# Discworld Reading Club #13: Small Gods \[Spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864 "2006-04-23T16:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/21 "2006-04-25T01:34:45Z")
It’s one of two books that I have signed by Terry. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/22 "2006-04-25T02:36:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The book is just about a perfect description of everything that’s wrong with organized religion, and everything that’s right about personal faith. Well said. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/23 "2006-04-25T03:10:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Which is about as perfect a Christian act as I can think of in literature. As perfect an Omnian act… But yeah, it’s because Brutha is that type of person, But it’s because Brutha is that type of person that he believed in Om, and could see Om in the first place. In fact, I think Brutha is one of the few completely moral and good people on the Disc. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/24 "2006-04-25T09:16:40Z")
Myfavourite Pterry book. It has it all - the comedy, the humanism. Deep thoughts. I think Brutha is a good person in spite of his faith, not because of. My fav. quote: "And it all meant this: that there is hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do. Vorbis loves knowing that. A man who knew that, knew everything he needed to know about people" I’ve said before, Vorbis is, to me, an expansion and yet also a crystallization of Dios from _Pyramids_ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/25 "2006-04-25T10:14:33Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > As perfect an Omnian act… > > But yeah, it’s because Brutha is that type of person, But it’s because Brutha is that type of person that he believed in Om, and could see Om in the first place. In fact, I think Brutha is one of the few completely moral and good people on the Disc. You know, Brutha and Carrot Ironfoundersson have quite a lot in common. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/26 "2006-04-25T10:21:39Z")
“Bishops move sideways. That’s why they often turn up where kings don’t expect them to be.” Wonderful book. I especially love the hermit in the desert (I don’t remember the name and I don’t have the book here) who lets the small gods treat him to otherworldly pleasures just for the privilege of enjoying his belief. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/27 "2006-04-25T10:27:24Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Wiki doesn’t address it; neither does L-Space, as far as I can tell. Cite? 🙂 He once said in an interview: “I think I’m probably an atheist, but rather angry with God for not existing.” I can’t find a link, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/28 "2006-04-25T10:34:43Z")
[Pterry quote about _Small Gods_](http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/words-from-the-master.html): > [@](#): > > I may have posted something on these lines before, but a lot of mail about Small Gods is split between 1) pagans who say that it really shafts the Big Beard In the Sky religions and 2) Christians who say that it is an incredibly pro-Christian book. > > I suspect the latter is because Brutha displays tolerance, compassion, charity, steadfastness and faith, and these are now considered Christian virtues (i.e., virtues that modern Christians feel they should have…) ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/29 "2006-04-25T16:12:52Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Wonderful book. I especially love the hermit in the desert (I don’t remember the name and I don’t have the book here) who lets the small gods treat him to otherworldly pleasures just for the privilege of enjoying his belief. St Ungulant, I think. I didn’t like this book when I first read it… I’m not really sure why not, but I think it was because I didn’t feel it was played for laughs as much as the Rincewind series are. Coming back to it and reading it again, however, I’ve realised that it is a lot deeper than I first thought. The development of both Brutha and Om as characters - that they change from one end of the book to the other, and who is the dominant one, is very noticeable - but _how_ it happens is subtle. Vorbis’s character is a clever one too… he’s very, very scary. And I think most of his scariness is because for the first half of the book he’s a man who is quite kind to Brutha, but you can feel Brutha’s fear that the calm, reasonable man in front of him is suddenly going to send him to the inquisitors for looking at him funny. I enjoyed the little side story of the lion - which felt that it had to symbolically _not eat_ Brutha in some way. And I agree with everyone else about the ending with both Vorbis and Brutha in the (metaphorical) desert. Very powerful. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/30 "2006-04-25T17:01:17Z")
The bit at the end where Brutha asks: “Which end?” Brilliant. Just brilliant. My favorite Discworld book. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/31 "2006-04-25T19:16:57Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > The bit at the end where Brutha asks: “Which end?” Brilliant. Just brilliant. > > My favorite Discworld book. “I like the idea of democracy. You have to have someone everyone distrusts” _Wonderful_ stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/32 "2006-04-25T19:44:51Z")
And it came to pass that in time the Great God Om spake unto Brutha, the Chosen One: “Psst!” ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/33 "2006-04-25T20:44:30Z")
Also one of my favorites - there’s not much I could say about it that folks haven’t already said. This book also has great re-read value - you get a lot out of it from reading it more, while many of the other Discworld books don’t seem to have that going for them. I really liked the Guards series, but I’m not sure I would get as much out of re-reading them as I did from _Small Gods_. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/34 "2006-04-25T21:06:15Z")
“Slave is an Ephebian word. In Om we have no word for slave,” said Vorbis. “So I understand,” said the Tyrant. “I imagine that fish have no word for water.” ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/35 "2006-04-26T04:54:37Z")
> [@Fromage A Trois](#): > > St Ungulant, I think. > > I didn’t like this book when I first read it… I’m not really sure why not, but I think it was because I didn’t feel it was played for laughs as much as the Rincewind series are. Coming back to it and reading it again, however, I’ve realised that it is a lot deeper than I first thought. I had much the same experience. I was lukewarm on it on at first, but on a re-read, it somehoe got a lot better. Now it’s my favorite. Great book. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/36 "2006-04-26T11:07:57Z")
The Nigel Planer audio book of Small Gods is excellent, if only for his pronunciation of “Tor-toys”. I actually use the bit with Om first calling Brutha as my ring tone. “Psst, psssssst, are you deaf, boy?” ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/37 "2006-07-08T12:58:13Z")
This was the first Terry Pratchett book I ever picked up, after seeing an advertisment in _Dragon_. There are two parts I remember vividly, apart from, you know, everything. The first is the part where Pterry explains that as miracles go, there’s nothing that inspires more belief than a turtle falling on someone’s head. The second is the part where he points out that an atheist who is angry at the gods for not existing is almost as good as a believer. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/38 "2006-07-08T14:43:34Z")
If I had to pick a favorite Discworld book it would probably be _Small Gods._ It goes so **deep** without sacrificing the humor! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/39 "2006-07-08T14:45:38Z")
“You do have a tongue, don’t you, lad?” Brutha nodded and, in case this were not enough, presented it for inspection. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864/40 "2006-12-25T21:34:52Z")
I just loved the bit in Tsort (or was it Ephebe?) where they meet the philosphers. And of course any government that actually calls it’s ruler the Tyrant is a few steps ahead of the rest of us in my book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-13-small-gods-spoilers/353864.md?page=1)