Posted on Monday, 29th March 2010 by Britt Hellman
Best-selling author Terry Pratchett’s most recent (2009) novel Unseen Academicals is a satire on the phenomenon of European football (soccer), plus a number of other social activities that often go along with it. For that reason, the book may have a greater appeal to a UK audience than in America; especially since one of the main themes is football hooliganism, a distinct UK phenomenon.
But this novel is really about a much wider array of human follies and foibles than just football; most of which are universal, American as much as European. Other themes in the book include goblins and orcs, pies of every conceivable (and inconceivable) variety; as well as fashion supermodels and their excessive adulation by the public.
In the hallmark Terry Pratchett tradition, things on the Discworld are just like in our own world, only hilariously exaggerated. Instead of cheerleaders, the Discworld has naiads dancing on the sidelines, and in the place of our tail-gate markets, there are cart-tail vendors.
The main character in the book is the goblin-turned-orc Mr. Nutt, who is one of only a dozen or so surviving orcs on Discworld. In a display of philanthropy, two of the world’s most powerful despotic rulers decide to take Nutt on as a project, to help not only him but his entire persecuted race.
It bears mentioning that the two leaders in question, Lord Vetinari and Lady Margolotta have been at this before. Their previous projects have included rock trolls, werewolves, golems, and vampires, all of which they assisted in becoming integrated and accepted members of human society.
In his process of accumulating ‘worth’ in human society, the orc Mr. Nutt gathers a huge following of staunchly devoted friends and admirers. His co-worker Trev Likely will go to any length to defend his orc friend, and an unlikely romance begins budding between Nutt and the head of the night kitchen at Unseen University, Miss Glenda Sugarbean, supreme creator of pies.
After demonstrating his knack for strategic thinking to his superiors at Unseen University, Mr. Nutt gets appointed as coach for the school’s floundering football team. And so a string of events begins to unfold.
Unseen Academicals may be a parody on the phenomenon of European football (soccer), as well as a number of other things thrown in for good measure, but soccer fan or not, this book will give you many hours of joyous reading and barrels of laughs.
Mrs. Hellman resides in Western North Carolina with her husband and three sons. A copywriter by profession, she writes book reviews as a hobby. Visit the website The Light Fantastic, where you can order Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett or any of the other 36 novels in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.
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