Monstrous Regiment

Monstrous Regiment (2003) Terry Pratchett (Discworld)

Forget you were ever Polly. Think young male, that was the thing. Fart loudly and with self-satisfaction at a job well done, walk like a puppet that’d had a couple of random strings cut, never hug anyone, and, if you meet a friend, punch them. A few years working in the bar had provided plenty of observational material. No problem about not swinging her hips, at least. Nature had been pretty sparing there, too.

And then there was the young-male walk to master. At least women swung only their hips. Young men swung everything, from the shoulders down. You have to try to occupy a lot of space, she thought. It makes you look bigger, like a tomcat fluffing his tail. She’d seen it a lot in the inn. The boys tried to walk big in self-defense against all those other big boys out there. I’m bad, I’m fierce, I’m cool, I’d like a pint of shandy and me mam wants me home by nine . . .

Before the clacks, a letter from Ankh-Morpork would take more than two weeks to get to him, and so no one worried if he took a day or two to answer it. Now people expect a reply overnight! He’d been quite glad when Borogravia had destroyed several of those wretched towers.

It was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.

if you couldn’t trust the government, who could you trust? Very nearly everyone, come to think of it . . .

The kind of man who thinks he knows what a woman likes and it’s himself. All very friendly right up until they say no.”

“I am not by nature an untruthful man, Perks,” said Blouse coldly.

“Glad to hear it, sir. Are we winning the war, sir?”

“You stop that right now, Perks!” Jackrum roared.

Publisher : HarperCollins
Rating: 9/10

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