Kaethe

2000
July 19, 2014

This was one of the first Discworld books I ever read, and I wouldn't recommend it as a good place to start. There's Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (and Greebo) which is to the good, but Death makes only a token appearance, and it isn't very kind. There's a fair amount of fat-bashing, and the pretty girl is presented as an absolute idiot, and the dancers don't eat (as if that weren't pretty much a condition of their employment). Plus it's a riff on Phantom of the Opera which isn't a favorite story or opera with me.

There is some lovely stuff about the actual Opera House building which puts me in mind of many any old theater of my acquaintance, and how creepy they are without a lot of people in them. Against that you have to balance the business of pity toward Agnes. And everyone pities Agnes, despite her astounding voice, because there's just no way she's ever going to get a man. Probably even Pratchett realized how poorly he'd done by her, since he didn't try to give her a substantial role in another book.

Personal copy.