UK’s best-selling author Terry Pratchett’s latest novel Unseen Academicals (2009) is a parody on the cultural phenomenon of European football (soccer) and everything that surrounds it. As such, it may be better understood and enjoyed by Europeans than Americans; in particular since football hooliganism, a distinctly UK phenomenon, plays a central role in the story.
But the book is really about much more than football (soccer). It’s about the many foibles and follies of human nature, which are Universal, European or American alike. It is also a novel about every conceivable variety of pie (and its connection to football); fashion super models (and their connections to football super stars); as well as about orcs and goblins (connection to football unknown).
In typically characteristic Pratchett-fashion, everything on the Discworld mirrors things in our own world with a slight and hilarious twist. For example, a tail-gate market on the Discworld becomes a cart-tail market. And instead of cheerleaders, there are naiads dancing on the sidelines.
The main character in the book is the goblin-turned-orc Mr. Nutt, who is one of only a dozen or so surviving orcs on Discworld. In a display of philanthropy, two of the world’s most powerful despotic rulers decide to take Nutt on as a project, to help not only him but his entire persecuted race.
It bears mentioning that the two leaders in question, Lord Vetinari and Lady Margolotta have been at this before. Their previous projects have included rock trolls, werewolves, golems, and vampires, all of which they assisted in becoming integrated and accepted members of human society.
As part of his process of merging into human society, Mr. Nutt has been assigned by Lady Margolotta to accumulate ‘worth.’ A task which he goes at with no restraints and in the process makes many friends and allies. Nutt’s co-worker Trev Likely stops at nothing to save his life when it’s in peril. And in the night kitchen of the Unseen University where he works, Nutt finds a romantic interest in Miss Glenda Sugarbean, supreme creator of the crusty onion pie and other gourmet delicacies.
After demonstrating his knack for strategic thinking to his superiors at Unseen University, Mr. Nutt gets appointed as coach for the school’s floundering football team. And so a string of events begins to unfold.
Unseen Academicals may be a parody on the phenomenon of European football (soccer), as well as a number of other things thrown in for good measure, but soccer fan or not, this book will give you many hours of joyous reading and barrels of laughs.
Britt Hellman resides in North Carolina with her spouse and their three boys. She’s a professional copywriter and does book reviews as a hobby. Visit the website named after The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, where you can order Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett or any of the other 36 novels in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
