The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings
by Terry Pratchett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Terry PratchettEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-30
ISBN: 0060094931
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: HarperCollins
Book Reviews of The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings
Book Review: Warning! Subverts innocent children!
Summary: 5 Stars
Pratchett's subtle dismantling of treasured beliefs is nowhere better displayed than in this trilogy. Relating three epic journeys, he follows a small group of small people emigrating from their ancestral home in the country. The chips aren't down, but there aren't enough in the truck stop's trash bin. And there aren't any more rats. These little people, the nomes, must find a new home. Snatching a ride on a lorry, they find one. It's a department Store, Arnold Bros, [est 1905], inhabited by thousands more nomes. Divided into family clans, the nomes of The Store believe it to be the entire universe. Masklin and his little group, therefore, cannot exist! They're from Outside - beyond the universe.
Their universe, however, is threatened by something worse than "Fire Sale" or "Final Clearance". There's a demolition order issued and "Everything Must Go!" For real. Masklin, who led his little tribe in from Outside, must now lead them and thousands of others back there. The escape from The Store - the abandonment of a known universe - is traumatic. It's also a side-splitter. Just how do 10 cm "people" arrange to drive their own lorry? "Let's have a bit of fast, down there!" doesn't start to convey Pratchett's descriptive powers. Nor the clashes of personalities involved in steering, signalling and achieving "Lots and lots of stop!" The stopping results in the nome community taking up residence in a rural quarry.
The exodus of the nomes from the universe of The Store to a promised land Outside generates a whole range of new problems. Not the least of which is the knowledge that this isn't the end of the journey. Masklin possesses a small "black box" which imparts arcane information about what this "Moses" of nomes must do to return his people to their real home. It's going to take more than nicking a store lorry. They must travel further - to a place called "Florida" - then into Outer Space. It will require planning, daring and ingenuity, but one nome is up to the task. Masklin's sense of purpose would shame a missionary. Yet, even in the face of incredible dangers and novelty, some nomes have to be restrained in their eagerness to explore new universes. Others, of course, hang back in the security of what's known - even when that foundation changes.
Throughout these stories, the implications of scale are paramount. How readily would you perceive 10 cm high "people" scurrying about beneath your feet? If you were that tall, how would you perceive the universe? Gurder, the young Abbott, manages to come to grips with the existence of Outside the Store. But leaving it doesn't mean abandoning Arnold Bros [est. 1905]. He insists that Arnold Bros [est. 1905] is present everywhere, and all the time. With each new reality, Gurder is able to adjust his frame of reference. Sound familiar? At the other end of the scale, Pratchett introduces us to the Amazonian Tree Frog. These tiny creatures inhabit the flowers of the "bromeliads" - plants living in trees instead of the ground. Their universe is one blossom - until one peers over the edge.
Take up this trilogy and peer over the edge. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Summary of The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings
In a world whose seasons are defined by Christmas sales and Spring Fashions, hundreds of tiny nomes live in the corners and crannies of a human-run department store. They have made their homes beneath the floorboards for generations and no longer remember -- or even believe in -- life beyond the Store walls.
Until the day a small band of nomes arrives at the Store from the Outside. Led by a young nome named Masklin, the Outsiders carry a mysterious black box (called the Thing), and they deliver devastating news: In twenty-one days, the Store will be destroyed.
Now all the nomes must learn to work together, and they must learn to think -- and to think BIG.
Part satire, part parable, and part adventure story par excellence, master storyteller Terry Pratchett?s engaging trilogy traces the nomes? flight and search for safety, a search that leads them to discover their own astonishing origins and takes them beyond their wildest dreams.
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