A Review of Dodger by Terry Pratchett

How did Charles Dickens come up with the character of the Artful Dodger for Oliver Twist? According to this book, the journalist and serial novelist met a street-smart teen who served as the basis for the character. That would be a great premise all by itself, but Pratchett takes it a step further—the book is told from the perspective of Dodger. It is also, according to the author’s note, historical fantasy. Since you won’t come across a shred of magic here, you might find yourself wondering why. Here’s how the author puts it: “This is a historical fantasy—and certainly not a historical novel….” I would say it’s historical fantasy because Dodger performs feats of derring-do that are sometimes a little over the top. Feats, in fact, worthy of a Dickens novel. Or maybe a James Bond movie. (Spy books and movies are secretly fantasy novels, I’ve always thought.) Joan Aiken would be proud of this book, which channels the kind of fantasy/adventure writing you'll find in her Wolves of Willoughby Chase and the rest of the series. So. Strict fantasy? No. But Dodger requires a certain suspension of disbelief. It is also one of the best books I’ve read all year.

This is approximately one-fourth due to the adventure and secondary characters like Charles Dickens; it's three-fourths due to the central character. We learn that Dodger is a tosher. Not only that, but he’s a geezer. Here’s a minor villain explaining to the major villains what they’re up against:

“A geezer is somebody that everybody knows, and he knows everybody, and maybe he knows something about everyone he knows that maybe you wished he didn’t know. Um, and well, he’s sharp, crafty, um, not exactly a thief but somehow things find their way into his hands. Doesn’t mind a bit of mischief, and wears the street like an overcoat. Dodger now…well, Dodger’s a tosher as well, which means he knows what’s going on down in the sewers too—a tosher, sir, being somebody who goes down there looking for coins and suchlike that may have been lost down the drain.”

Dodger mostly considers himself a tosher. He’s even been known to pray to the Lady on occasion. She's the patron saint of toshers—a beautiful woman with rats swarming happily over her feet. But Dodger is meant for something more. It all begins one night when he’s in the sewers and hears a cry for help. He pops out and sees a girl trying to get away from two men in a coach. I should mention that Dodger is a fierce street brawler. He bashes up the men rather handily and takes off with the girl. Here’s where he runs into Charles Dickens and his friend Henry Mayfield. Once they have convinced him of their integrity, he allows them to convey the girl, who has been badly beaten, to Mayfield’s home to be cared for by Mrs. Mayfield. But Dodger comes along to make sure everything is on the up and up.

Then Charles Dickens takes an interest in Dodger and hires him to find out who the girl is. Not only does Dodger have an instant crush on the girl they begin calling Simplicity, but he’s also intrigued by the challenge. He begins asking around—which is what brings him to the attention of the villains. The adventure escalates and escalates in, well, true Dickensian fashion. With a little bit of James Bond thrown in for good measure.

But I was telling you about Dodger. He is dimensional in a rough and ready way tinged with vague ambitions. Fortunately, he has a mentor in the form of the old Jewish man he lives with: Solomon, of course. Solomon has been trying to teach Dodger just a little honesty and now begins to help him take advantage of the opportunities that come his way because of this new adventure. Solomon is an amazing character; later in the book we start to realize just how amazing he really is. Simplicity turns out to be rather complicated, too. Dodger meets one of the richest women in England, not to mention Benjamin Disraeli, police master Robert Peel and, in a Pratchett tour de force, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street—from whom Dodger seeks a haircut.

I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderfully well all of this is executed. The writing itself is strong, but the ideas are even better. For example, Dickens teaches Dodger about the way journalists spin stories, explaining it using fog as an analogy. We see variations of London fog crawling here and there in the story to reinforce the theme. Then Dodger coopts the metaphor in a truly useful way as his life careens down the increasingly dangerous streets of the city. For example, Dodger meets Disraeli and draws his own conclusions. Here he talks to Solomon about it. The old man is describing social stratification. “Intrigued, Dodger said, ‘Am I downtrodden?’” The old man answered:

“You? Not so you would notice, my boy, and neither do you tread on anybody else, which is a happy situation to be in, but if I was you I shouldn’t think too much more about politics, it can only make you ill.”

Dodger may not think a lot about politics, but he knows how to play people. After turning into a reluctant hero to the entire city and laying his fists about in a couple of dark corners where he is meant to die, Dodger hatches an elaborate plot to save Simplicity. Then he takes an odd crew a-toshing in the sewers, where he meets up with the worst of the villains hired by the major bad guys to kill him.

Pratchett has a marvelous time with his conclusion, which is unexpected and unbelievable and absolutely perfect. But the book sings because of the people in it. I have long admired Pratchett for his talent with characterization, and here he does it again—in spades. Dodger’s dodgy yet sincere thought processes are a compelling, heart-warming mix of an utter lack of morals combined with a true-blue determination to put certain wrongs right.

We also get Pratchett’s signature humor, though it’s considerably toned down in this book as compared to the satire in the Discworld series. The passages about Dodger getting a better class of clothing, first in a shonky shop and later on Savile Row, are a prime example, along with the follow-up joke that will make you think of celebrities wearing the same designer dress to a fancy party. A lot of the humor has to do with Dodger as a fish out of water, but Dodger is so valiant and so aware of himself in the world that he is not, after all, the brunt of disdain. All of this struts its stuff on the stage of filthy, colorful nineteenth-century London.

You simply can’t go wrong with this book.

I’m not crazy about the trailer—Dodger isn’t tough enough and the fight is too slow paced. But watch it if you want.

Also: This cover is not the best ever, but I think the UK cover is worse. It's just doofy. Good thing the inside of the book is so wonderful!

Note for Worried Parents: Dodger is a book for teens, with a good dollop of peril and violence plus a few relatively mild references to prostitutes and just basically the sordid nature of the streets. And there’s a joke you wait for the whole book due to the unfortunate name of Dodger’s very smelly dog. Even that is not spelled out, though. In general, it’s just a mature book about an older teen character.

I Shall Wear Midnight Wins Norton

Let's hear it for the marvelous Terry Pratchett, who, as you may recall, won the ALA's 2011 Margaret A. Edwards award a few months back for his body of work as a YA writer. Now his fourth and final book in the Tiffany Aching quartet, I Shall Wear Midnight, has won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

In case you missed this book, check out my review from last summer. And in case you've somehow missed all four books (perish the thought!), they are as follows: The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight. Set in the Discworld of Pratchett's adult comic fantasy series, these books star a pragmatic young witch who is trying to figure out how to best use her powers up in the sheep-raising countryside where she lives. (Guest-starring Granny Weatherwax, my favorite Pratchett character! I think you'll be pleased to find that Tiffany has a little Esme Weatherwax in her.)

In these books, while Pratchett's signature humor is present and accounted for, most often in the form of a tribe of little blue men called the Nac Mac Feegle, there is also some amazing character work, especially in his depiction of the yearning and fierce pride of a bright, unique teenage girl.

Update 6/6/11: Read this excellent interview of Sir Terry Pratchett by Jonathan Hunt of School Library Journal. Thanks to Betsy Bird at Fuse #8 for the link.

A Review of I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

Okay, I'll try to write a real review instead of just jumping up and down screeching, "I got an ARC of the new Terry Pratchett book!" Or rather, now that I've done that and breathed into a paper bag and all, I think I can be mature enough to share some actual thoughts with you. (Warning: Largely thematic spoilers ahead!)

I do hope you've already read the first three books about young witch Tiffany Aching: The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith. You'll enjoy this one a lot more if you have. For one thing, you'll already be familiar with Tiffany's sidekicks, the Nac Mac Feegle, those miniscule blue guys in kilts who are endlessly spoiling for a fight, preferably combined with a drink. Of course, they're determined to look after Tiffany while they're at it.

Tiffany is now officially the witch of the chalk country, and she thinks she understands what that means. She takes her work very seriously, so much so that she sometimes misses certain cues. Because people don't always react the way you think they should, and it doesn't help that there's an evil semi-supernatural entity going around playing on people's fear of witches.

So yeah, trouble is brewing, and things only get worse when the baron dies. Tiffany travels to the great, dirty city of Ankh Morpork to find the baron's heir, Roland, with whom Tiffany once had something resembling a romance. The Nac Mac Feegle come along and create havoc, which is just what they're supposed to do. Tiffany and crew also run into some of Pratchett's best Ankh Morpork characters from his other Discworld books. One of them even finds himself bonding with those little blue men!

While in the city, Tiffany compares notes with the proprietor of a famous shop that sells witch supplies as well as with an even more mysterious mentor before she sets off for home, having delivered her message to the baron's son. But everyone is acting funny, and Tiffany winds up in Roland's dungeon with the goats. Of course, she doesn't stay there for long—she meddles with the best of them, and soon she is hunting the creature that's spreading the hatred of witches. The older witches offer to help her, but Tiffany turns them down. She knows she needs to prove herself.

Compared to Pratchett's other books, this one has a bit of a slow start, but then, Pratchett's worst is still head and shoulders above most writers' best. Although the man is known for his humor, I'm in awe of his ability to create characters that matter, and to talk about the human condition by telling amazing stories.

One way of looking at all four books is as an account of Tiffany's coming-of-age. But we sometimes see simple stories along those lines, and Tiffany's is complicated. For instance, I Shall Wear Midnight has thought-provoking things to say about romance, even though at first glance, this may seem like a minor theme.

Tiffany clearly had a relationship with Roland for a while, and everyone knows it. What's more, they comment on it. A lot. Which gets on Tiffany's nerves, although at first we're not sure why. Even Roland's fiancé knows it, and in fact, her jealousy leads her to cause major difficulties for Tiffany without realizing the full impact of what she's done. (Note the irony of the things Roland thinks he's avoiding with Tiffany compared to what he doesn't understand about his own fiancé. Brilliant!)

Tiffany has no illusions that it would have worked out with Roland, and yet—she feels left out. She wonders if she'll be alone forever. Though she never actually says so, I get the feeling she's wondering if she'll wind up like her formidable mentor, Granny Weatherwax. Does being a great witch mean you have to be alone your entire life?

From a young reader's standpoint, Tiffany brings up a valuable question, which is, "I'm not like the others. Will anyone ever understand and care about me in a normal way, when I'm not normal?" We can easily see why Tiffany feels different, but then, don't most of us feel that way at least some of the time? Certainly the kind of bright, creative kids who are probably reading these books might share Tiffany's worries.

It may seem facile that Pratchett provides an answer to this question in the form of a quirky young guardsman named Preston (who would really rather be a doctor), but then, for a girl like Tiffany, meeting the right kind of person necessarily feels like a surprising whim and a kindness on the part of the universe.

Even so, Tiffany is alone, and always will be. All of us are, even when we're with the people we love and who love us. So Pratchett's answer to Tiffany's question is both yes, and no.

Mind you, Tiffany Aching is never a damsel in distress. She helps herself (ever-so-literally), and her efforts pay off. She also catches on to the fact that there's more to being a good witch than hard work, admirable though that may be. You have to pay attention to people, to what each of them wants and needs and feels. When you do, you might be knocked sideways at times, but you will be far more capable of helping those you want to help. People like Tiffany and Granny Weatherwax make a difference, although it isn't easy. But as Pratchett points out, it doesn't have to be. It simply has to matter.

Note for Worried Parents: This is a book for teens and has some mature themes, e.g., domestic violence, attempted suicide, and references to a couple's upcoming honeymoon night (the bride wants information!).

FYI: I requested an ARC of this book from HarperCollins. I Shall Wear Midnight will be available on September 28, 2010.