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Summary: A Hogswatch carol
Review: The dark time of the year is filled with chaos, and so is this book, despite the efforts of the Auditors, nasty little bastards that they are. They want to eliminate the Hogfather and so prevent the sun from coming up, thus stopping the messy, disorganized process of life. (Hint: the whole mystery here centers around belief and the control of it).
A question provides a subtheme throughout the action: "What IS the real meaning of Christmas/Hogswatch?"
The easy answers, like the wishful, naive, simplistic, theme of "Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was nice?" (the Discworld is notoriously pantheistic) are juxtaposed harshly against reality. The commercialism of the merchant ("...but he's GIVING the stuff away!") while down the street The Little Match Girl freezes to death in the cold and snow, only to be rescued by Death as The Hogfather, pointing out that that's how it SHOULDN'T go, is pure Pratchett irony...seemingly gentle, but sharper than a diamond scalpel. Humans can't be bothered, but the Hogfather can give a gift...and a life is a pretty good one.
Another 'real meaning' is explored too, in Albert's voice, bone-real as in "Will there be enough food to get us through the winter after the pigs are slaughtered?"...
This moves even further back to the sacrificial blood on the snow bringing back the sun and renewing the earth after the winter solstice. Old gods do new jobs.
'Charity' also comes in for a scrutiny here ("..not what you want to give them, but what they need to get").
My personal favorite comparison here is Death as the Hogfather, pillow, fake beard, scythe and all, held up against the poor, fat, red-suited guy who has been demoted to going "ho ho ho" and passing out toys. Now Death is a Hogfather with 'NADS...in a manner of speaking.
Pterry has written a story that is impossible to explain without telling it, it has so many layers. The best thing to do is just read it, wait some time, and then read it again. Repeat this many times. You will get or learn something different each time you do so.
HO. HO. HO.
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Summary: My First Trip to Discworld
Review: "Hogfather" is the first Terry Pratchett book that I read, based on a strong and enthusiastic recommendation. I am sorry I did not discover Pratchett earlier. His writing is filled with laugh-out-loud moments and peppered with sharp insights into the ways humans function. He has created a marvelously warped, but awfully familiar universe with his Discworld. "Hogfather" is largely a satire about Christmas and the way that we celebrate it; but it is more importantly about the beliefs that shape who we are and the strength those beliefs have over us.
The basis for "Hogfather" is that the Hogfather has been "killed" and Death must take over the reins in order to ensure that the sun will rise the next morning, as well as to try to bring back the Hogfather. As he crisscrosses the world on Hogswatch Eve, he is startled by the lack of belief that he encounters in his interactions with humans. Surely something is wrong in the universe if humans don't belief in the Hogfather and it is Death's task, along with others, to try to set things right.
The novel includes a wide cast of characters who are believable and add to the rich tapestry of Pratchett's yarn. We are allowed to see the story from various vantage points as we discover what is the cause behind this lack of belief. We laugh out loud at the escapades of the Oh-God of Hangovers and the other various 'gods' who have strangely gained entrance into Discworld. Yet the best storyline involves Susan Sto-
Helit; as Death's grand-daughter, she would like nothing more than to live a normal life as a governess, but inevitably finds herself wrapped up in the plot to save the Hogfather and restore order to Discworld.
Pratchett is a highly entertaining author. He balances the wit and humor of his story with sharp (and sometimes biting) observations about life. I look forward to more trips into Discworld.
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Summary: The best Pterry I ever read.
Review: After reading about 10 Pterrys this is the one book I would give my mother to start reading Terry Pratchett. It's a fantastic story about Death who represents Hogfather, the Discworld version of Santa Claus. Unfortunately Hogfather has some problems with the Revisores (or however they are called in the english version). Susanne, Death's daughter, helps him to rescue Hogfather. I like this book because we learn a lot more about Death and his family and Death actually is the best character in all Discworld books.
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Summary: One of the Weakest Discworld Novels
Review: An incoherent mess. When a crazed asassin is hired by the Auditors to bring down the Hogfather, the reduction in overall belief allows new gods to pop into being as quickly as they are thought up: the "oh god" (the god of hangovers), the god of indigestion, a sock-eating fairy, and a miscellany of vicious childhood fears all come to life. Death has to take on the Hogfather's job so that people will keep believing in him. This setup has humor potential -- the pagan roots of Christmas could have made for an interesting subject -- but this book comes off as entirely too dark and mean; it plays at presenting a real philosophy, but this is really just a kind of cover or excuse glued on to a wretched excess of weak storytelling and bad editing. The humor features enemas, urinating pigs, vomiting gods, horrifying gluttony, a deranged crow constantly on the hunt for eyeballs to eat, and is largely just distasteful, a kind of Grand Guignol of snow, holly and mistletoe. Teatime is a vicious sociopath. Susan, Death's granddaughter, plays a major role here, and she's a great character, but not likable enough to make the whole book enjoyable. Worst of all, the Hogfather himself doesn't ever actually make an appearance as himself, but only as a sort of mythological object; we never do find out quite what happened to him and how how the army of mind-controlled children actually brought him down. Instead of this much-needed basic storytelling and characterization we get pliers-wielding tooth fairies and developmentally disabled thieves. The effect is rather like the trick played on the diners at a fine restaurant: instead of the delicacies on the menu, they get boiled shoe leather in mud sauce, but like the average reviewer on Amazon, the diners seem unable to taste the difference. Pratchett does supply his usual quota of great puns, and there are funny moments in this book, but speaking as someone who is more cynical about Christmas than just about anyone I know: Pratchett must truly despise the holiday to give us this steaming pile of... um, holiday cheer.
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Summary: Hogfather: A Novel of Discworld
Review: Another brilliant book by this author. Having read all of his books (several times)I can't say that any one of them ranks as the out and out best, but this one certainly comes close to being my favourite. Any book featuring DEATH as the Discworld's equivilent to Santa has to be good. His attempts to understand human nature are hilarious, especially when he gets things wrong. Albert is also a favourite character of mine. The scene in the fairy grotto is the best in the book. Definitely a laugh-out-loud book.
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Summary: It has it all...
Review: By far, this book is the best of the Discworld series and in my top 5 favorite books. It had me cracking up just purely by the writer's style. It was truely enjoyable.
All in all, I think this book would make an excellant movie, if done properly.
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Summary: Perfect Pratchett
Review: Hogfather is yet another Discworld novel by English humor and satire writer Terry Pratchett. It is just as addictive and fun as all before and after it. While listening to Death, his unwilling granddaughter and the constantly ill God of Hangovers, the story of the missing Hogfather, a figure similar to Santa Claus, unfolds. The main story is incredibly amusing, but equally engrossing are the stories within the story of minor and rather odd Gods, Death's family discourse, and the existence of bogeymen, beasts and wizards.
This novel appeals to a wide variety of readers. Each person will extract something different from the story. Younger readers will enjoy the humor while older readers will appreciate the upside down philosophy and satire of Discworld. All that is really required to adore Hogfather is a sense of fun and mischief and of course one afternoon to gallivant with Death's granddaughter, the Assassins' Guild and a whole slough of wizards.
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Summary: Terry Must Have Had a Bad Holiday
Review: I just read this one again after a hiatus of about two years, and I like it not. Even more than the Rincewind books, this is the weakest plot, laziest characterization, and least wise & witty dialogue of the Discworld stories, and I've read 'em all except A MONSTROUS REGIMENT. The story is so obvious. Like the Rincewind novels, much of the writing is archly superior, with the usual silly wizards (apologies to Celtic music buffs), the villains painted as utterly idiotic or psychopathic, like Mr. Teatime, and main protagonists, Death and his family, seldom on stage till the second half. It left me wondering what had happened to the humanistic Mr. Pratchett this go-around. Usually I'm very fond of the "Death" and "Susan" books, but not this one. The last couple of chapters do redeem the story to some extent, but all I can figure is that Mr. P. had a really disappointing Hogfathernight just before he wrote this book.
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Summary: The Hogfather is Death serious
Review: It is the night before Hogwatch. Everyone on the Discworld is getting in their best shape to swallow down many courses of pure artery congesting meals. The Dean of the Unseen University in particular is now able to lift a twenty-pound turkey on one fork. Of course, not every table is collapsing under the weight of a Hogwatchnight Dinner. Some people, like the Duck Man, have to be jolly with a marinated leather boot dressed with some nice mud sauce. Still the spirit of Hogwatch is alive and kicking... Let me rephrase this: the spirit of Hogwatch is Death and kicking. Because something awful happened to the real Hogfather, Death has decided to replace him. You do not have to be a genius to know that this is not going to be the usual Hogwatchnight.The twentieth episode of the highly acclaimed Discworld series proves that the inspiration of Terry Pratchett is far from exhausted. As always the sidekicks are clearly competing for the Award for Most Silly Idiot of the Multiverse, whereas the main characters are too occupied to save the Discworld from more harm than it can possibly contain, which is a lot! One of the many new features is Hex, a thinking engine with a mouse that eats cheese and a clothes wringer serving as a central processing unit. I would never have expected that the Wizards of Unseen University should be able to concoct such a close nephew of our personal computer and in doing so create an entity that is twice as smart as the most brilliant inhabitant of the Discworld - probably an ant that was trod on by Rincewind a few minutes after its birth. When you are knowledgeable to some historical computer lingo, you will undoubtedly have fun discovering some hilarious puns.
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Summary: Hilarious tale about childhood icons with twists and laughs!
Review: This book was hilarious. Not only did it have the grim reaper playing Santa Claus (or Hogfather as the case may be), but it also has a colorful cast of other "mythical" beings like the tooth fairies, the bogeyman, the "oh god" of Hangovers and the assassin with manners, Mr. Teatime. (That's Te-ah Tim-eh.) This is one of my favorite in Pratchett's Discworld series. It shows the human side to Death himself and his idealistic and childlike yearnings to rob the rich to feed the poor. I recommend it to anyone looking for a wonderful combination of fantasy and laughs (although not without a bit of morale thrown in).
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