June Book Club discussion post

[writerlibrarian]

June Book Club : Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Book description, links and other stuff at Harper Collins site.

So you can post your thoughts, your reviews here.

A few ideas for discussions, you can totally ignore them, they are there to start up discussions.

Both Gaiman and Pratchett are on record about writing Good Omens for fun and that in the end they are not sure for some parts who wrote what? Are the Pratchett parts obvious, are the Gaiman parts obvious?

Good Omens was written before the whole Internet made it easy to write in tandem and being physically thousand of miles apart. Would it be different if it was written now?

Do you need to have a British background to "get" the humor (jokes) in Good Omens?

Angels mythology, anyone?

Apocalyptic fiction: From Good Omens to The Road ?

Let's the discussions begin....

Comments

[writerlibrarian]

Some background stuff :

I had never read it. I had never read a Pratchett book either. My only Gaiman book was Coraline.
I'm French Canadian with a French lit background.

Impressions

Well, I can understand why it became a cult kind of book. I enjoyed most of it, didn't get most of the jokes, loved the fact that in the end it's all a wicked game of Solitaire.

I liked Them and the two angels, the four Horsemen were okay but I have this image of the Four Horsemen from Highlander and well, Methos is the ultimate Death, but I digress. I found the whole accurate predicting witch a bit boring and long.

I'm glad I read it, won't read it again.

[bliumchik]

I'm a childhood Pratchett fan and actually got into Neil Gaiman through reading Good Omens back in the day (and boy am I glad I did). It's generally one of my favourite books!

On later read-throughs the thing I appreciate most is the sly humour in those tiny little absurdities like the Tibetans and Atlantis. I sense a connection to Discworld there. I'm particularly a fan of Newton Pulsifer and fascinated by his kind of "reverse superpower" (if only it could be harnessed for... awesome!)

As apocalyptic fiction goes it's interesting because most of the genre is POST-apocalyptic fiction - that is, the apocalypse is DESCRIBED, but mostly so as to talk about what people do afterwards. I haven't read that many apocalypse-averted types, except as incorporated into your general epic sciffy/fantasy book like Harry Potter or whatever. Thoughts?

[writerlibrarian]

That's what I was thinking, this is almost a anti-apocalyptic tale. We get to see a glimpse of what it would be instead of what it becomes.

I haven't read much of apocalypses that do not happen. Probably something to look into. I'll go look and come back with something. *g*

[maryavatar]

There are a few bits where the Pratchett shines though. You just know the title 'The Nife and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch' came from him.

I do think that it's very English book. I'm Scottish and I lived in England for ten years, so yes... I got the jokes. I'm not sure I really got them on the level that someone English would though.

[writerlibrarian]

From my perspective, the book is clever but not oh my god so funny. I think it's because most of the joke went way way over my head. Didn't catch them. I found that the most universal things like the Tibet Monks and Atlantis were clever but not hilariously funny.

But from the reviews I read after finishing the book, it's very very funny. I'm thinking way over my head humor in this case.

[rodo]

I never read a Terry Pratchett book, but I could definitely notice his influence on the books. I couldn't really tell apart which part was written by whom, though.

I don't think you necessary need to have a British backgroud too either, but I might just think like that because I didn't notice the jokes you needed it for.

[writerlibrarian]

Probably the case for me. I didn't have the proper inside jokes to get them. Still clever book

[seanlily]

I read it a couple of years ago and while I really enjoyed it then, I didn't want to reread, so I'm commenting from memory.

I had read one Pratchett book prior but I don't think I read any Gaiman (though I've read lots since) so I couldn't tell who wrote what.

I felt at the time that I got a lot of the humor but probably missed a lot as well.

I liked the almost silliness of the whole thing, end of the world coming but little things derailing it.

[writerlibrarian]

I have American Gods in my to-read Gaiman pile but I'll probably get to the Graveyard one to be able to recommend it at work.

[txvoodoo]

I *love love love* post-apocalyptic. Unreasonably so. :D

[writerlibrarian]

The vibe I get looking over the books reccing and how the polls went a Dystopia/Uthopia theme month might be interesting to do eventually.

There are so nice titles in a mix of genres that would fit and any excuse to pimp out Neuromancers. LOL

[sonneta]

I've read a lot of Pratchett, and only one other Gaiman. To me, some of the parts seemed very obviously Pratchett (like the tapes that always turn into Queen), but I couldn't really pick out any parts as "obviously written by Gaiman".

I'm American, and I got some of the jokes, though perhaps not all of them.

I like this book, and I find it hilarious, but I kind of have to ignore the theology of it, because the theology is incredibly bad. As one of my friends once said, "It's like they forgot about the New Testament- except for the book of Revelations".