From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

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

Terry Pratchett

Start date: January 11, 2011

Finish date: February 8, 2011

Discussion: 2011 Reads

Why we're reading this: As voted by our listeners!
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2011 Reads

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What Members Thought

Jun 25, 2007 John Wiswell rated it liked it

A funny book about the end of the world. Come on, you already know what it's about. I'm the last person I know to hasn't read this thing, so pretending you don't know that it's comedy about an angel, a demon, the antichrist and armageddon on the way is just silly.

It feels more like Douglas Adams than Pratchett or Gaiman. No, not as funny as Adams at his best, and more focused on dumb theology than Adams's pell-mell approach, but with the unnecessary and entirely unique characters, bizarre takes A funny book about the end of the world. Come on, you already know what it's about. I'm the last person I know to hasn't read this thing, so pretending you don't know that it's comedy about an angel, a demon, the antichrist and armageddon on the way is just silly.

It feels more like Douglas Adams than Pratchett or Gaiman. No, not as funny as Adams at his best, and more focused on dumb theology than Adams's pell-mell approach, but with the unnecessary and entirely unique characters, bizarre takes on religion and emrbacing of the fantastic, it seems like he was left off the cover. But the biggest Adams-like trait is that it's so dialogue-heavy. I can't remember a Pratchett novel that had this many scenes that existed just so people could talk. If you like quirky conversations about religion, then here's your in.

But because they're so frequent, the pattern of most of these conversations becomes apparent: one side questions a conceit and is guaranteed to win the conceit no matter what, and in the course of arguing it gets all the good lines and appears to be the only one that’s thought about this topic no matter how much of an expert the other parties should be. The first hundred pages are thick with the demon suggesting spurious things and the angel having no defense - despite his devotion, and despite having a bestfriend who constantly undermines his feelings, he's apparently never thought about his job, not on Page 1, 100 or 300.

I recognize this fictional conversation model because I love writing them. It’s all too tempting for a writer to pitch his side as the smart one against morons. But in a book that questions the nature of good and evil, accuses humans of being worse than the Devil and asks if Hell is really that bad, asks what was up in Genesis and what God’s intentions were, the approach hampers things. These are profound topics that deserve more than neutered Socratic dialoguess – or, if you’re a humor-lover like me, these are topics that deserve two hilarious sides, not one kind of funny side that pokes the other clearly wrong one. That’s what webcomics are for.

Critics complained Adams's work had too little plot, but here people almost exclusively seem to do things to break up the chunks of dialogue. Those things can be hilarious, like a demon fight that's brought to a standstill when one produces a squirt bottle of holy water. But no amount of progression causes character growth, and that pattern of conversations never changes. I won't spoil it, but the huge and fiery climax quickly devolves into yet another one-sided argument, only this time against people who should really have opinions on the matter but stare glassy-eyed at the apparently brilliant questioner. The climax is the biggest example of the flaw in meaning for the conversations: if that's supposed to be a metaphysical statement, it's a dumb one. But if it’s just supposed to be entertainment, it’s a little disappointing that things remain slanted to the point of one-sided arguments to the very last page.

Now in terms of one-sided conversations, these are some of the funniest you’ll read. No matter how slanted they get or how obvious the leanings of the authors become, they're still quirky. They are full of alternative thought. But clearly being on one side is where this strongly divorces from Douglas Adams's best work: he was too wild and too questioning of all sides to give them the benefit of winning. ...more

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Mar 23, 2010 travelgirlut rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3 stars. A good, fun read. It really needed a nice quiet place where I could sink deep into the wordplay, but having two kids underfoot kind of ruins that. I may read it again sometime when I have a moment of silence to try and get more out of it.

Re-read April 2020: Changing my rating to 4 stars. After watching the new TV series I knew I had to re-read the book. They did such a great job with the show. It's a very faithful reproduction. While rereading I kept wanting to go back and watch the sh ...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Jlawrence rated it liked it

Shelves: sword-and-laser

Good apocalyptic fun, if not quite as funny or inspired as I was hoping.

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Jul 10, 2007 Penny rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I found this book to be well written but not that entertaining. The setup leads you to believe you are reading comedy but then the humor just isn't there. ...more

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