Rating: 
Summary: Dark, Scarry and Unbelievebly good
Review: Simply put this was one of the BEST books that ive ever read. The premise is inspired and Gaiman pulls it off butifully. Simply a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not my cup of tea
Review: As a teacher I should have known better but my impulse to buy and read got the better of me. I have to agree with a previous reviewer who said the writing is clumsy and the characters are skeletel, ie 1 dimensional. Scenes were thrown together nonsensically at times. Gaiman adds 2 sex scenes to the book just so they are there - they add no value and serve no purpose to the story whatsowever. I guess they are meant to shock. Without those two scenes however the book might have been approriate reading for my middle school readers - it is written at that level.
Rating: 
Summary: proof of the advent of illiteracy
Review: I love the premise, but the writing here is clumsy. The characters are all skeletons--the cool hippie hitchiker, the small town old man who talks in shaggy-dog tale stories, the drunken irishman. It almost seems like Gaiman is unintentionally spoofing himself. And the characters break so far out of character that it made me want to throw the book away on several occaisions. Example: "Lives are like snowflakes--forming patterns we have seen before, as like on another as peas in a pod (and have you ever looked at peas in a pod? I mean, really LOOKED at them? There's not a chance you'd mistake one for another, after a minute's close inspection)..." The voice is that of Ibis, but the parenthetical statement here sounds like Gaiman himself. I find it hard to believe that Ibis, a god who writes the stories of all living beings, would either use italics (capitalized above as "LOOKED"), or ask the reader such a casual question. Stephen King, maybe. A god, no. I find it very hard to believe that American reading public has overlooked Gaiman's poor skills as a writer in deference to his very interesting premise. But it seems they have. If you like Everybody loves Raymond, Khakis with Pleats, and McGriddles then buy this book. If you have slightly higher standards then skip it. It is trash, pure and simple, and not even the good kind.
Rating: 
Summary: All-American Fun
Review: This is an enjoyable book that crosses back and forth over the line between reality and "this couldn't possibly be true...but is." The cultural observations are astute if not acerbic and the "gods" with their ordinaryness and powers are excellently. The author excels in sustaining suspicion throughout the novel as we wonder if what we dare think could be true really is. This is a tale that shimmers just beneath the surface where most of the action lies. The only problem is the main character. He never becomes as real as the other characters, perhaps due to his utterly boring persona. Still, the story of Americans who just happened to be ancient gods who play scrabble, bowl and argue is captivating. The earth-shaking finale has parallels with many others - Buffy the Vampire, Mortal Combat, X-Men - all, by the way, as American as apple pie.
Rating:
Summary: Simply great
Review: Many people will overlook this book only because it is in the fantasy genre section of the store or library. And they will miss a lot. With many fantastic elements and a fantastic plot premise, the book rightly belongs there, but it is also great fiction. As the main character Shadow is getting out of prison, he suddenly finds himself the assistant of a strange man, surrounded by strange associates. His boss, Wednesday, is mobilizing his associates for a fight against the modern idols. Struggle for power, love, betrayal, loyalty--the book has everything. Many reviewers compared American Gods to Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. And obviously Gaiman and Pratchett have cooperated onm the book (Pratchett is mentioned in the acknowledgements). However, what the book reminded me a lot of is The Master and Margarita, another great novel about religion, love and man's mission.
Rating:
Summary: Original, Nice Execution, Quirky Writing
Review: This is an enjoyable book that crosses back and forth over the line between reality and "this couldn't possibly be true...but is." The cultural observations are astute if not acerbic and the "gods" with their ordinaryness and powers are excellently. The author excels in sustaining suspicion throughout the novel as we wonder if what we dare think could be true really is. This is a tale that shimmers just beneath the surface where most of the action lies. The only problem is the main character. He never becomes as real as the other characters, perhaps due to his utterly boring persona. Still, the story of Americans who just happened to be ancient gods who play scrabble, bowl and argue is captivating. The earth-shaking finale has parallels with many others - Buffy the Vampire, Mortal Combat, X-Men - all, by the way, as American as apple pie.
Rating:
Summary: One of the better books I have read..........
Review: This book will not disappoint, I great novel overall. As in most of Neil Gaiman's novel He doesnt give everything up until the end. (I hate reading a novel and know the ending by chapter 4) Some aspects were completely hidden until the end. If you liked neverwhere you will love this! Very addictive, I wanted to finish it just so I could move on with my life. Definately a book you wont put down!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: For me, a lesson that everything in fiction isn't equal.
Review: American Gods is a seminal novel. It's importance to me as a reader and a writer is indescribable; reading it, I realized that everything in fiction hasn't been done, that even while exploring explored themes new things can be uncovered. It's a (literally) magical trip through America, an unforgettable, funny, touching novel that weighs much more than its volume would indicate. I never read novels twice; I feel that it's a waste of time I could be using to read a new novel, to create the feeling of reading a new great work rather than rehash a feeling I've already had. I will read American Gods several times more, I think. It's that good. Gaiman's other work is good as well, but this is THAT good, the kind of good you only find in brief snippets. Except this one's a few hundred pages worth.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad
Review: Hard to believe that the Hugo Award is going to such a mediocre book.
Rating:
Summary: If every other Gaiman work were condensed into one book
Review: .. this would be that book. Unfortunately, I already own every other Gaiman work, so this was rather of a retread for me. Just about all of the ideas incorporated into American Gods have already been used elsewhere in his ouvre. The thing is, since most Americans aren't too familiar with graphic novels/comics, they've never read his more prominent work, the mythological excavation/eulogy The Sandman. Neither, apparently, have they read his collaboration with Terry Prachett of several years ago, which tackled the Christian Apocalypse with entertaining aplomb, or the short story "Murder Mysteries" which covers no less than Creation and the Fall itself. The absence of Christian imagery was almost the only innovation here, considering the way his prose works have been so positively dripping with it. While I don't expect or want Gaiman to abandon his mytho-religious obsessions, it's really too bad that he has to recycle ideas into novel form to get any appreciation for them. Terry Prachett didn't invent the "Small Gods" concept, incidentally. It's a well-worn idea. See also Tom Robbins' "Jitterbug Perfume", or the fabulous pulp novel "God-Stalk" by P.C. Hodgell. Anyway, since the plot has been well described, I will conclude by noting that while there are many terrific set pieces in this novel, they don't quite form a strong whole. Perhaps Gaiman is too enured to episodic storytelling, after years of comics and television series (in which both Stardust and Neverwhere, respectively, debuted). This may also explain his strange reluctance to describe the physical characteristics of his characters. I think Gaiman's a gifted writer who will go far, I just don't think this book is quite up to his level of craft. I almost wish he could move back to Britain and so end the futile and somewhat pretentious task of diagnosing the modern American psyche. His writerly temperment, eloquently dry, sensibly romantic, is more suited to the elder statesman England than the rowdy teenaged America, which hasn't yet settled into itself enough to be definitively defined.
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