Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So I just now read this, 30 years after its first publication. I think it would work well as a book to recommend to someone younger--the humor mostly holds up and you get a kind of aside look at what technology was like in 1990. Cell phones were an anomaly, requiring antennas on top of the cars. Most people didn't have computers. Traffic was awful, just as today.

And it's a nice fun romp of a book, plenty of visual possibilities in it, so it's kind of hard to say why it didn't get made into a show sooner.

If you think of angels and demons representing Good and Evil, then this book will confuse you. Pratchett and Gaiman treat them more as representatives of different political parties--different public positions but working together on the side to keep things going. Of course that's in well-functioning democracies, of which there are fewer and fewer.

Definitely worth reading, then and now.



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The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

The last book I read by Neil Gaiman was Anansi Boys.  For some reason I have never reviewed it.  That's unfortunate, for the book was worthy, but I don't think I'll get to it now.  The book I'm here to review is this year's Nebula nominee, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, available as an e-book from my library, which is a great thing.

Our protagonist is departing from a funeral.  Obviously someone close to him, as he appears to have arranged the funeral.  But we don't really find out who it is.  He drifts away from the funeral and ends up at the Hempstock farm, where he has a Proust moment.  Sitting on a bench by the duck pond, he recalls extraordinary events from when he visited there at seven years old.  He meets Lettie Hempstock, the 3rd generation of Hempstock women at the farm.  Together they take on a creature from an alternate world that comes to "give everyone what they want", only it does it poorly.  He is not much use, but is a good friend to Lettie.

The book is beautifully written, as Gaiman's fiction always is.  Compared to Anansi Boys, though, it just feels a couple of sizes smaller.  There's action, adventure, and strong characters, but all somewhat less.  The protagonist is something of a cipher, and though that's quite intentional it leaves something of a hole in the middle of the book. 

What makes it worthwhile, and why I still give it four stars, is the careful thought and wonderful writing that is fully present.  It's a great example of how to write a novel, and yet it's something of a toss-off for Gaiman--the casual backhand down the line, chip shot to within an inch, or easy swing for a home run.  Four stars.  Go read it, it won't take long.