Dodger, by Terry Pratchett

Today I'm looking at one of Pratchett's non-Discworld novels, Dodger. This is a stand alone vaguely historical novel set in nineteenth century London and follows the adventures of the title character, Dodger. Dodger is a tosher, someone whose primary form of employment is to go through London's informal system of sewers to find lost coins, jewelry, and other valuables. On a rainy night, Dodger finds two men attacking a woman desperately trying to escape. Dodger intervenes and drives the woman's attackers off, to return and find that Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew have discovered the unconscious woman. Dodger soon gets embroiled in a plot of international dimensions and faces the possibility that there's something in his life beyond toshing.

I will say that this book, like a lot of historical fiction, seems to veer into Forrest Gump territory from the very beginning. Not only does Dodger meet Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew, but he defeats Sweeny Todd, meets Benjamin Disraeli, Angela Burdett-Coutts, Sir Robert Peel, and Joseph Bazalgette. Pratchett also draws extensively on Mayhew's evidence and other sources about nineteenth century London to create an extensive image of London. Pratchett being Pratchett he had to take a few liberties, but it does create a rather detailed impression of what life was like.

Dodger constantly running into famous people was a little frustrating but honestly that wasn't what concerned me the most about this book. What bothered me was certain things about the character Solomon Cohen. Solomon is a Jewish jeweler who lives in Seven Dials and provides space for Dodger to live and acts as a good influence on Dodger. There's also evidence that Solomon was a spy previously and may or may not have met Karl Marx. But what concerns me is towards the end of the book when Dodger is preparing to go into high society Solomon goes along with Dodger to help him get the best deals. And it turns out that Solomon is very, very good at haggling the best prices, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. There are a lot of really unfortunate stereotypes about Jews as cheap and extremely aggressive hagglers, which Solomon is. So I'm a little concerned that Solomon, a Jew, is also an extreme haggler. It's just a very concerning stereotype and I hate to see it in a Pratchett novel.

Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. I wouldn't say this is one of Pratchett's better novels, but I think it's well in the middle of his books. If you like nineteenth century London then this book definitely has lots of stuff for you to enjoy.

- Kalpar