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Currently Reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

January 8th, 2003 by Will

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.

2 Responses to “Currently Reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”

  1. on 08 Jan 2003 at 10:46 pm1 eyeballkid

    Funny, I’m also reading Good Omens at the moment. I can’t believe that I hadn’t tackled it years ago. I’ve always loved Gaiman and Pratchett. Pratchett’s Discworld series is to fantasy novels what Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was to science fiction.

    While I enjoyed Neverwhere, I agree that it isn’t Gaiman’s strongest work. Neither is American Gods, btw. Gaiman’s true masterpiece is his 75 issues of the DC comic The Sandman. In particular, A Season of Mists and spinoff Death, The High Cost of Living. I’m also a big fan of his various collaborations with artist Dave McKean. I own nearly everything Gaiman has done. If you want to borrow, lemme know.

  2. on 09 Jan 2003 at 11:41 am2 Will

    I would like to take a look at some of the Sandman stuff. I’ve heard it’s great, and I’ve thought about picking it up before. For some reason, I never got much into graphic novels (although I did just by Ghost World - largely do to my great love of the movie), so I’m not sure how I would respond to the work. I never got much into roll playing games either. Sometimes I’m 1000% geek, and other times… not so much.

    I could probably borrow them from somebody at work though as it makes returning them ever so much easier.

    How are you finding Good Omens?

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