Monday, November 11, 2013

Good Omens: "Aziraphale was an angel, but he also worshiped books"


Good Omens is just the tiniest bit blasphemous.

OK, yeah...a lot blasphemous.

BUT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

The story opens with a clandestine meeting between two dukes of Hell and a fallen angel named Crowley. More accurately, Crowley is "an Angel who did not so much fall as saunter vaguely downwards." Crowley is tasked with setting the Apocalypse in motion by planting the infant spawn of Satan with an unsuspecting American family who will unknowingly raise him to embrace his more nefarious qualities (because AMERICAN) and, in so doing, bring about the end of the world.

The thing is . . . Crowley doesn't much want the world to end. But he can't directly disobey orders; so he and his enemy-who's-really-more-of-a-friend-after-all-these-centuries-of-being-enemies, the angel Aziraphale, get together to see if they can maybe derail this Apocalypse Train in a roundabout waywith Aziraphale doing what angels do and Crowley doing what demons do, and may the best man win and the Powers That Be remain none the wiser.

I will never stop wanting this to happen.

The cast of characters (listed most amusingly at the beginning of the book) is diverse, encompassing beings from Heaven, Hell, Earth, and a few cracks in between. Even though he wrote this fairly early in his career, Neil Gaiman's trademark style is pretty prominent. And Terry Pratchett's effortless sense of humor is right there in every sentence. The two styles combine so seamlessly that, when asked, even the authors can't quite recall who wrote what.

But about that blasphemy.
God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time. (p. 14)
This is not, in fact, how I feel about the Great Plan. But . . . well, sometimes that's EXACTLY how I feel about it. And that's what makes it funny. Like when Crowley explains that he can do little acts of evil here and there to satisfy his job description but humans end up doing most of the work for him. The Spanish Inquisition, for instance. Nothing to do with Crowley, even if he DID get an award for it.

Wherever you land on the continuum of religious belief, there's really no good reason to lose your sense of humor. And this book is a good reminder of that.

Can't argue with that.

16 comments:

  1. Uh. Where is that movie I demand it be in production POST-HASTE.



    This book is great. I laugh out loud every time i read it, which is relatively often. Comparatively. I've read it at least 4 times.

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  2. I just. . . MIND BLOWN. That cast, I wants it. It is my precious. My only.

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  3. Two hiddles pictures/gifs? Thank you for making my Tuesday that much better. Also, if a film is ever actually given the go-ahead I will rage and sign petitions to make sure this cast happens.

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  4. MY BROTHER AND I TALKED WHEN WE READ IT AND AGREED IT WASN'T BLASPHEMOUS. For some reason. I forget why. Probably because it's SUPER-AMAZING.

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  5. Oh man, that Hiddles/Cumberbutt would be perfect as Crowley & Aziraphale. I didn't think it was THAT blasphemous. But I didn't think Dogma was either so I'm prob a bad judge of that stuff.

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  6. Oh, ho, ho! This is so far the only Gaiman book I've read (I've read other Pratchett books) and it was such a treat to read. Clever and funny and irreverent = one of my favorite things. My problem is that I watched Dogma before reading this book, so parts of it felt ever so slightly derivative, which is a shame because it's the other way around!

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  7. "Wherever you land on the continuum of religious belief, there's really no good reason to lose your sense of humor. " TRUTH.


    I have yet to read any Gaiman OR Pratchett (I know, what am I doing with my life?) but this really sounds so good and all the comments! Everyone likes it! I'm on it, guys.

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  8. Do you think they COULD make the movie? I think people would just be like, "Oh...that's a ripoff of Dogma." Unless it was VERY British. Then they could do whatever they wanted.

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  9. I just saw Thor 2, so I'm hyper-focused on Sir Hiddles at the moment. He is perfection. PERFECTION.

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  10. WELL as long as you agreed, it doesn't really matter the reasoning. I WILL TAKE IT.

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  11. I saw Dogma when I was about 15, so I was SCANDALIZED by the blasphemy but also didn't care because Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had wings.

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  12. I grow more and more fond of irreverent the older I get. I saw Dogma first, too...but this is just so BRITISH. You know? I guess that helps draw the differentiating line for me.


    Having read quite a bit of Gaiman and only just this one with Pratchett attached, I think I might enjoy Pratchett's stuff MORE than Gaiman's. I'm gonna look into that.

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  13. Neverwhere is still my favorite Gaiman. But THIS one...might be a better place to start easing into his work. Yeah...start here I think.

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  14. Dat last line, girl!
    In terms of blasphemy, how does this compare to Dogma? I'm a Christian who does happen to have a sense of humor, and I found Dogma hilarious (but also a rail thin line that I toed).

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  15. If Dogma didn't bother you too much, I don't think this will at all. I actually think Dogma is a little MORE irreverent...mostly due to Jay and Silent Bob. And the British can just get away with more because of their inherent classiness and such.

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