Finished Good Omens today.
今天看完了《好兆头》
Was a huge fan of Neil Gaiman to begin with, so I had high hopes for this book before I even began. And it didn’t disappoint.
本来就很喜欢Neil Gaiman，所以我一开始看这本书就很期待。这本书也完全没有让我失望！
According to Baidu Baike: “The book tells the story of the end of the world in 2018, when the good and the bad are all preparing for the inevitable battle of the heavens.” I love this kind of books.
根据百度百科：“书讲述了世界末日的2018年，善与恶各自组队壮大，人类即将迎来终局判决的故事”。题材本身我就很喜欢。
I honestly cannot get enough of the characterisation of this book. Whether it was the loving devil Crowley, the naughty angel Azriaphale, the book did an amazing job characterising these two. And the contrasts in the book: Them versus the actual Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Adam versus Death, God’s Mouth versus the Devil’s lackeys… These contrasts made it plain and simple to the reader the scary similarities between the good and the evil, and how most of the time, good and bad are relative, and are really just somewhere in the grey area.
从角色来讲，我真的超爱里面的角色刻画！无论是心中有爱的恶魔Crowley还是有点坏坏的天使Azriaphale都刻画的很好。而且书中运用的对比真的有点厉害的：Them和末日四骑士，Adam和死亡，上帝的嘴和恶魔的手下……这些对比很好的让读者看到其实好和坏有太多相似的地方了，大多数的好和坏都只不过是中间的灰色地带。
The book’s themes are also varied. My personal favorites were the message about taking control of your own life and the critiques towards humanity.
这本书的主题也有很多。我个人最喜欢的第一个是掌控自己的人生和对于人类的批判。
The taking control of your own life bit is best shown in Adam Young and Anathema: Adam is the son of the devil, and his sole purpose in life was to destroy Earth. But he fell in love with this place, fell in love with these people, and in the end, didn’t become evil or good. He just became, well, human. Anathema, on the other hand, is the descendent of Agnes Nutter (the prophet who was too accurate), and her entire family has relied on her prophecies for decades. But at the end of the book, when Anathema receives her new prophecies, the authors suggest that she chose not to rely on them for living her life anymore, and instead chose to venture on blindly like anyone else.
掌控自己的人生这一点最好体现在Adam Young和Anathema身上：Adam是恶魔的儿子，他人生的规划是毁灭地球。但是他爱上了这个地方，爱上了这个地方的人，最后没有成为“善良”也没有成为“歹毒”，只是单纯的成为了“人类”。Anathema是Agnes Nutter（被刀了的最开挂预言家）的后代，他们家一直依靠Agnes的预言生活。但是到书中的最后，当Anathema收到新的预言时，作者们暗示她选择不再依赖祖宗的预言生活，而是跟大家一样，蒙着双眼前行。
And the critiques toward humanity’s conduct were done so exquisitely. Like the descriptions of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: They would always be there, but humans never saw them, because humans didn’t want to see them. The four were death, war, hunger, and pollution, and yet the four that we see on the news always seem so far away from us. Through satirical descriptions of the Four Horsemen, the book points out humanity’s choice to remain blind, forcing us to come to the realization that we haven’t done all we can to change things.
还有对于人类的批判。比如对于末日四骑士的描写：他们永远都在，但是人类永远看不到他们，因为人类不想看到他们。书中的四骑士是死亡，战争，饥饿，和污染，而我们在新闻里看到的他们似乎总是离我们那么远。这本书巧妙的运用对于四骑士的描写来指出人类的装瞎，让我们意识到我们做的还有多么欠缺。
Ok, so there’s just so much I want to say about this book. It hides the morals and the big life lessons behind humour and jokes, and I will recommend it to every single person I meet, ever. And finally, my favorite quote (one of many):
好了 别的真的有太多太多，这本书在搞笑的背后藏着一套又一套的人生大道理，超级推荐所有人都去看！最后放上我最喜欢的摘抄：
“Something or someone loves this place. Loves every inch of it so powerfully that it shields and protects it. A deep-down, huge, fierce love.“
Happy Saturday!! 周六快乐！！
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