I finished Good Omens the other night. Good Omens is basically the story of the apocalypse. As you might expect from that brief description, it’s a comedy.
I had some trouble getting through this one. I found the humor to be something less than funny. It’s very british, very much in the spirit of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. But, where Adams books were able to pull off that isn’t bureaucracy universal and obnoxious? kind of vibe, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, who co-authored Good Omens can’t quite deliver.
Generally I found myself more annoyed and bored than amused by the attempts at dry, officious humor. In particular, I hated the footnotes. This book has so many footnotes. I’d keep reading them, because I kept thinking that’s where the really good jokes are going to be. After a while though, I learned to just ignore them since they were always distracting and never funny.
After reading American Gods, I thought that I was going to be a big Gaiman fan. But I wasn’t thrilled with Neverwhere – which felt a bit like a novelization of a Dr. Who episode to me for some reason. It was OK, but not what I was hoping for. I don’t know how much of Good Omens was Gaiman and how much was pratchett, but I’m just about ready to give up on Gaiman. I’m sure that puts me in a very small minority since everybody I talk to seems to love his stuff, and I did really, really like American Gods, but … I don’t know.
I am now reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. I’m only a few chapters in, but it’s looking good.
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