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Title: Dodger
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Historical fiction
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: A street urchin rescues a young woman from thugs and goes on to meet most of the interesting personages from Victorian London a la Forrest Gump.
Thoughts: Ostensibly set in Victorian London, Dodger is a charming little romp through history. Dickens, Disraeli, Sweeney Todd, and more make appearances (some longer than others) as Dodger tries to figure out who is menacing a young woman and rescue her from them.
The endless references are somewhat cutesy (Dickens, for example, keeps sprinkling his dialogue with the titles of his future books) but I found them to be entertaining. The footnotes are an odd thing--some are humorous asides similar to the Discworld footnotes, while others are actual genuine footnotes. It's clear that Pratchett loves the Victorian period and London (and especially London's sewers). He sprinkles in every bit of random trivia that occurs to him, usually to amusing effect.
It's also rather clear how very much Ankh-Morpork is drawn from that Victorian London, down to the terrifyingly sludgey Thames.
It's a sweet little story that has fewer laugh-out-loud moments than some of his other works, but is nonetheless funny and even a bit heartwarming.
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Historical fiction
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: A street urchin rescues a young woman from thugs and goes on to meet most of the interesting personages from Victorian London a la Forrest Gump.
Thoughts: Ostensibly set in Victorian London, Dodger is a charming little romp through history. Dickens, Disraeli, Sweeney Todd, and more make appearances (some longer than others) as Dodger tries to figure out who is menacing a young woman and rescue her from them.
The endless references are somewhat cutesy (Dickens, for example, keeps sprinkling his dialogue with the titles of his future books) but I found them to be entertaining. The footnotes are an odd thing--some are humorous asides similar to the Discworld footnotes, while others are actual genuine footnotes. It's clear that Pratchett loves the Victorian period and London (and especially London's sewers). He sprinkles in every bit of random trivia that occurs to him, usually to amusing effect.
It's also rather clear how very much Ankh-Morpork is drawn from that Victorian London, down to the terrifyingly sludgey Thames.
It's a sweet little story that has fewer laugh-out-loud moments than some of his other works, but is nonetheless funny and even a bit heartwarming.
