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A review by theresidentbookworm
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
3.0
My favorite Mom Friend ™ Marwah picked Good Omens for our last book club, and boy do I have thoughts!
It actually took me a very long time to read Good Omens or at least get into it. So long that it we were supposed to do our book club meeting for it on Halloween and didn’t do it until December 31st. It just took me a while to get hooked, but once I did I read it in a few days. I’d never read anything by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett before (primarily because they both write in genres I generally avoid), but I’d heard high praise from other friends. (My copy was actually loaned to me by my best friend Grace, who does enjoy this book.)
What I knew about Good Omens is what I knew from seeing promos and Tumblr posts about the Amazon adaptation (which I did watch promptly after reading). That made me think Good Omens is primarily a love story between an angel and demon who are trying to stop the Apocalypse. However, Good Omens as a novel is a sprawling, multi-perspective story about an angel and demon who incompetent try to stop the Apocalypse, the son of Satan who’s actually a very nice child, his friends, a witch who interprets her ancestors’ prophecies, a witchfinder who teams up and falls in love with her, and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. The novel jumps between all these characters and a few I haven’t even mentioned in constantly. This perspective jumping made things a little confusing, especially when it was in any of the Horseman’s perspectives. Luckily, Gaiman and Pratchett are extraordinarily clever even when they are also confusing. When I couldn’t follow the narrative or figure out how a certain person related to the plot, I could at least enjoy the dialogues and the careful way each character is sketched. I also enjoyed how Gaiman and Pratchett always went for the unexpected twist or decision; they leaned away from cliches, which made Good Omens all the more interesting.
I suspect Good Omens is a book I’d enjoy much more upon reread, which I might have to do because I did enjoy the show immensely. Good Omens was very smartly adapted, and anyone who enjoyed the show should go to the book for more character depth and backstory! I’m glad it was a book club pick and that I got to discuss it with my friends. I think it made all of us enjoy Good Omens more!
It actually took me a very long time to read Good Omens or at least get into it. So long that it we were supposed to do our book club meeting for it on Halloween and didn’t do it until December 31st. It just took me a while to get hooked, but once I did I read it in a few days. I’d never read anything by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett before (primarily because they both write in genres I generally avoid), but I’d heard high praise from other friends. (My copy was actually loaned to me by my best friend Grace, who does enjoy this book.)
What I knew about Good Omens is what I knew from seeing promos and Tumblr posts about the Amazon adaptation (which I did watch promptly after reading). That made me think Good Omens is primarily a love story between an angel and demon who are trying to stop the Apocalypse. However, Good Omens as a novel is a sprawling, multi-perspective story about an angel and demon who incompetent try to stop the Apocalypse, the son of Satan who’s actually a very nice child, his friends, a witch who interprets her ancestors’ prophecies, a witchfinder who teams up and falls in love with her, and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. The novel jumps between all these characters and a few I haven’t even mentioned in constantly. This perspective jumping made things a little confusing, especially when it was in any of the Horseman’s perspectives. Luckily, Gaiman and Pratchett are extraordinarily clever even when they are also confusing. When I couldn’t follow the narrative or figure out how a certain person related to the plot, I could at least enjoy the dialogues and the careful way each character is sketched. I also enjoyed how Gaiman and Pratchett always went for the unexpected twist or decision; they leaned away from cliches, which made Good Omens all the more interesting.
I suspect Good Omens is a book I’d enjoy much more upon reread, which I might have to do because I did enjoy the show immensely. Good Omens was very smartly adapted, and anyone who enjoyed the show should go to the book for more character depth and backstory! I’m glad it was a book club pick and that I got to discuss it with my friends. I think it made all of us enjoy Good Omens more!