{"id":5400,"date":"2015-09-07T17:40:35","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T21:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5400"},"modified":"2024-04-30T20:06:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T00:06:37","slug":"monstrous-regiment-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5400","title":{"rendered":"Monstrous Regiment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monstrous Regiment<\/a><\/em> (2003) Terry Pratchett<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For some reason I got Monstrous Regiment<\/em> stuck in my head and just had to re-read it.<\/p>\n

Like most of his books, it’s a keen political satire (“armies don\u2019t do much for agriculture except marginally raise the fertility of the battlefield.”) wrapped in a marvelous story. Polly Perks, resident of Borogravia, has decided to go off to war, to search for her brother. So she pays attention, cuts her hair, and then sets off for the recruiter.<\/p>\n

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\u2019d 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\u2019m bad, I\u2019m fierce, I\u2019m cool, I\u2019d like a pint of shandy and me mam wants me home by nine…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once there she discovers just how far a pair of socks can take you.<\/p>\n

First, there’s Borogravia. A war like state that believes firmly in the self-defense of getting your punch in first. <\/p>\n

It was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, we also have Vimes (on of my favorite characters) making occasional appearances to provide his usual observations on the world.<\/p>\n

You take a bunch of people who don\u2019t seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But mostly, there’s Polly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe captain looks bad,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat did he try to do to poor little you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPatronize me,\u201d said Polly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jackrum put up with Blouse because you\u2019ve got to have an officer, Polly thought. If you don\u2019t have an officer, some other officer’ll take you over. And a woman by herself is missing a man, while a man by himself is his own master.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What I love is that although there is plenty of commentary about the status of women throughout history and across cultures “It was women\u2019s work, and therefore monotonous, backbreaking, and social,” Pratchett doesn’t idolize women, and believe that if women were in charge everything would be sunshine and roses and rainbow farting unicorns.<\/p>\n

It is a marvelous Discworld story, and makes me grieve the loss of Terry Pratchett all over again.<\/p>\n

Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by HarperCollins <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monstrous Regiment (2003) Terry Pratchett For some reason I got Monstrous Regiment stuck in my head and just had to re-read it. Like most of his books, it’s a keen political satire (“armies don\u2019t do much for agriculture except marginally raise the fertility of the battlefield.”) wrapped in a marvelous story. Polly Perks, resident of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,2,48,41],"tags":[142,141],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-fantasy","category-female","category-reread","tag-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1p6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":491,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/491","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":0},"title":"Monstrous Regiment","author":"Michelle","date":"December 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Monstrous Regiment (2003) Terry Pratchett I love Terry Pratchett's books. However, I'll frequently go long periods where I don't read his books, despite his prodigious publication rate, because once I get started I frequently read a lot of his books, sometimes going back and re-reading much of the series. At\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Monstrous-Regiment.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":494,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/494","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":1},"title":"Going Postal","author":"Michelle","date":"January 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Going Postal (2004) Terry Pratchett Going Postal is the next Discworld book in line, and like Monstrous Regiment, the primary characters are new ones. Although other characters continue to make an appearence, and Lord Vetinari plays an important part in the story, like Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal requires no previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/Going-Postal.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14281,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14281","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":2},"title":"Monstrous Regiment","author":"Michelle","date":"May 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2019d had a couple of random strings cut, never hug anyone, and, if you meet a friend, punch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Monstrous Regiment","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Monstrous-Regiment-e1511012807746.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2156,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2156","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":3},"title":"Wintersmith","author":"Michelle","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Wintersmith (2006) Terry Pratchett Oddly, I thought I'd read Wee Free Men, but apparently I hadn't. I tend to be quite fond of young adult books, and Terry Pratchett is no exception; not that his adult books would be unacceptable for young adults, it's simply Tiffany Aching is a Teenager.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/wintersmith.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2720,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2720","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":4},"title":"Night Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Night Watch (2002) Terry Pratchett This book, for me, strikes far more political chords than funny bones. It doesn't make it bad, it just makes it a lot darker than some other Terry Pratchett book. (He) started in the wrong place. he didn't look around, and watch, and learn, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Night-Watch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2153,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2153","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":5},"title":"Unseen Academicals","author":"Michelle","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Unseen Academicals (2009) Terry Pratchett Although there were parts of this story that I loved, there were other parts I was less sure about--it may just have been my interpretation, but parts of it felt a little bit too heavy on the moralizing. But I loved Glenda. Rating: 7\/10 Published\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Unseen-Academicals.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}