Dodger by Terry Pratchett

This one is a re-read for me. I think last time I read it was when I lived in Toronto and I just hung out at the library after work and read books because my living situation was not ideal. This time I was visiting Esther in Halifax, and I knew I could finish it on my vacation, and Terry Pratchett is a favourite of mine.

Having said that he's a favourite, I need to warn anyone who might try him out that he is VERY silly and British. If you don't like Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) or Monty Python, chances are that this guy is not for you. I think you all should give him a shot, since until that Rowling lady came along, he was THE GUY for young adult literature. Note that it's young adult fiction, so it's not like there are terribly complex things going on here.

That's one of the other things I love about Pratchett. He doesn't sacrifice style to plot, and he doesn't think kids will lose their attention if the words are too difficult. I think he is successful in this because he is just constantly cracking jokes, so even if the plot is progressing less quickly (which it must do from time to time. Pacing is a thing, Rowling lady) there is still a lot of value in the writing.

Ok so on to the actual book. This one, Dodger, is not part of the gigantic Discworld series which Pratchett is known for. It's a novel about the character Dodger from Dickens' Oliver Twist. If you've read Oliver Twist or seen the movie, it might help you understand some things about the book, but it's not necessary and of course Wikipedia can always answer any particularly pressing questions. The best way to characterize this book is that it's a tribute to a time and place: London, England in the early Victorian era. I guess it's also a tribute to Dickens himself, and what the book Oliver Twist sought to accomplish.

Oliver Twist is a social commentary on the life of the poor in Victorian England. Oliver is innocent, honest, and uncomplicated. Various characters attempt to play him into their selfish, criminal schemes but he narrowly evades these traps by telling the truth and trusting the right people. Eventually everything works out and he lives with a wealthy family in the country. Dodger is a social commentary as well, but instead of the trusting innocence of Oliver, Dodger uses his knowledge of the city, his perceptions of people, and a staunch commitment to sounding truthful to get himself and his lady friend out of trouble. Dodger's cast of characters borrow from Oliver Twist, history, and from Dickens' own life, with Dickens playing a central role. Pratchett obviously held Dickens in high regard as a humanitarian and a writer. He just disagreed about what it takes to rise from the pits of poverty.

Dodger could be played off as a villain next to the innocence of Oliver Twist, but he enacts values of gentleness, generosity, and justice in spite of being recognized as "a geezer", which I take to mean as some sort of slum lord. Pratchett seems to be saying that crime and evil are not equivalent, and my good old G. K. Chesterton smiled in his afterlife.

Pratchett is a satirist, so of course this whole book is just cartwheeling with puns and sassy one-liners and parodies of historical figures. I know I must have looked like a doofus, sitting on a giant boulder in Peggy's Cove, grinning, reading. Can't be helped. Sweeny Todd even makes an appearance.

So where am I going with all this? I am not certain at all now that I read it back to myself. Dodger is the non-angelic hero that is miles more sympathetic than the pure-and-righteous Oliver Twist. Pratchett's crafting of characters and setting are impeccable, and it's also hilarious. I give it a perfect 8/8.

“After all, my young Dodger, what exactly are you? A stalwart young man, plucky and brave and apparently without fear? Or, possibly, I suggest, a street urchin with a surfeit of animal cunning and the luck of Beelzebub himself.”

Up next: Stardust by Neil Gaiman