This book is okay

Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett). I think this was the sixth time I’ve read this book. Which is weird, because I don’t really enjoy it very much.

The story is something like this: the Anti-Christ is accidentally born to a middle-class British family, and a low-level Angel and a low-level Demon realize they are fond of Earth and try to stop the Apocalypse. And a few other things.

The style is interesting. Terry Pratchett writes jokey Hitchhiker-style fantasy novels, which exist in an obscure, manic reality he made up. Neil Gaiman writes dark, Biblically infused adventure stories that regularly traverse dreams and Heaven. They’re good friends in real life, and they seem to fit together well.

I think this is the last time I’ll read it. The first few times I finished the book, I found myself wanting more, like I’d missed something. It was both interesting and unsatisfying, the way the flavor of Coca-Cola leaves the drinker thirsty. As I re-read it through the years, I discovered that part of the emptiness I felt had to do with the humor, which contained British references and subtext that I didn’t understand. I guess I assumed, subconsciously, that if I figured out all the jokes, the book would magically become more interesting. I have now narrowed it down, and I believe there is only one joke in the entire book I do not yet understand.

I don’t know why he calls his car “Dick Turpin.”

The point is, now I understand what’s going on completely enough to say with confidence: I don’t really enjoy this book very much.

Some people do. Some people are fanatical about it. Read it, and maybe you’ll discover you’re one of them. At the moment, I’m knee deep in another Gaiman novel, and it is much better. I won’t recommend it here, because I’m going to recommend it in just a minute.