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I took forever to finish reading this book. This is probably my least favourite Pratchett's book considering how culturally insesitive this is. I know Pratchett is not racist from what I have read from his others books but this book is just really awful. There are passages and parts that just make me cringe. The parts where the sumos and samurais show up are just awful.
Pratchett, of course, satirized every country and culture on Discworld so far and this is definitely not the first Pratchett's book I have read that touched on a country bound by old traditions and harsh rules. However, whenever he talked about Ankh Morpork, he spoked about it with a smugness that just glamourized the chaotic city. And so far, I think Interesting Times is the only book I have read that directly satirized and touched on a specific place's stereotypes and features without a kind of loving smugness about that specific place's failings.
I was also particularly disturbed by the fact that Pratchett let a white barbarian get on the throne of a country based on East Asian countries. In the other books I have read, Pratchett always let the insider, the one who stayed and knew that country, become the king. In Pyramids, it was not the prince who went and studied in a foreign country who became the king, it was the sister who had stayed in the country for all her life. In Small Gods, the one who finally ruled over the country was a person who stayed his entire life in said country. In Wyrd Sisters, the one who became king was not one who spent his life performing but one who had spent some time actually being in that country. In Witches Abroad, the queen was a person born in that country and lived in that country for her entire life. But in Interesting Times, Pratchett not only let a foreign person get on the throne but also one who barely know anything about that country's customs and culture. But he is a barbaric (white) influence that will freshen the country so he must get on the throne! Because Asian people can not handle themselves on their own!
I was also bothered about the political stuffs that Pratchett kept giving about how a normal person did not care about revolution and stuffs and that he should just be left alone. I really find this whole idea insensitive and backward looking.
It can be argued that Pratchett is satirizing the stereotypes of Asian cultures but this book is so insensitive and adds nothing new so I still hate it. I probably feel this strong because I am from a country that shares many similarities with China.
Pratchett, of course, satirized every country and culture on Discworld so far and this is definitely not the first Pratchett's book I have read that touched on a country bound by old traditions and harsh rules. However, whenever he talked about Ankh Morpork, he spoked about it with a smugness that just glamourized the chaotic city. And so far, I think Interesting Times is the only book I have read that directly satirized and touched on a specific place's stereotypes and features without a kind of loving smugness about that specific place's failings.
I was also particularly disturbed by the fact that Pratchett let a white barbarian get on the throne of a country based on East Asian countries. In the other books I have read, Pratchett always let the insider, the one who stayed and knew that country, become the king. In Pyramids, it was not the prince who went and studied in a foreign country who became the king, it was the sister who had stayed in the country for all her life. In Small Gods, the one who finally ruled over the country was a person who stayed his entire life in said country. In Wyrd Sisters, the one who became king was not one who spent his life performing but one who had spent some time actually being in that country. In Witches Abroad, the queen was a person born in that country and lived in that country for her entire life. But in Interesting Times, Pratchett not only let a foreign person get on the throne but also one who barely know anything about that country's customs and culture. But he is a barbaric (white) influence that will freshen the country so he must get on the throne! Because Asian people can not handle themselves on their own!
I was also bothered about the political stuffs that Pratchett kept giving about how a normal person did not care about revolution and stuffs and that he should just be left alone. I really find this whole idea insensitive and backward looking.
It can be argued that Pratchett is satirizing the stereotypes of Asian cultures but this book is so insensitive and adds nothing new so I still hate it. I probably feel this strong because I am from a country that shares many similarities with China.
