It was given to me as a gift. Since I am a letter carrier the subject of the story was compelling.
In it, a con man, Moist von Lipwig, is given a choice - death for his crimes or to be hired as the postmaster of the defunct Ankh-Morpork post office.
The writing style was a cross between Monty Python and Douglas Adams. Obviously Pratchett was a genius of the English language. The man could turn a phrase.
The story itself was filled with terrific, eccentric characters that I very much enjoyed.
Lord Havelock Vetinari, Mr. Pump, and Adora Belle Dearheart were some of my favourites.
The action was manic but always fun and knowingly silly. The competition between the evil corporation that runs Discworld's version of a cellular system and the post office was the set piece of the story.
But it was in the conclusion where I found a passage which articulated the flaw in comparing a civil service to a for-profit system that struck a cord in my heart.
... or maybe it was something so big that no one could run it at a profit. Maybe it was like the Post Office, maybe the profit turned up spread around the whole of society.
This was the warm spot of the book for me. Sometimes, even silly bit of fiction, can put its finger on society and explain the heart of it in just one observation.
This is the kind of thing that makes reading, be it fiction or non, so worthwhile. It is the ability to share insight. What a wonderful thing!
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