American Gods

Rating:
Summary: no meat in this one
Review: the idea of gods in modern times is not new, and even if it was, i'd expect the author to give us some substance whether it be in the skilled use of scientific or historical info, but there is nothing of interest here, no intracacies or complexities. i expect the book won the hugo on the popularity of the author's graphic novels.

Rating:
Summary: Another winner
Review: My first exposure to Neil Gaiman was his critically acclaimed Sandman comics, and I never expected him ever to match that achievement. With American Gods, I think Gaiman has proven me wrong. We see a colorful and engaging story unfold through the eyes of Shadow, a man who emerges from prison expecting to return to his loving wife and some semblance of normalcy. Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a struggle among gods. Along the way he meets ancient gods surviving on meager whispers of belief and getting by as laborers, grifters, or prostitutes. He also encounters the new gods, representing the internet and mass media, who expect to supplant the old gods entirely.

Yet what makes American Gods so successful is its blend of the supernatural with "mundane" Americana. Most of the story takes place on the road in the heartland of the United States, in small towns, in motels, or at tourist attractions. The most touchingly drawn characters are the mere mortals who play a role in the tale. In fact, the only character who seems underdeveloped for much of the novel is Shadow, the protagonist. However, Gaiman explicitly addresses this issue, and it does not detract from the sense that Shadow is a real person, albeit a quiescent one.

With its imaginative premise, intelligent plot, believable characters, attention to both the epic and the intimate, and an adroit writing style that is neither too esoteric nor too blunt, American Gods is worthy addition to the pantheon of Hugo Award winners. You should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Weird and Wonderful
Review: Ideally, a reader would pick up "American Gods" and jump right into it without the "benefit" of any reviews. It leads you on such a strange and winding journey through many odd places and meeting many odder people (some of whom aren't really people), that it's best done with no other guide than Shadow, whose humor and practicality and abiding love for his dead wife hold us with him throughout. The reader catches on as the book progresses, and learns a lot along the way. As the Nike ads might say, Just Read It.

Rating:
Summary: nothing new
Review: This book was certainly a page-turner, but it was nothing new and left me feeling dissatisfied. The basic idea of competing gods with alternate "realities" like the "backstage" idea of this book comes straight from Heinlein's "Job: A Comedy of Justice." This book would be good for folks who have not read much science fiction, because then they wouldn't know that it wasn't recycled. I'm very surprised that it won a Hugo.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and entertaining
Review: A truly interesting read. Neil spins a rollicking, twist filled adventure tale full of colorful character. Wednesday alone is a reason to read the book. A good story. Great entertainment; however while this book spins a great yarn and fascinating history, it does not present its characters with as many levels of complexity as say, Neil's Sandman works. The characters are interesting and not mere black and white, but the they firmly stick in their allotted shade of grey without shifting much. Still, the plotting is near perfect. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: jaw droppingly good
Review: I thought this was an amazingly complex and wonderful read. Neil Gaiman manages to tie in bits of dozens of fables, myths, and legends, and make it all work together. I finished this book, thinking- it all makes complete sense. We create gods with our thoughts, and some day (if they haven't already), they're going to be offended by our lapses in worship and our promiscuous jumping around from "religion" to "religion". One day, they're going to battle it out for supreme leadership over us. Every day, is a battle between these beings, and none of us mortals will ever know or understand. Except for Shadow.

The book builds up splendidly to a frightening encounter between the old and new gods of the world. But before all that, we are following the journey of Shadow, a con who was granted an early parole of a few days because of his wife's tragic death. Shadow's a simple, solid guy. He just wanted 3 things when he got out of jail. To take a bath, be with his wife, and stay out of trouble. He had no idea what he was going to walk into.

It's an intriguing world that Gaiman unveils, one that you almost could believe was real- one that you want to believe is real, because the alternative just makes the world seem so much paler and ordinary in contrast.

Rating:
Summary: Gaiman ....
Review: I took this book on holiday to Ireland with me recently. I started reading it on the trip over over and finished it on the way back!!! Unfortunately I enjoyed this book so much I saw very little of Ireland in between!!
The reason for this is the amazing effect mr Gaiman's writing had on me. The quality of writing is both fantastic and enthralling and the charachter development is truley wonderfull I especially enjoy Shadows Total nonchalence about the crazy things going on around him
This is a fantasticly original concept and a thoroughly well thought out story. a Must for anyone but not one to take on holiday with you (at least not if you want to get anything done!).

Rating:
Summary: [...]
Review: T[...] With American Gods, Gaiman has accomplished more than I can put into words. [...] American Gods was a great book full of interesting, likeable characters that DID undergo stages of development--much to the contrary of what other reviewers have said. If you like dark fantasy...[...] if you like reading great books, do yourself a huge favor and read American Gods. End.

Rating:
Summary: Gods & Monsters
Review: The Christian right likes to claim that there's not nearly as much God in America as there should be, and that our faithlessness is directly to blame for many, if not all, of the ills of modern society. Never mind separation of church and state, never mind freedom of speech; if only the purported Christian majority were allowed to rule, things would be much, much better. (Better for whom, they wisely decline to specify) In _American Gods_, Neil Gaiman puts it a little differently. The problem is not, and never has been, that there's not enough God in America; the problem is that there are too many gods ' plural ' all jostling for space, all desperately trying to gather the worshipers they need in order to survive.

Shadow is serving out the final days of his three-year prison sentence, counting the moments until he can return to his beloved wife Laura, get a job from his best friend Robbie, and start putting the past behind him. When he's summoned to the warden's office and told he can go free a few days early, Shadow's naturally suspicious; the prison system isn't known for impulsive acts of kindness. It turns out that Laura's dead, killed in the wee hours in a car accident. No need for an autopsy, though ' it's quite evident what her last meal consisted of, since she died with her face in Robbie's lap (the sexual act being the direct cause of the accident). So: no wife, no buddy, no job, no life. Shadow's a free man, but he's far from happy.

On the flight home, barely able to think through the maelstrom of anger and sorrow and bile, Shadow gets a job offer from a strange man in a pale-colored suit who introduces himself as Mr. Wednesday. Shadow declines, but Wednesday persists; Shadow flees, but Wednesday follows. He's offering a job as a sort of bodyguard or messenger ' Shadow will go where Wednesday wants him to, and do as he asks. For this, he'll receive five hundred dollars a week, and when Wednesday's done with him, Shadow can go free. Numb with misery and indifferent to his fate, Shadow reluctantly agrees, and drinks three glasses of mead to seal the deal. And that's when things start to get really strange.

America is, of course, a melting pot. And when all the immigrants over all the centuries settled here, they brought their gods with them, and anchored them to the land with belief and prayer, ritual and sacrifice. And then'the believers died. They were succeeded by generations who dismissed the old gods as quaint, or turned them into cutesy, powerless caricatures, and finally forgot them altogether. But gods need worshipers to survive ' they feed on belief, and on prayers dedicated in their names. Gods can die too, and without the support of the faithful, they simply fade away, helpless and forgotten.

Wednesday is a member of the old guard, and he tells Shadow that there's a war coming between the old gods and the new: snotty upstarts personifying technology, or media, who are determined to refashion America in their own image and sweep the board clear of all the doddering old-timers. Wednesday's making the rounds, ferreting out all the disappearing gods and trying to convince them to join up for one last, glorious battle. If they can't regain their old dominions and power, then at least they can go out with a bang, and take some of the obnoxious new deities along with them. As Wednesday's right-hand man, Shadow follows him through strange realms and other worlds, on a desperate scavenger hunt of the gods. But Shadow has a much bigger part to play in the upcoming struggle than he suspects, and his path will take him to places he's never dreamed of ' or, more accurately, places that exist only in dreams.

Neil Gaiman is best known for his excellent comic book, "The Sandman," and Gaiman fans will recognize familiar themes in this novel: the slow deaths of old gods, the blurred boundaries between reality and dreams, the idea of deities as human creations that take on independent existence but which ultimately rely on humans for survival. With an impressive and, apparently, comprehensive command of mythology, Gaiman effortlessly throws gods and goddesses into his narrative by the handful, like a master chef who doesn't bother measuring but trusts his skills to make the mixture come out right. And it does: rich, dark, and deeply mysterious, Gaiman's beautifully imagined vignettes (short stand-alone chapters about ancient peoples and their gods) add touches of poignancy and, yes, humanity to the gods' bombastic grandstanding. As I read, I visualized Sandman-esque art enhancing the text; this would make a friggin' awesome graphic novel.

Surprisingly, there's quite a bit of character development, centered on the conflict between the gods' and goddesses' larger-than-life egos and their diminishing power and influence in the world. If anyone comes across as a little flat, it's Shadow, but he has to play the straight man in order to guide us through this strange and marvelous alternate reality. Not a light read, by any means (if only because you'll want to stop and enjoy the inside jokes and references Gaiman sprinkles here and there), but intriguing and compelling, American Gods is a deeply satisfying read. If you think there's not enough religion in America these days, maybe you're just not looking for the right gods.

Rating:
Summary: This book is like...
Review: ...taking a long and wonderful road trip that ends with the car sputtering and you shrugging your shoulders.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that it is a bit of a let down after such a killer story is told. Gaiman does a great job of making you turn pages...until the last few. All things considered this is definitely a worthwhile read. Even though the author sticks a note in at the start about this book *not* being a roadmap, you're going to want to go to all of the very real places his characters visit. He writes up a wonderful trip through the American landscape.