destroyed, apart from a single young man named Mau. Mau finds himself alone on his island, until he discovers the crashed remains of a foreign ship and a pale-skinned young woman who initially tries to kill him, but later invites him to tea. Soon refugees from the crisis gather on the island, and Mau realises he has the choice to rebuild the old world, or choose to do something new with his nation...

Nation is Pratchett's most serious book since his 1992 classic, Small Gods. In fact, it shares some similarities with that book and acts as another treatise on faith, religion, atheism and morality. It is slower and more thoughtful than that earlier novel, where a younger and more angry Pratchett was in full-on fiery condemnation of blind fundamentalism, but works well due to those contrasts. It isn't as funny as a typical Pratchett book, although there are a few chuckles to be found here and there, particularly what appears to be a clever inverting of one of the premises of the TV show Lost in the final chapter and epilogue. However, it is also a more spiritual book, which is interesting given Pratchett gives New Age ideas pretty short shrift in his other books. But here things happen that can't be easily explained away by science, and it's debatable whether this is Pratchett perhaps considering things in a different light or simply a facet of this world which is different to our own (and is quite reminiscent of the gods in Discworld who exist purely because people believe in them, not the other way around).

Nation is being marketed as a YA novel, but it really isn't. It's depiction of tragedy and death in the opening chapters is pretty unflinching, and occasional moments of blood and cruelty abound throughout its length. Also, the central themes are pretty weighty and not something I see young children really getting into. However, for the adult reader Nation is an interesting and thought-provoking read which raises many interesting ideas and questions, whilst remaining entertaining and well-characterised.

Nation (****) is available in the UK from Doubleday and, with a spectacularly awful cover, in the USA from HaperCollins.

M. Scrivener

28th November 2008

Disappointing
As a great Pratchett fan I found this book bitterly disappointing. It drops everything that Pratchett is good at. There were no intricate plot, no strong characters and didn't have the magic that we have come to expect from such a great writer. I actually had trouble motivating myself to finish this book.

Friederike Knabe
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
11th November 2008

Island of Hope?
Pratchett's books for young people have a tendency to reach beyond the intended age group and are just as enjoyable and relevant for adults. His latest novel, "Nation", is no exception. Anybody who has read his Tiffany Aching books will also know that Pratchett also has a fondness for headstrong young girls, delighting in exemplifying how they grow more or less smoothly into maturity. In this delightful novel Daphne, or Ermintrude as she was named by her family, is another example. Just for the pleasure of meeting her, the book would be worth reading... but there is so much more to explore here.

Thirteen-year-old Daphne is pretty, smart and well-educated, and loved by her aristocratic father. After the death of her mother, she was brought up by her strict grandmother, who instils in her a sense of values and responsibility but also, unintentionally, inquisitiveness and independence of mind. She is the counter part to Mau, also thirteen, and the actual hero of the story. His Nation, a small island in the South Pelagic Ocean is a traditional, pre-industrial society where gods reign and the spirits of the grandfathers maintain the ritualistic order by communicating their instructions to the selected few. While on "Boy's island", where he had been preparing for the rites of passage into manhood ceremony, Mau was oblivious to the tsunami of unheard of proportion that swept over lands and islands. The village had assembled on the beach for his return and celebration when the wave swept them away, leaving a trail of destruction. He reaches Nation in the aftermath of the disaster and discovers that he is all alone. Well, not quite... The ship that was to bring Daphne to her father in Port Mercia stranded on Mau's island leaving her with only a talkative parrot for company.

The story follows the two young people from worlds apart - without a common language and even gestures - who have to overcome their mutual suspicion and distrust and grow individually and together to become the centre of a new community as survivors from surrounding islands and from further afield seeking refuge with them. With great sensitivity and imagination, Pratchett explores the coming of age process in both. He exquisitely tackles the conflicts in Mau's mind between his old society steeped in mythology and hierarchy and the new reality where beliefs and rituals have to be questioned and new codes of morality be established. Daphne also has to develop a new understanding of society where class and privilege have no meaning. There are any number of challenges the young people have to face, starting with finding food and milk for a baby. There are pirates and renegades to deal with and much more... Can they, together with the diverse collections of refugees build a better and more hopeful Nation?

Pratchett's style is as always fluid and smooth, his imagery perceptive and innovative. His sense of humour, mostly subtle, shines through many sections. There are a few slow sections that a young person might skim over searching for the action on the next page. For adults the novel has many layers of narrative, food for thought on our perceptions of cultures, traditions and communication. [Friederike Knabe]