Knowing nothing about this book, except a recommendation to read it, I downloaded the audiobook and gave it a try. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. I was worried it would just be another story glorifying demons and their actions, but instead what I found was an ingenious story about good and evil and the blurred lines of both, all done in a comedic style. The authors flip a common trope upside down by showing us a demon and an angel who like living among the people, and would rather the world remain as it is; they appear to us as human and flawed on their journey toward stopping the coming Rapture. Insert a misplaced antichrist who is raised as a normal child, satanic nuns, a hellhound who morphs into the boy’s dog, the Four Horsemen, a wannabe biker gang, and aliens. Yes, aliens. And it all works!
I loved this so much! Once I finished the book, I immediately went over to watch the series, which is also well done, BUT I was a little disappointed that the biker gang that follow the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were not there. I thought that whole naming section was so clever in the book - Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty To Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Them A Good Thumping but secretly No Alcohol Lager, and Really Cool People.
Another part I totally adored was the spoof on nouvelle cuisine as Famine’s way to contribute to the cause. Ingenious! Other favorite parts include the antichrist as a boy and the whole Three-Card-Monty type maneuvering of the babies, the postal delivery guy, and the Agnes Nutter book of prophecies and how they were deciphered. The narration by Martin Jarvis was spot on.
My favorite quotes from Good Omens:
· “Don’t think of it as dying,” said Death. Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush.”
· “Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality waiting to be shaped.”
· “It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism.”
Side note: Maybe it is the writer in me, but while listening to the story the names of the main characters seem quite purposeful. Think about this:
Aziraphale – as in “a zero fail”
Crowley – when pronounced it sounds like “crawley” or something that crawls on the ground
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