Following up with Wintersmith I finished it! It’s my first Terry Pratchett book. It follows Tiffany Aching’s beginning journey of becoming a Witch. It’s part of the Discworld universe (nice, more books to read).
I love Pratchett’s style of writing. It’s whimsical. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. And every character from Mrs. Treason to the Feegles are very fun.
The crux of the book is that deception is sometimes necessary. Sometimes in order to help the world you must pretend to be something that you are not; this is boffo. Children’s book and also the internet don’t give ideas enough nuanced thought so this was a nice surprise.
Contrapoints had this to say of fame:
your audience are not your friends. They are spectators. Their love is highly contingent. The moment you fuck up you’re dead to them. They do not love you. They love an idea of you
This same advice is basically what Mrs. Treason gives to Tiffany and Tiffany later gives to Annagramma.
I’m reminded of an answer post on Quora about what’s it like to be a sociopath. One person said that they don’t love their children in the way normal parents do. But despite that they try to show them love anyway (like hugs, kisses and praise) because they realize that those are things parents must do and regardless of who they are the role of the parent is essential so they must try to adhere to this boffo.
Mrs. Treason, aside from utilizing boffo also uses people’s eyes to see (because she’s blind). I can’t help but see this book as a broader argument for defending being manipulative.
As Mike’s Mike says
Much to think about.