and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you.*
There is so much I want to InCoHerEntLy say about this book.
But first, I have to say that I’m terribly disappointed in an educational system that has kept me from such a book for the last sixteen years. Granted, only about three of those sixteen years were spent in the public education sector. But I believe that to be a big enough window for at least one of my instructors to make an attempt at suggesting the importance of reading it if they had been as well read as they had claimed. Good Omens would have prevented a little late adolescent angst on the religious spectrum. Or, I would like to think it would have.
Please don't start to think that I believe that Good Omens should be considered the end all and be all of spiritual guides for our generation. I'm not that wacked. But it did surprise me in it's depth for what I had just assumed was just a comedy in the same league as Kevin Smith's film, Dogma. (And yes, I liked that movie but those thoughts are best saved for another time and place.)
CAVEAT:
Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous.
Do not attempt it in your home.
We really shouldn't get ahead of ourselves but I fear that I will try to describe it and end up making it sound like a summary of a third grade play. A task that is like trying to describe the Bible in fifty words or less... ooohh, a game... let's give it a try... God created the earth, you get a bunch of sin and morality tales. One of the grandest stories in the collection details how God's only son is killed as part of the ineffable Plan. Other stuff happen and then an ending describing Armageddon that would make any fantasy writer proud. The End. ...hmmm... 50 words on the dot but would you read it?
With that in mind and much trepidation, we will give Good Omens a shot: the Antichrist is born and puts into the play the Ineffable Plan of Armageddon. (The real danger of this book is that it makes you want to use the word ‘ineffable’ a lot.) Aziraphale (angel) and Crowley (demon), the true stars of this story, don’t exactly want that to happen as they like Earth just as it is. They team up to attempt to stop all of human existence from ending in one big train wreck. Due to a hospital mix-up, the Antichrist is incorrectly switched at birth and spends the next eleven years growing up in nice Lower Tadfield. So, the end of humanity is scheduled for this Saturday and you can't have the end of time without the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, 90’s style, wearing Hell’s Angels jackets and riding motorcycles. Not to mention witches, Witchfinders, demons, angels, aliens, Tibetans, Americans, etc, etc, etc... all told in a comedic voice so sharp it could be considered brutal if you weren't too busy laughing.
See what I mean? Not so great in the description department but I hope you will read it anyway. Personally, I enjoyed the general sense of doom you feel that is usually only achievable after a morbid “Disaster Recovery Plan” work meeting. Except Good Omens is much funnier than most management seminars not attended by Scott Adams.
It's the type of book that will make you want to crawl inside and see the world the authors are serving up to us. Granted it would not be that different from today's London but it would be interesting to visit Aziraphale's bookshop. That is if you could happen to find it open and withstand the glowering looks of the owner. And although I'm not much of a car lover, it would be fun to take a spin in Crowley's Bentley with Queen belting from the speakers. The story definitely leaves you wanting more and that could explain the fandom that has sprung from just one book published in the long ago days of 1990. The book is also one of the few that would find its way onto my to-be-read-again shelf.
Normally I wouldn't tell people I don't know what to do but if you haven't read Good Omens, go buy it. Or if you have, you should read it again and let the approaching Apocalypse bring a smile to your face. Cheers!
*All bolded quotes were written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, copyrighted 1990, Workman Publishing Company. I would consider it one of the signs of the apocalypse if I could write something with half as much wit.
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