Good Omens

Rating:
Summary: Good news and bad news concerning Doomsday
Review: The good news is that Elvis is still alive and flipping burgers at a Des Moines 'Burger Lord'. The bad news is that he's going to die right along with all of the rest of us when Doomsday rolls around next Saturday.

By the way, there is no Rapture so don't think you're going to be able to settle down with a bowl of popcorn and watch the rest of us descend to Everlasting Torment.

What are some of the signs that Armageddon is almost upon us?

-Agnes Nutter predicted it

-An Archangel (technically he's a Principality) and a rather famous snake band together to prevent it

-Someone misplaced the Anti-Christ (technically the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness)

-Atlantis rises out of the ocean and strands a cruise ship on its main plaza

"Good Omens" is an extremely funny look at the End of the World--not in the gut-busting, laugh-out-loud style of a Dave Barry (at least not for me)--but in the best dead-pan, Monty Pythonesque 'take a normal object and rotate it into the wrong dimension' tradition. All of the main characters are loveable, earnest, and in some cases bumbling-- even the Witch-finder Sargeant. There are a couple of despicable (but bumbling) demons, and the Horsepersons of the Apocalypse are flat-out evil. The latter inhabit all of the truly scary corners of this book, but for the most part it is cross-eyed, cock-a-hoop, British tongue-firmly-in-cheek funny.

And the Snake doesn't have _all_ the lines. Agnes Nutter, the Adversary (Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness),Aziraphale (technically a Principality), the 'hoor of Babylon', and the Witch-finders Sargeant and Private get in a few good ones, too.

"Good Omens" is a classic.

Metatron says you've got to read it.

Before next Saturday.