Authors: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
First published: 1990
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As a lot of people told me not to give up on Terry after The Color of Magic, I've decided to try something close, but not exactly the same, and ended up choosing Good Omens, a book recommended by nearly everybody I know. And I love Gaiman, by the way. The choice has proved to be a very sensible one, as I enjoyed the book very much and I don't hate Pratchett any more :)
So the book is about an Apocalypse, and a very badly organised one. Antichrist was misplaced on the day he appeared on Earth and now nobody knows where to find him, while an angel and a demon, who happen to be friends, are trying to stop the Apocalypse altogether because they rather like it here on the Earth. And there is a book of prophesies of Agnes Nutter, witch, who saw everything that will happen, and a strange organisation of Witchfinders, and the four horsemen of Apocalypse, and four children who just play their games in a small village in Oxfordshire. Then it all gets wonderfully mixed up and spiced up with jokes and footnotes (which are the funniest part), and results in a pretty amazing book.
Biblical tradition is a good source of jokes in itself, but there are also a lot of jests about human ways, stereotypes, etc. I giggled a lot while reading it, which caused a lot of unpleasant looks from my neighbors on a night trans-Atlantic plane. It all got a bit too philosophical for my taste in the end, but one can endure it for the sake of fun.
I guess I saw a film once which was also about two angels doing some crazy stuff on Earth, and it also had Metatron, some other biblical characters and the end of the world. I guess the director found the inspiration for it in Good Omens. I'm mentioning the film here because I think it'd be pretty amazing to have Good Omens adapted for the screen, I think it will make an amazing movie. But the script must be written by Gaiman himself. He writes scripts, anyway :)
BTW, the amazing Coursera Fantasy and Sci Fi book club will be discussing Good Omens tomorrow. They are great guys, always choosing something nice to read. Welcome to join!
Oh, I'm glad you liked Good Omens! Such a fun book. :) And I think of it every time I hear a Queen song in the car, heh.
ReplyDeleteHeh, now I will, too :) I've actually posted a Queen song for the Wildfire read-a-thon challenge :)
DeleteI'm glad you liked Good Omens! I think Gaiman's style sort of offset Pratchett's a little bit - made a rather dark but funny book. :) You know, I don't know how I missed the Coursera book club at the time - I've seen you mention it a few times since then, though...perhaps I should check it out. But I belong to SO many book clubs! :)
ReplyDeleteAh! No! It's a closed group. :p
DeleteI don't remember how I entered, I guess I just wrote to the administrator girl and she added me. We get new people all the time, so it mustn't be a problem. I don't participate very actively, but the things people dig up are sometimes just amazing.
DeleteOh good, I'm glad you gave Pratchett a second chance, and enjoyed Good Omens! His later Discworld books are so splendidly fun. I giggle while reading him. Often.
ReplyDelete