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Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'
Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography by Rob Wilkins
1 review
lukerik's review against another edition
informative
sad
fast-paced
3.0
Far more interesting than it deserves to be considering it’s about a man who spent most of his time sitting down. It’s one for fans of Pratchett rather than fans of biography. Don’t come to it expecting Ackroyd or Tomalin. Wilkins has the disadvantage of being too close to his subject.
On the other hand, he has the advantage of being close to his subject. It’s intimate. It’s not a hagiography. There are numerous examples of Pratchett being a total arsehole. Particularly well done is his charting of Pratchett’s dementia. This might make you tear up at times. Of course, I didn’t because I’m a big brave boy. Having read the books as they came out I didn’t notice any effect on them until Raising Steam. There’s obviously something wrong with the novel. But then The Shepherd’s Crown is incomplete but what’s on the page is fine. What’s shocking is what a state he was in long before that. It beggars belief how he was able to continue for so long. Wilkins’s account of the writing of these two novels is very interesting.
It’s well written. Very readable, and the tone is spot on.
On the other hand, he has the advantage of being close to his subject. It’s intimate. It’s not a hagiography. There are numerous examples of Pratchett being a total arsehole. Particularly well done is his charting of Pratchett’s dementia. This might make you tear up at times. Of course, I didn’t because I’m a big brave boy. Having read the books as they came out I didn’t notice any effect on them until Raising Steam. There’s obviously something wrong with the novel. But then The Shepherd’s Crown is incomplete but what’s on the page is fine. What’s shocking is what a state he was in long before that. It beggars belief how he was able to continue for so long. Wilkins’s account of the writing of these two novels is very interesting.
It’s well written. Very readable, and the tone is spot on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, and Dementia
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