Author: Terry PratchettTitle: Making MoneyFormat: eBookRating: 5/5I love Terry Pratchett. Love, love, love him. He's funny, which in my book is one of the most important qualities an author can have. He's warm and he's smart, which makes his humour smart and his books smart as well. Prior to reading Making Money, I'd read Mort and Reaper Man. Then I stopped, I was attracted to other shiny books but I already knew Pratchett and I were in for the long run. You don't forget such impeccable writing - it's like coming home.So Making Money isn't about Death (though Death has a cameo), it's about Moist, who's much more down to earth. Moist is a thief who was hanged, well, almost hanged and who almost died. He was hanged but he survived and so people think he must be special and must have something to accomplish. Destiny, signs and all that jazz. He's made Postmaster General, that is he's put in charge of the Post Office (I don't know but I'm guessing all this happens in Going Postal, which I have yet to read, one of the many good things about Terry's books is that you can pick them up in any order, you'll miss some jokes but you'll laugh all the same). And then when this is not enough, he's put in charge of the Bank. Hence, Making Money.The Bank is owned by an unforgettable woman, Mrs Lavish, who then proceeds to die. She leaves her share of the bank (51%) to a dog called Mr Fusspot. Moist must then manage the bank with Mr Fusspot while fighting the influence of every Lavish who wants their share of the bank. Moist is also still a thief at heart and can't help taking advantage of his new position (so yes, destiny my foot). There's also something going on with Golems, which I thought provided with an interesting parallel regarding racism in our world (it's not just me, look at that sentence: 'This march was against the employment of golems, who uncomplainingly did the dirtiest jobs, worked around the clock, and were so honest they paid their taxes. But they weren't human and they had glowing eyes, and people could get touchy about that sort of thing.')The cast of characters is colourful and fully developed and the humour is flawless and effortless. What I like most about Pratchett is that he delivers extremely funny lines while making incredibly spot-on comments on the nature of humanity and on society. It's this clever blend of wit and wisdom (and wisdom through wit) that I adore and the reason why I keep coming back to Pratchett. He gets it. Making Money is an incredibly entertaining read and if you read it carefully, it's an incredibly thought-provoking read. Terry tackles everything from the making of a society and what money is worth (very very interesting philosophical concepts here when Moist introduces paper money and keeps being quizzed about its value as compared to gold) to how institutions are made are thrive (Apparently, to get a job in the Mint, you had to wait until someone died; it was a case of Dead Man's Sheds. Illuminating the bright side, however, was the fact that when your prospective vacancy became available you got the job even if you were only slightly less dead than the previous incumbent. BUT ALSO the following genius quote: When he got back to the Post Office, Moist looked up the Lavish family in Whom's Whom. They were indeed what was known as 'old money', which meant that it had been made so long ago that the black deeds which had originally filled the coffers were now historically irrelevant. Funny, that: a brigand for a father was something you kept quiet about, but a slave-taking pirate for a great-great-great-grandfather was something to boast of over the port. Time turned the evil bastards into rogues, and rogue was a word with a twinkle in its eye and nothing to be ashamed of.)I love, love, love Pratchett. And I loved, loved, loved Making Money. Have you read it? If you've reviewed it on your journal I'd love to read your thoughts and I'll link to them here so don't hesitate to drop me a comment. If you have yet to discover it, I envy you for you're in for a treat.
As I believe I may have mentioned in an earlier review (if, perhaps irnonically of a later book) it's a bit of a curious business reading Pratchett these days. Back in the day, when I was somewhat smaller or maybe everyone else was a little taller, his books seemed the most remarkable of things. Not only all sorts of funny but also supremely engaging in their plots and the art of their storytelling as well. Now that I am somewhat older, if not particularly wiser, a good deal of the funny still remains but somehow the stories themselves don't quite hold so much to captivate and excite as they once did. I'm not entirely certain if it's me, and all that proper literature I've read in the meantime has somehow spoiled me, or the stories themselves that have changed. Either ways, this was indeed all kinds of fun and amusing to read but never really seemed to quite capture the old magic despite a few moments that occasionally threatened to prove exciting and unexpectedly twisty. By and large though the most unexpected thing about this tale is probably how unexpected everything turns out to be. Even the sudden arrival of a massive army of golems feels like it holds little of the peril or excitement that it could. I ponder perhaps that the Discworld and its characters have perhaps just become too familiar so that even the relatively recent creations of Moist von Lipwig and company seem somewhat formulaic. I do recall though that in the first Pratchett novel I read, Men at Arms, one of the main good guys was actually killed yet here there really seems little threat of any bad things happening to good people. This is perhaps even more surprising in a novel on the banking system, published at the height of the real world banking crisis. With the possible exception of Thud! these later works of Pratchett haven't quite inspired me as perhaps they once did my adolescent mind which somehow seems a little sad but everything changes I suppose does it not? Hm, ah well, I can't really complain too greatly I suppose. It's funny and it has moments of excitement if the mysteries may not be quite as mysterious as they might once have seemed nor the adventures quite so exciting there's still fun and enjoyments to be had in reading this.
What do You think about Making Money (2007)?
10/01/2007: Wow, this was great. Mind, I think the book is somewhat flawed. There were a few storylines that seemed really promising but didn't go anywhere, like Cosmo Lavish and Heretofore. Going Postal was much more tightly written, as I remember. PTerry should have saved Cosmo's mania for a different book. Maybe he will write one still, and maybe it'll be a Watch book! *crosses fingers* But on the whole, it was a really fun book, one that opened up so many new directions for future books to take. And it was great to see Moist again. In that respect at least, Making Money did Going Postal justice.Lastly, it boggles the mind that Pratchett can write a book about going off the gold standard and make it fun and exciting. I would have actually preferred that he include more detail about the economics of it all, but oh well.9/24/07: Somehow I missed that a new Discworld novel came out. I guess what with all the quasi-Discworld Tiffany books, I kind of forgot Pterry actually wrote those other books, about Ankh-Morpork and Vetinari and stuff. This I will be starting tomorrow or tonight, the moment I finish the last 100 pages of The Woman in White.
—Maria
I just reread this (again). It's the 36th Discworld novel and a direct sequel to Going Postal, the 33rd Discworld book. One of the great things about this series is that each book builds onto the fantasy world that Terry Pratchett has created, giving it the feel of a real place with a history and characters known to the reader, which just happens to point out things about the 'real' world in the way only great fiction can. This offering is fine treatise on economics and from whence true wealth originates. For absorbing, enjoyable fiction with a point, you can't do better than Discworld.
—D.L. Morrese
Much in the way of Terry Pratchett books, making money is an adventure filled with laughs, innuendos, jokes, intrigue and mystery. Filled with moments to make you laugh out loud and moments that inspire an inward 'ooo' of interest, Making Money is a book that i have deeply enjoyed reading.This book, set in Terry Pratchett huge and immersive Discworld, follows the story of unlikely and unwilling hero Moist Von Lipwig and follows on from the events of Going Postal and we do some familiar faces cropping up here and there, as well as a showering of new faces and names. With characters ranging from the dark, grim and dangerous to the mad, bizarre and insane and everything in between we get a rich sense of diversity and a small taste of just how big the city of Ankh-Morpork can be. Each character will eventually find a reason to be loved, either through their cunning schemes, their intelligence (or lack there of), their big sad eyes, their cowardly nature or some other reason, each one will eventually worm and barge their way into your good books (yes, even the baddies).While it may not be as the same quality as 'Going Postal' (Moist and co's first appearance) it is still something that helped me to find some escape and entry into a fantasy world that is not like most. A fantasy world that's dirty, seedy, teeming with a criminal and backhanded underworld, not a bright population (save a precious few), filled with magic that can only be described as temperamental, dangerous and iffy, and overall a fantasy world I would happily sprint back to over and over again.It's in a style that's wonderfully written in a way that manages to be fanciful and slang at the same time, a style that could be found perhaps in classic literature and at the same time in a way that might be a transcript of a conversation overheard in a pub, it's easily to get into and easy to follow, making sure nobody is left behind on jokes or the plot, a wonderful quality in any book and any book that can accomplish this feat is a sure keeper.If you haven't picked up a Terry Pratchett book then go out and fix this as soon as possible.
—Tristan
