Le Père Porcher

by Terry Pratchett

400 pages

French language

Published March 8, 2002

ISBN:: 978-2-84172-223-5

(14 reviews)

La nuit du père Porcher… Neige, rouges-gorges, chorales et sapins décorés… Mais le gros bonhomme de rouge vêtu, celui qu’on attend en cette nuit de fête… a disparu. En lieu et place, faisant fonction, un autre bonhomme de rouge vêtu, dans son traîneau tiré par des cochons sauvages, avec sa hotte, sa fausse barbe et son oreiller pour simuler un ventre qu’il n’a pas. Un bonhomme plus habitué à manier la faux qu’à descendre dans les cheminées distribuer des jouets par milliers. Mais quand le devoir appelle… Car certains préméditent l’assassinat du père Porcher. Et s’ils arrivent à leurs fins… … le soleil ne se lèvera pas.

9 editions

Nick N Chapman reviewed Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Holiday reading

5 stars

A few years back, I added this to my list of Christmas reads - books I reread (or at least think about rereading) every year during the holidays, books that get me in the mood, because of content (this one, obviously) or past associations (Lord of the Rings) or because somehow they seem to me to suit the season, in the same way that fires, green branches inside, lights, rich food and so on do, that contribute to the hygge.

Hogfather is set in Discworld, where most of Terry Pratchett's books are set. Like most of his books, it riffs off some aspect of our world - in this case Christmas - in a satirical but loving and insightful way. In this book, the Hogfather - a Santa Claus/Spirit of the Solstice figure - is incapacitated by some creatures who are opposed to human creativity. And Death has to step …

vampyr from outer space reviewed Schweinsgalopp by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett - Schweinsgalopp

3 stars

Eine der schwächeren Scheibenwelt-Geschichten - insbesondere wenn man mit Weihnachtskram sowieso nichts anfangen kann.

SI CLARKE reviewed Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #20)

Review of 'Hogfather' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

How would you go about killing someone who was never really alive – not in the usual sense of the word? Mr Teatime (pronounced teh-ah-tim-eh) knows exactly how he'd do it.

As philosophical textbooks go, this is a stonker. What is the nature of belief? How do beliefs interact with reality? How do they colour our view of reality?

As for zingy and/or pithy moments … this books got them in spades.
“The phrase 'Someone ought to do something' was not, by itself, a helpful one. People who used it never added the rider 'and that someone is me'.”

As a novel, though, this one falls a bit short. The plot meanders a bit too much for my liking.

Very good, but not Sir Pterry's finest.