Moving Pictures – Terry Pratchett (Audiobook)

Listened to: April 2010 (at age 32)

First time read

What to Expect:

This is book number 10 of 38 at the time of writing.  The number keeps going up.  Many of the books are self-contained and can be read with or without the rest.  I have been enjoying reading them in order, at least for the Rincewind novels, of which this is one.  However, this one relies less than usual upon Rincewind's history, and could probably be read in any order.

Terry Pratchett turns satirizes Hollywood in this book.  It’s good, clean, silly fun.  It helps if you know a bit about Hollywood classics – Gone with the Wind, King Kong, Ben Hur, The Wizard of Oz, Lassie, and stuff like that.

There is a tradeoff to listening to this book rather than reading it.  The audiobook is wonderful for getting the British accent right (as a Canadian, I have trouble just hearing it in my head as I read), but you can’t linger over a particularly delicious turn of phrase.

My reactions (and spoilers) after the break.

Overall:  

It was a fun book, especially at the end, where the plot started moving quickly.  A lot of the book was for the sake of satire, rather than plot or characterization, so it seemed to move relatively slowly for much of the early going.  If you like Pratchett’s brand of humour, then this book will do just fine for a curl up and a few chuckles.  Not my favorite of his books, but not bad.

Rating: 3

Characterization:

Ok-to-weak.  The main characters were mostly played for laughs – they channeled the generic old-school Hollywood actors throughout the book.  I didn’t get some of the references, I’m sure, since it seemed the female lead was channeling Marilyn Monroe, Mae West and the like, while the male lead was working with leading men of the Errol Flynn vintage, which was all somewhat before my time.

Premise:  

Just fine – it’s a Discworld book.  Anything goes, even Hollywood breaking through to reality.  In this book, it’s just all material for satire.

Setting:

The Discworld.  This is book 10 of a whole bunch.  Each book explores bits and pieces of the world.  It’s established, lots of fun, but not new.  This book is mostly set in either Ankh-Mopork, which is not my favorite setting, or Holy-wood, which was, well, Hollywood. 

Plot:  

Just fine.  Most of the point appeared to be to lampoon Hollywood.  There was enough of a plot to hold the scenes together, but just.

Readability:  

Easy to listen to, even if early portions did tend to drag. 

Audiobook reader:  

Excellent.  Effective use of different voices and a very appropriate reading style to the material.  No complaints, and I really enjoy hearing British writing read with a British accent.  It seems to add something to the experience.

Other opinions:

http://www.scwu.com/bookreviews/h/PratchettTerryMovingPictures.shtml

http://www.helium.com/items/1452695-book-reviews-moving-pictures-by-terry-pratchett