I have to wonder if some of Terry's earlier works, such as Fifth Elephant, had produced a lot of ideas that needed a place to go. Racisim, sexism, and all of the other little "isms" seem to intrigue him, and his novels give him a forum, even if the story plots come first. (Thank goodness for that!)

I'm interested in the problems his women characters run into when they break into a traditionally male environment. Besides MR, take a look at Angua as she fits herself into the watch. Not to mention her armor!

I thought the silliness, and yes, maybe even the stupidity and the repetitiveness of MR, was refreshing. Then again, maybe I'm just a girly who's had too much dark humor.

We're all biased, one way or another. And we all want to justify the way we see the world. I wonder, are we all arguing, or er, debating, for the same reason people have wars? For pride?

In any case, verbal skirmishes are much better than the real thing.

Well, this is a discussion board. Discusssion, even if controversionally, does not equal conflict. It's what we're here for. Plus, it hones our skills for real life. :p

You mean real life includes conflict ?

Dammit, there's another thing I've signed up for without reading the fine print...

You can probably file an appleal. It's not like anyone gave you a choice in the matter at hand.

i loved this book i im reding it for the third time i think it mis good how it laghs at the army any way thats my opinion so thats it

Well, all pratchett books laugh at something. It's not just the army this book. I don't think the army is even the main thing MR is laughing at. The main thing is stereotypes.

Well, there's always playfighting

Your avatar is quite fitting then seeing as Mulan dressed as a bloke and joined the army

For the record I am a girl (but not a girly lol) and i didnt like this book one bit. I didnt connect with the characters at all.

I too loved it! But I love all of Terry's stuff so. . . . But I want to join the club! I can never predict anything (or very rarely )

The plot in MR is next to non-existant. But except for Night Watch and Going Postal, it is TP's best written book. It is extremely inventive, and Polly is one of his great characters. Pratchett follows the rules for genre fiction pretty closely, which is to say, in every detective novel ever written, the murderer MUST make an appearance before page 30 or so. If you don't believe me, check out Feet of Clay or Guards Guards and see when the bad guy/gal first turns up.... but MR is not a detective but rather a quest or adventure novel. The interesting aspect of the novel is not whether the Reader knows all the soldiers are women, but whether the Characters know it. The convention is disguised sexual identity, straight from Shakespeare, and maybe 10,000 other stage plays! Pratchett is an excellent writer, and he WANTED you to know everyone was a gurl. If he didn't, he wouldn't have made it so obvious.

Besides, nobody in MR is as messed up as the Dwarfs in regard to sexual identity, are they?

I love MR.

XD straight from Shakespeare... I simply love Twelth Night.

Dwarves aren't messed up in regaurd to sexual identity. Just simple. Probably easier that way... No stereotypes.

Stating that everyone is short, fat and has a big bushy beard is having no stereotypes ?

I agree that it 'was a joke taken too far'. Also Terry can't seem to write a weak or ridiculous female character, he seems to hold women in some kind of awe and cannot poke fun at them in the same way as men. I find this reverential, almost sycophantic attitude quite annoying.

I remember hearing an interview with Terry on Radio 4 about MR in which he said something like 'I find it difficult to write a weak female character' asked why he jokingly responded, 'I don't know, perhaps I was bullied by the older girls at school' or something similar.

Well that's because females are never weak or ridiculous, poons.

Isn't it ?


Oh ok.