The
Carpet People was Terry Pratchett’s first
novel, written when he was 17. It was printed, it sold, no new print run was planned. End of story.
Well, not quite. Some time passed, and Pratchett wrote Strata. This explored the idea of a planet that was actually a disc – flat. Some more time passed, and Pratchett wrote The Colour of Magic - the first Discworld novel. More time passed, more Discworld books appeared, and Pratchett’s popularity soared. And so it was that people began to say to themselves: ”Wasn’t ‘The Carpet People’ by this same author?” And thus it came about that they asked the publisher of this book. And the publishers would continually tell people that there was no demand for a reprint. But people kept asking, and eventually the publishers felt that it would be easier to just do a reprint than keep telling all these people who were interested that there was no interest.
But then a funny thing happened. Pratchett, by now a famous and successful author, wasn’t too impressed with his first novel. So he decided to extensively edit The Carpet People, refining it using his now famous brand of
fantasy humour. Now at the age of his editing The Carpet People, Terry happened to be 43 years of age. And Terry saw what he had done, and was glad.
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Or he should be, anyway. The Carpet People is a fine
little book, and a hugely enjoyable
read. You might have guessed the basic premise – little people living in a carpet. Well, little is perhaps an understatement – microscopic is probably more accurate, what with a major town (Ware) being about the size of a .
(In case you thought I’d cut off my sentence there, I meant the size of a full stop – that’s a period to you guys in the States who insist on calling things your own names rather than the proper ones :-P)
The story revolves around two brothers, Glurk (strong and seemingly not too bright - a natural leader) and Snibril (more of a thinker). Glurk is chief of a small nomadic tribe
called the Munrungs. When it appears that the mythical force Fray is on the move again and their camp gets destroyed, they move off for the city of Ware , and safety – so they think. Tagging along are a philosopher called Pismire (not particularly true to his profession – he actually gives you answers you can understand) and a mysterious man called Bane (who is not all that he at first seems). Their adventures bring them to realise that something’s going on in the carpet – and that Fray may not be their biggest enemy after all…
Although the language and plot development in The Carpet People is rather less complex than in some of his Discworld novels, it’s not really (as I’d first imagined) a children’s book – though older children are certain to enjoy it (at least, as certain as this sort of thing ever can be). It’s written with energy and gusto, and while not complicated, Pratchett’s penchant for describing human idiosyncrasies is as obvious here as in any of his writings. It comes close to being a 5-star book but fails (marginally) because although many parts did make me laugh, it’s really not as funny as classic Pratchett, and doesn’t have quite the same kind of bite as his best satire. The characterisation was also a little shallow by his standards, but taking into account that this was his first attempt at writing a novel (albeit augmented by his later literary expertise), it’s a great achievement.
It actually suffers from being so short – though the ending suggests that it was probably set up for a sequel (or many sequels), you just get the feeling that there is so much more that could have been done with this setting than is done in the book. It is also quite interesting trying to work out if the various creatures in the carpet (they all have names given to them by the carpet people) are fleas / other tiny creatures known to us – or if they’re just completely made up. Certain objects do fall on the carpet people (not directly, one would hope) ”from above” - such as a matchstick, which forms a barricade many miles long to them. Some things are named as we would name them – like the mystical chairleg, where the Wights melt varnish in the great cauldrons. There are some very clever pieces of writing in this book, but overall it still falls slightly short of brilliance – especially the sort of brilliance that Pratchett is capable of.
In summary, if you read
The Carpet People, you will definitely enjoy it. It’s well-written and funny. It’s not brilliantly written or hysterical, but it’s getting there. Be warned though – if this is the first Pratchett book you ever read, you may never stop reading his work…