(no subject)

[skygiants]

Reading certain Discworld books is always a bit like having an argument with my teenaged self, but in the case of Thief of Time the argument was REALLY LOUD and went a bit like this:

TEENAGED BECCA: Oh gosh oh gosh I'm so excited Thief of Time was one of my favorites!
ADULT BECCA: . . . er. Was the whole Tibetan monks thing always so awkward? Hey, Pratchett, remember when we had this discussion about not parodying cultures that you don't know much about?
TEENAGED BECCA: Shut up, the history monks are AWESOME. Lu-Tze is great! You know who else is great? SUSAN.
ADULT BECCA: Susan is totally great!
TEENAGED BECCA: I identify with Susan so much she is basically my viewpoint character in the series.
ADULT BECCA: . . . Becca, you are really nothing like Susan at all.
TEENAGED BECCA: . . . shut up. Anyway Lady Myria is ALSO really great!
ADULT BECCA: She is! So awesome! I really love Lady Miria's arc! But . . . the ending to it!
TEENAGED BECCA: Her death was BEAUTIFUL and TRAGIC.
ADULT BECCA: Her death was unnecessary. And you know, speaking of characters who get sucky endings, I know Jeremy doesn't actually die, but given how much he's subsumed into Lobsang's personality he might as well have, and given that he is basically portrayed as autistic it is seriously problematic that --
TEENAGED BECCA: LA LA LA ANYWAY YOU KNOW WHAT IS GREAT? SUSAN/LOBSANG. SUSAN/LOBSANG IS THE GREATEST THING EVER.
ADULT BECCA: Actually, I never noticed before how little time Susan and Lobsang actually have together on the page! I wonder why I react to this so hard --
TEENAGED BECCA: Hey, remember who my first fictional crush was?
ADULT BECCA: Aladdin, right?
TEENAGED BECCA: And remember what I said about identifying super hard with Susan?
ADULT BECCA: . . . I think I see where you're going with this.
TEENAGED BECCA: And admit it - you still super ship it, don't you!
ADULT BECCA: . . . touche, tiny self. You win this round.

So basically the long and the short of it is that, while Adult Becca usually wins these arguments, in the case of Thief of Time Teenaged Becca totally clobbered Adult Becca over the head with her teenaged feelingsbat and took over the rest of this post, which goes THIEF OF TIME IS GREAT. PROBLEMATIC WHAT PROBLEMATIC? LOBSANG/SUSAN 4EVER <3 <3 <3

Comments

[ceitfianna]

It's been ages since I read this one, I think I need to do a reread as it didn't stick with me at all. I love Susan, but can't remember this one.

[skygiants]

It's actually the one of the late ones that I remember most strongly, but in my memory it is rather a different book! One that is ALL ABOUT SUSAN.

[opusculasedfera]

That sounds like the book in my head too! It is the Susan and Lu Tze book for me! I always have to stop and think quite hard to even remember Lobsang's name, when I even remember that he was, technically, the protagonist.

I suspect it's mostly related to having read them out of order, which gave me the impression that Lobsang stopped being a major part of Susan's life, even if that's entirely based on a failure of chronology.

[skygiants]

I mean, to be fair, Lobsang remains The Guy who spends 50% of the book wandering around gaping at Lu Tze while Lu Tze expresses his genius. Which, I mean, that's valid! I would probably do the same thing if I ended up on a wacky road trip with Lu Tze.

HEE. Whereas I spent all of Hogfather going "what happened to Imp . . .?"

[opusculasedfera]

See, now you're just making me sad that I can't go on a wacky roadtrip with Lu Tze.

Ah, well, Soul Music is probably the one I remember worst of all. I should re-read it, now that I actually have some of the context for all the music jokes. (I was quite young at the time. I got that music with rocks in was rock music, but Buddy Holly, etc. jokes just sailed over my head.)

[skygiants]

A ton of it sailed over my head at the time, too. A large portion of that rereading experience was cracking up at all the puns I missed the first time around . . .

[kd7sov]

I found it rather odd that Pterry went to the effort - or, at least, perceived-page-time - that he did to set up Lobsang/Susan... and then he's never come back to it at all.

In the series books, anyway; I have no idea what may have happened in interviews or side books such as Science of Discworld.

[skygiants]

Yeah, a part of me has always wistfully hoped for another Susan book that had more Susan/Lobsang in it. But on the other hand, Terry Pratchett has never been all that great with coming back to established couples, except in the Watch books.

[winding_path]

Our teenaged selves can be so pushy about literature sometimes, can't they?

*pats both of you*

[skygiants]

Usually my teenaged self just tends to give up and slink away in embarrassment, but this time she was NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT.

[surexit]

I WANT MORE LOBSANG/SUSAN.

[skygiants]

ME TOOOOOO.

[kate_nepveu]

I am so, so stalled on _Lords and Ladies_--of all things!--and I am supposed to be on a panel at Arisia about the series.

Man, I gotta get cracking on that.

[skygiants]

Haha, I totally get being stalled, but . . . Lords and Ladies! It's like the best one!

[kate_nepveu]

Ridcully has been on that damn coach to Lancre for weeks if not months. Maybe it's because the time I read it was in the hospital after SteelyKid was born? Maybe it just starts slow? I don't know, but I've always considered it the peak of the Witch sub-series . . . and I can't make myself read it.

WTF, self.

[happydork]

/o\ I am not at all familiar with that argument, oh no, not at all. Teenaged Katy and Adult Katy are in total agreement about everything, and there are no cases EVER of Teenaged Katy sticking a gag on Adult Katy and shoving her into a meat locker for long enough to enjoy a particular book or TV show. Nope. That wouldn't happen.

[skygiants]

Of course not! I am sure Teenaged Katy and Adult Katy always treat each other with the utmost respect, just as Teenaged Becca always does Adult Becca, because Teenaged Becca was deeply wise and mature for her years. >.> Indeed.