Rating: Summary: Off the mark Review: I liked this book but I didn't love it and that's where I have a problem. NO, loving every book you read would be great but it never happens. I am talking about the fact that this book had the potential to be one that you read and re-read and never forget; instead, I have already forgotten most of what I read. The premise is interesting and everything is very creative but it just seemed insubstantial in the long run. Am I sad I read it? No, it was easy to read. That is one thing that is great about Gaiman, he writes very well. It's just the story where things get muddied. I realize you must have suspension of disbelief but some things would happen that made absolutely no sense in relation to the main plot. Some feel this adds to the book but I feel it hurts the mood. There are better books out there, go read them.
Rating: Summary: A captivating story! Review: Shadow is released from prison early after receiving some sad news. On his way home from prison, he is followed by a man whom he can't seem to shake. When this man, who refers to himself as "Wednesday", begins to appears uncannily at all places that Shadow travels, Shadow's interest in him him becomes more acute to the point that he finally agrees to take a job with him. Shadow is not entirely certain of what his job entails, though.This story walks a delicate line between reality and fantasy, incorporating characters who may, at first glance, seem normal but are not. In addition, there are many dreams that Shadow experiences that also make it hard to distinguish between fact and fiction in his life. Shadow, however, is a likeable fellow and one with whom the reader sympathizes and wishes well. It is for this reason that this novel succeeds so well. For every difficulty that Shadow faces, the reader is left hoping he'll make it through his bizarre experiences unharmed.
Rating: Summary: A storm is brewing... Review: I've been dying to read American Gods since I saw an interview with Neil Gaiman in the local paper. The premise of the book sounded really intriguing, and since I am a Gaiman fan from the Sandman comic series, I figured I'd give it a try. I've been waiting desperately to get my hands on it. Last week, I finally did. Was it worth the wait? You betcha. This is a truly marvelous book dealing with compassion, loyalty, relationships, deities, and how one man is affected by it all. This man is Shadow, a man who is in prison for assault. He is ready to be released and get back to his life when he gets word that his wife has died. He later finds out that the job he has waiting for him when he gets out is no longer there as well. Shadow is approached by a mysterious figure, Mr. Wednesday, who knows a lot about him. Wednesday offers Shadow a job as a driver who may have to do other "dangerous" things as well. Thus begins a long journey that will span the entirety of Midwestern American. At times, American Gods feels like a travelogue, at other times, like a road movie. Then, there are quieter times where it is a mystery of sorts. Some people may have trouble with the conflicting "styles," but all of these sequences fall under the overarching theme of the novel. As Gaiman mentions in his acknowledgements, he is attempting to "find America," and the representation in this novel is stunning. You really get the feel for small, middle America town living, where every town is the "home of" a semi-famous athlete or a state champion in some sport. The basic concept of the book is that immigrants to the United States (or North America in general, considering one of the interludes deals with immigrants from a few thousand years ago) bring their gods with them in their minds. Unfortunately for them, belief in them has been faltering for many years, and it's almost gone. It's been replaced by other gods: technology, media, Internet. Wednesday wants to fight back by gathering together the older gods and starting a war with the new ones. He brings Shadow along for a lot of these recruiting missions, and thus we meet some of the older gods. The characters in American Gods are just wonderfully portrayed. Even the minor characters are well-rounded and three dimensional. My favourites have to be Ibis and Jacquel, two characters that Shadow meets in Cairo, Illinois. They're undertakers, but they offer him a unique perspective on this whole thing. Then there are some Native American gods who are also quite interesting. Curiously enough, the most under-developed character throughout the book is Shadow himself. You don't find out a lot about him until the end of the book. You get snippets of information, but most of things you find out about him are through his actions in the book. You see a compassion that's hidden beneath the tough exterior. You see a loyalty to his friends, a sense of honour that even death can't destroy. I find him the most interesting character in the book, which is good because he's the central character. For me, there really isn't a flaw in this book. I've seen reviews that complain about the interludes or the sequence of events in Lakeside (a small town in Wisconsin), and how they don't "have much to do with the plot of the book." I think that's missing the point. The book is more than the war of the gods. It's about finding values. It's about moving beyond beliefs. It's about one man and how he reacts to these things. I think the Lakeside sequence is actually the core of the book to some extent. The ending of the war is a bit anti-climactic, but I didn't mind that for the same reasons. If you have any interest in mythology, run out and get this book. Even if you don't have an interest, I think you'll still value the experience.
Rating: Summary: Just plain boring Review: I'm sorry. I don't know what other people saw in this book that I must have overlooked, but I found it a real yawn-invoking book. It's much too long and has far too many occasions where the story just meanders off into left field without really coming back. There really seems to be no point to this novel. Surely, it's interesting getting just a grain of information on numerous gods of old, but the trip is just too long and unfulfilling. When I finished the book, I put it down and muttered "What a waste of time" to myself. I really liked Stardust and Good Omens, but this book is nowhere near as good. It was an effort to read this, unlike most authors I enjoy (Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Pratchett, etc.).
Rating: Summary: I really am happy that Gaiman started writing novels. Review: I found _American Gods_ to be one of the best fantasy books I've read this year and I must admit that I was a little surprised to see so many negative reviews here. The book does meander, but I found the little plot cul-de-sacs really worth the effort they took to read-- it's a book about a kind of giant road trip, after all. Shadow is to be released from prison after a term with model behaviour, and he has every intention of going back to his loving wife Laura. But when she's killed days before he's supposed to get out-- his trip back becomes very different than the one he'd been waiting for. Instead of finding the America he left when he went into prison, he instead finds an America where the Gods walk the earth, people pull coins from the air, and the dead fail to stay that way. I love (and have always loved) mythology, so perhaps a part of why I loved every bit of the book as much as I did were all the references to the different Gods and Goddesses and their major characteristics. I had the feeling that Gaiman really loves his subject matter, and since I share that love, I was never bored.
Rating: Summary: American Gods - not worth the time Review: I am a fan of the Sandman series, but American Gods was a disapointment. It felt as though a good story had been overstretched.
Rating: Summary: A Multilayered Masterpiece Review: This is another one of those cases where I'd like to give 4 1/2 stars; since I can't I've decided to err on the side of caution rather than exuberance, and award 4 stars to this great work of modern fantasy, which is almost -- but not quite -- perfect. American Gods is a reinterpretation of the numerous myths and myth-figures of the Old World -- the Norse, African, Asian, Greek, and Egyptian pantheons, the pagan gods and faery-folk of the Celts and Picts, Nativa American spirit animials, and others. Enough gods to fill a plenitude of Heavens...and Hells. The novel takes these beings and places them in an American context (hence the title!) -- the first of many juxtapositions which make the story as brilliant as it is...but I'm getting ahead of myself. The actual tale centers on Shadow, a small-time ex-con of uncertain origin and less certain future, whose beloved wife perishes just as he is paroled. Drifting and heartbroken, he falls in with Mr. Wednesday, who hires Shadow to drive his car...and to do things much less beneficial for someone who's on parole. Wednesday, we soon learn, is none other than Odin, the Norse god, who is trying to organize all the Old World deities for a final, apocalyptic (what else?) battle against the gods of the New World: Television, Internet, and even undercover operatives of a shadowy Secret Agency straight out of The X-Files. It's this fight which is central to the novel...or is it? The more Shadow becomes involved with Wednesday's doings, the less certain he is of anything -- and by the time the novel reaches its stunning denouement, Shadow (and the reader) will understand that Wednesday's "holy war" isn't all it's cracked up to be. By then you will have been mightily entertained, amused, delighted, and horrified -- sometimes all at once -- by Gaiman's incredible tale. That isn't hyperbole, either. Gaiman has written a superb novel here, superior in just about every way to 90% of the fantasy that's out there. Only Tim Powers, Blaylock, and possibly Terry Pratchett are doing better work...and if Gaiman keeps doing stuff like this, he may very well outstrip them all. American Gods is imaginative as hell, particularly in its depictions of the Old Gods who make up the central supporting cast. They aren't seen as gods, but as just another bunch of immigrants, working dead-end jobs and eking out a bare-bones existence, because their native and unique "skills" no longer serve them in America. So it is that they take whatever work they can -- waiting tables, pumping gas, even prostitution. A Russian god works for a Chicago slaughterhouse. Several of the Egyptian gods work in Cairo, Illinois (where else?) as undertakers -- such a brilliant concept, just thinking about it brings a smile to my face. There is also a leprchaun who makes an early appearance, and is a hilarious distillation of all the Irish myths which populate our collective consciousness -- the hard drinker, the bare-knuckles brawler, the quick-tempered, coarse-natured ruffian. Being of Irish descent myself, I found this particularly amusing, if only because it's at once so far from the truth, and so close to it. The guy might have stepped right off someone's Notre Dame jacket. Another reason this book excels is because it works on so many different levels. On one level it is a mystery; on another it's dark fantasy; on yet another it retells one of the oldest myths, the god's death and rebirth, which crops up again and again in religions the world over. Gaiman has done his homework here and then some, and it shows in the numerous myths and myth-figures which occupy this novel's background -- everything from urban myths, to tall tales, to local heroes, can be found here. Sometimes they are blazingly original and subtle, as in the case of the numerous "Home Of This Great Athlete" signs welcoming Shadow to practically every town he visits. Sometimes they're blazingly obvious; I figured out the deal with the "klunker" long before I think I was supposed to. But that's one of the few flaws in a novel full of wonders and delights. Gaiman, a Briton by birth, writes American dialogue and characters with a facility that is scary. His prose is crisp, clean, and puts me in mind of Stephen King at his peak, imitating Harlan Ellison. Lines like "[He was] the same size and shape as a Coke machine" populate the pages, full of a descriptive wit which is rare in modern fiction. If you care about modern fantasy at all, then American Gods is for you. There are few novels in any field that I can reccommend more highly.
Rating: Summary: Thought-provoking, entertaining modern fiction Review: An original work from begining to end; the premise, although fantastic, solidifies in a plausible way. Excellent prose. High points: character development, credit to the reader's intellect, research behind the book, consistency, plot twists...this was a very well-planned book. Low points: None. A good read for fantasy/sci-fi fans, mythology buffs and those interested in modern fiction. If you like the Xanth novels or Neal Stephenson, you will really enjoy this book.
Rating: Summary: Fantastic Review: A fantastic story weaving myth with regular people, the mundane and the spiritual to tell the story of how simple, yet intricately intertwined life is. We often underestimate the power of perception. Our view things defines the worlds each of us lives in. Everyone has an idea of what town life is like -- put all these together and you create a personality. Gaiman creates this Mr. Town, and many others. Each is personable in their own way. Even when you don't agree with the vision portrayed, you can't help but relate to the characters and their stories.
Rating: Summary: Grabbed Me On The First Page Review: I'll tell you what, go to a bookstore and read the first page. I'm willing to bet you'll have to buy the book. It immediately grabs your interest with the first page. This is rare for me as I usually have to "get into" a book. This is a story about America, mythology, love, death, and history. Neil Gaiman has impressed me before, but I was totally unprepared for how much I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, I haven't been able to start reading anything else. Everything else I've picked up has been a let down. The main character, Shadow, is left purposely undeveloped and mysterious, but everyone else (including the land of America that begins to become a character all its own) is wonderfully developed. Mr. Wednesday is a wonderful, warm engaging character that steals every scene he is in. Neil Gaiman has managed to create a brilliant supporting character that you never quite get to see enough of. The chapters are long and I found myself reading a chapter and then pausing inbetween to digest what I had read. I usually rip through fantasy books at a rapid pace, but I wanted to savor every word of this book, so I wound up reading it very slowly. I will definitely be reading it again. I hope that Gaiman will revisit this mileu again. If not these characters, then perhaps he will write a sequel about different people in the same world. Neil Gaiman is at least as good a novelist as he is a comics writer. Recommended to fans of Roger Zelazny!
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