EPTAs an adult, I was worried that they would be too much like kids books. How I underestimated the skill and craft of Terry Pratchett.
Spoilers ahead!
Truckers
“I. Woe unto you, Ironmongri and Haberdasheri; woe unto you, Millineri and Del Icatessen; woe unto you, Young Fashions, and unto you, you the bandits of Corsetry. And even unto you, Stationeri.
II. For the Store is but a Place inside the Outside.
III. Woe unto you, for Arnold Bros (est. 1905) has opened the Last Sale. Everything Must Go.
IV. But they mocked him and said, You are an Outsider, You don't even Exist.
From The Book of Nome, Goods Inward v.I-IV”
II. For the Store is but a Place inside the Outside.
III. Woe unto you, for Arnold Bros (est. 1905) has opened the Last Sale. Everything Must Go.
IV. But they mocked him and said, You are an Outsider, You don't even Exist.
From The Book of Nome, Goods Inward v.I-IV”
Probably the most childlike of the three books, Truckers places our heroic 'outside' nomes, who have lived and scavenged from a field near a motorway their whole life, in a situation where they are forced out of their comfort zone, to experience something completely new. They find Arnold Bros (est 1905) after hitching a ride on a lorry and discover store nomes. The store nomes don't believe that there is an outside, and think that Arnold Bros (1905) is some kind of deity who protects them and ensures their survival.
They are too busy fighting amongst each other for the various powerful positions in the store, and are divided into factions based on departments of the store. Most of them don't even care about the outsiders, and some even go as far as to pretend they don't exist in order that they can hang on to their rapidly crumbling world view.
The metaphor here is fairly obvious, even to a child, and Pratchett's observational style of humour runs rampant in this one. It is also probably the most action oriented of all the three books.
A highly amusing read, but not quite as developed as the two books 8/10
Diggers
In Diggers, we are first introduced to the bromeliad that gave the trilogy its name. It is only mentioned briefly by Grimma in a sad, pride filled exchange where Masklin leaves on a mission and they refuse to acknowledge that they'll miss each other. Masklin, of course, doesn't get the metaphor, and neither do any of the other nomes.
Learning about this metaphor, and to think metaphorically, is a huge theme in the final two books of the trilogy.
The bromeliad is a flower that exists in the jungles of South America. In this flower, pools of water arise in which frogs live. The tiny frogs live their entire lives in this flower, never once venturing out, they live there, give birth there, an die there. If the frogs ever leave the flower, they would have to develop an entire new system of thinking to be able to survive in the outside.
This is a great metaphor for the plight of the nomes, and of humans in the real world. If you truly want to experience new things, you have to be able to discard the beliefs that you hold most dear and keep a flexible mind.
Of course, its not that easy for the nomes.
Many people have criticised these books for being heavily anti-religion for kids' books. I don't think they are, and i think Diggers is the perfect illustration of this.
“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”
Religion is viewed here as something which grounds us, which allows us to understand fully the world that we currently reside in. The weakness of religion is that once we step outside of our comfortable world and experience new things, it becomes more and more difficult to apply to our situation. It is not religion that this book is against, but the idea of holding onto something at all costs, even when that thing becomes irrelevant.
Diggers is an excellent book, even though some of the character development is quite cliche, and it has a huge amount to say about people and why they act the way they do. It is a great book for kids and adults alike! 9/10
Wings
there's a type of frog that lays eggs in the pools and tadpoles hatch and grow into new frogs and these little frogs live their whole lives in the flowers right at the top of the trees and don't even know about the ground, and once you know the world is full of things like that, your life is never the same.”
Wings is where the story of the nomes turns sci-fi. It also has some especially cute observations about humans, as nomes communicate for the first time ever with humans and attempt to understand their behaviour.
They really want to believe in... I mean they spend all their time making up stories about things that don't exist. They think its just themselves in the world. We never thought like that. We also knew there were humans. They're terribly lonely and don't know it.
The story has a brilliant ending in Wings, I won't spoil it here in case anyone hasn't read the books, but its almost perfect the way the series finishes. The final book being basically the story of only 3 characters is fantastic too, as some real character development occurs, and you can truly see the change that is coming over everyone. Masklin learns to understand metaphor, Angalo learns even more about driving stuff, and Gurder learns about how to cope with a world where all of his beliefs are constantly being turned upside down.
Wings is my favourite book of the series, the sci fi elements are perfectly visualized, and the story is more focussed due to fewer characters. 10/10
