“It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.”

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Summary

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

My Thoughts

Despite my slightly pretentious quote up there, because I am nothing if not a slightly pretentious person, Good Omens is nothing so much as a comedy. A hilarious, out-of-pocket, comedy. The main two narrators are not in fact any of the main people involved in the plot of the book, but an angel and a demon who mess up, misplace the Antichrist, and then attempt to fix their mistake while the plot occurs around them. This may seem like a bad review but it is not; Good Omens is genuinely one of the best books I’ve read. To my everlasting shame, I did in fact see the TV show on Amazon Prime before I read the book, but I also don’t think that is a bad thing because the TV show is just as good as the book series, pulling directly from the source material and many times quoting it directly. It was watching the TV show with my friends in 10th grade that actually properly got me into the book, and I don’t regret it one bit.

The plot is well-paced, and the book is written from multiple points of view but overall narrated by God herself, voiced by Frances McDormand in the TV show (who is honestly perfect for the role). Characters include Aziraphale, an Angel, Crowley, a Demon, the antichrist, Adam, a witch, Anathema Device, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and the four archangels. It’s a well-researched bastardization of Christian mythology in the best way possible; don’t assume it’s a religious commentary, just have fun. Reading the book is like going on a rollercoaster ride blindfolded; you have no idea where it’s going but you’re having the time of your life.

If I had to be picky, I’d say that there are very queer vibes between Crowley and Aziraphale that are never actually brought to fruition, but Neil Gaiman, the actors for the two (David Tennant and Michael Sheen respectively) have said that they do have something, they just didn’t make it explicit because it wasn’t relevant to the plot. Or something like that. Overall, highly recommend it, I think this is a book everyone should read at least once. If you’re not going to read it, at least watch the TV show. It being me, I did in fact make a Pinterest board immediately after watching and reading this gem, which I linked below.

Review: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/snippetsfrommymind/lit-good-omens/