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Summary: modern myth making in all its gory glory
Review: Neil Gaiman understands mythology. He understands how our stories and ledgends are a part of us, part of our psyche. They are not merely ways to pass the time or simple children's fancies used to explain thunder or why a snake has no legs, etc. He also understands that our ledgends and myths need to change with the times. American Gods is a vastly entertaining story of old Gods, brought to this country with its immigrants, indentured servants and slaves. These Gods are fading, and newer, menacing Gods of technology & entertainment are rising to prominence, and a war is brewing. Through the story of Shadow, who starts out an an observer and ends up becoming a major part of the struggle, we are shown the majesty, mystery, and dark power of our icons, totems, and avatars. Humorous, chilling, and packed full of imagination, American Gods is a wonderful mix of fantasy and a terrifying exploration of our national consciousness and the mythical figures that give it form and life.
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Summary: American Gods
Review: I really enjoyed how the story unfolded. each chapter held a new piece of evidence, each a surprise and wonder. Neil Gaiman is one of the most vividly imaginative writers i've come across. His words reflect colorful, and sometimes disturbing pictures. It put my over imaginative mind in heaven!!!
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Summary: This Book Just Won the Hugo
Review: On September 1, this book became the surprise winner of the Hugo Award for best novel of 2001. Given what books it beat out for that award, that's a high recommendation indeed. I myself haven't read it yet, but it's now high on my list. Amazon.com forces me to give it some number of stars, and there's rarely a Hugo winner that doesn't deserve five, hence the recommendation.
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Summary: Oh give me a home, where the pantheons roam
Review: "American Gods" seems a little more celebrated than it deserves to be, but it is a great beach read. Gaiman's hero Shadow, about to be released from a long stay in the hoosegow with nothing to recommend him to the world outside but a facility with coin tricks, is easy to like but oddly passive. He finds himself a foot soldier in a war between the old gods of America (divine pagan immigrants from every culture, subsisting like down-at-heels landed gentry on declining scraps of belief) and the new gods of secular technoculture. The details are amusing, well researched, and sufficiently surprising to keep the pages turning briskly. The thematic tag line is, "This is a bad land for gods." It's a peculiar thing to say about America, which not only has been, throughout its history, one of the most enthusiastically religious countries on earth, but which has also extended by far the warmest welcome to the widest variety of gods. What does strike a genuinely American note, and partially justifies the title, is the spaciousness of its unfolding. Shadow spends most of the novel on the open road, on one mysterious errand after another. Gaiman is farming ground a bit like what Tim Powers has been working the last few decades: fantasies that traverse real world landscapes, and expose high-stakes occult conflicts roiling under their skins. Gaiman is better at smooth pacing and dialog; but Powers is better at conveying the electric crackle when a serious conspiracy theory blows in, and at filling in the shadows at the narrative's edge with something more like myth and less like whimsy. Afficianados of Powers will probably enjoy this book; those who like this one should give Powers a try. Good starting points are "The Anubis Gate" or "Last Call."
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Summary: Great book
Review: After discovering and embracing the Sandman books, I'm glad to see that Neil Gaiman is making it in the novel industry.
Cleverly written, original, obviously imaginative, this book is great, feels very strong and real.
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Summary: Definitely not a light vacation read
Review: If you're looking for a good book to take on vacation to read in your hammock while listening to the waves lap along the shore, sipping your lemonade, basking in the sun, generally feeling quite pleasant about life, "American Gods" is not the book for you. However, if your goal is to be taunted and confused, yet strangely fascinated, then you should definitely pick up Neil Gaiman's latest novel. "American Gods" is a complex story about humanity and the moral fabric of faith, which is changing rapidly in our increasingly modern world. A thought provoking and intriguing read, Gaiman's story is rich with mythic characters and bizarre interactions. His messages about culture and society are all at once dark, humorous, cynical, depressing, insightful, enlightening and at times, gruesome.
American Gods depicts the journey of Shadow, a man just released from prison with nothing to lose, who takes a job for a mysterious man, Wednesday. His life takes many severe, dark and strange turns as he accompanies Wednesday on visits with other complicated characters. He soon finds out he is dealing with different deities from various parts of the world, who now try to survive in America. The group of gods is preparing for some kind of war. Shadow tries to stay impartial by simply doing his "job" without getting personally committed to the cause. However, somewhere along the way, his conscience leads him to discover more than he ever wanted to know about what is really going on between the supernatural forces, who all hold stakes in the culture and future of America.
Gaiman skillfully brings in many legendary, religious and mythological figures throughout his intricate plot. The true identities of these layered characters are riddled and hidden amidst different plays on words and clever uses of symbols. For example, Wednesday seems to obtain his name from the simple fact that it is indeed a Wednesday when Shadow meets him. However, the reader will soon figure out that the word Wednesday originates from Odin, the primary god from Norse Mythology. As the reader witnesses more of Wednesday's actions and personality traits, it becomes clear that Odin is in fact Wednesday's true persona. Wednesday reveals: "' I told you I would tell you my names. This is what they call me. I am called Glad-of-War, Grim, Raider, and Third. I am One-Eyed. I am called Highest, and True-Guesser. I am Grimnir, and I am the Hooded one. I am All-Father, and I am Gondlir Wand-Bearer. I have as many names as there are winds, as many titles as there are ways to die,'" (Gaiman 103). This is the case with many other individuals in the novel; their identity is slowly revealed over the course of events, the use of names with hidden meanings and connections to other characters. The facades are well constructed and later deconstructed as the plot surges along. This aspect of the book, while very effective for those readers familiar with various mythologies of the world, is sometimes over laden with references to events and symbols of the various deities. It's admirable to include such a wide variety of worldly figures, but somewhat detracting from the story if as a reader, too much extra research is necessary to understand the associations.
The use of supplemental "Coming to America" inserts is also a skillful yet time consuming venture for the reader. Upon first read these excerpts may seem out of place and unrelated, but after thoughtful review, are actually giving us a more rounded viewpoint of the gods' existence in America. The stories range from African gods to creatures from Oman to a woman from Cornwall, England who worships piskies.
If this book were to have a movie rating, it would possibly be NR (not rated). The language is often times harsh and abrasive. There are some very detailed and explicit sexual encounters, which although not gratuitous, do have readers wondering if it is necessary for the story's momentum and meaning. These scenes depict the sensual and all-consuming power of the religions of old; the depth of connection exists on a level that discomforts modern society. Have we grown shallow in our acceptance of the gods? Has god been put at a distance to be worshipped from afar?
The messages of Gaiman's novel provide a unique commentary on American culture. The status of religion is a major theme. The image of gods fighting for survival and yearning for genuine worshippers, forces the reader to think about the history of myths and religions and how those ideas were lost and/or revived in our current world. Gaiman seems to be noting that in America, people choose what they want to believe from a smorgasbord of theories and ideas. Shadow explains to the old gods: "'This is a bad land for gods. You've probably all learn that, in your own way. The old gods are ignored. The new gods are as quickly taken up as they are abandoned, cast aside for the next big thing,'" (Gaiman 420). The minimal role of the character Samantha Black Crow is powerful as she states her personal creed to Shadow about her contradictory yet passionate beliefs about the world: "'I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not,'" (Gaiman 307). She represents the possibility to live openly and respectfully of beliefs in America and embrace almost all of them.
There is also a personal journey aspect to the story. Shadow goes through many tragedies and trials, which lead him on a path of continuing self-discovery. He endures the unthinkable and comes out a stronger, wiser, "more alive" man. As readers, we can find a common ground with Shadow and his quest for answers to his questions. He finds his own voice in the sea of many.
"American Gods" challenges the reader's views of our world and society. The rich, and sometimes harsh language is adeptly woven together to create a book which is difficult to grasp at times but eventually pieces together the riddles and puzzles which have been laid out along the way. If you choose to read this novel, a wildly strange adventure with a deep and complex meaning await.
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Summary: I know thousands will say I'm wrong...
Review: ...but I can honestly say, I don't "get" this book at all. I've made it to page 284 and I've finally set it aside for good. The premise is good, but the pace of the piece is mind-numbingly slow. Perhaps it is simply the fact that I do not find the main character -- Shadow -- interesting in any way. I think Gaiman is really trying to write the ultimate road novel, but there is nothing particularly exciting about the journey or about any of the people the main character meets. The "what is going on?" aspect he is attempting doesn't work for me because of the pace and lack of an interesting hero; so, the suspense which he is obviously trying to build just becomes annoying. I wish I'd liked this book. But when everytime you sit down to read a book and you end up debating whether to even read the next chapter...well, it just isn't a good sign. So, truth be told, though many consider Gaiman one of the new Gods of literature, I just found this book to be bland, boring and ultimately not worth the time to finish.
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Summary: sandman rehash
Review: Reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman series of comic books was a life altering/enriching experience for me, and keep in mind I am not much of a comic book reader. That said, American Gods seemed to be derived largely from the idea of gods existing and fading largely by the depth of the populations belief in them: a core plot motivator in the Sandman series. What you don't get in American Gods is amazing graphics, characters you really give a flip about, and an intriguing 'oh my gosh where will this go next?' page turning plot. Do yourself a favor. Order Gaiman's Preludes and Nocturnes instead, and read the idea behind American Gods. His novel format retelling isn't worth the time.
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Summary: War of the Gods. It's Hell.
Review: American Gods deserves, for the most part, the Bram Stoker Award for best novel it won earlier this year from the Horror Writers Association. Neil Gaiman's twilight-of-the-gods epic/Great American Novel is a long, rollicking romp that reads like part Dickensian potboiler, part picaresque road novel, and part modern-day apocalyptic fable. Commendably, it somehow manages to be both fun and ponderous. Gaiman, creator of the Sandman comic series and author of the previous novel Neverwhere, has succeeded where not many dare to venture. Reminiscent of Stephen King's classic good-vs.-evil epic The Stand, American Gods asks what might happen if all of the dead and dying gods from the word's oldest religions were to take one final bloody stand against the modern gods of the Internet, technology and international commerce. The spoils of the war? Our belief, of course. Our hearts and minds. The novel's protagonist is a large, deceptively oafish man named Shadow who has recently been released from prison. No sooner does he gain his freedom than he discovers that both his wife and best friend have just been killed in a gruesome automobile accident. On his plane ride home to attend the funerals, Shadow meets a mysterious older gentleman named Wednesday. The stranger, who might very well be a modern incarnation of an Old Norse God, makes a proposition to Shadow. It's an offer that, despite its dire consequences, Shadow can't refuse. Shadow is a simple man whose unending passion for his dead wife and fascination for card tricks and sleight-of-hand make him a pitiable, almost childlike character. So why, if he has all the appearance of a pawn, is he being treated like a king? For reasons unknown to himself, it soon becomes clear that Shadow will play a major role in this upcoming war of the gods. As the storm of the millennium quickly approaches, he must search inside himself for the fortitude needed to play ball with the big boys. American Gods is really two or three smaller novels sewn together with the sturdy thread of an ambitious premise and some weighty themes that touch on the roots of faith, myth, and the human identity. Some of the pieces prove more successful than others. I enjoyed the small-town horror novel stuck in the middle of this large dark fantasy epic, but felt it threw a snag in the pacing. And yet even the weaker aspects of this large novel can't detract much its overall force. Writing a book like American Gods is like pointing out to the bleachers when you step up to the plate. The pressure's on to deliver the goods. So, did Neil Gaiman hit a homer? Did this Brit manage to write the Great American Novel? Let's say the ball hit the top of the fence and bounced over. (I should mention, as an aside, that my paperback copy started falling apart on me when I was about 150 pages in; I tend to be very easy on books, so I wonder if this was a general manufacturing problem, and if other people experienced this as well.)
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Summary: America's a Bad Land For Gods
Review: I'm new to Neil Gaiman, having only read "Good Omens" before, about four years ago. With "American Gods" I might become inspired to truly dive into this author's rich body of work. This book has a very creative treatise. Old pagan gods still live on as destitute characters in the real world, as long as a few isolated pockets of people still venerate them. Meanwhile, really old gods that are completely forgotten by humanity have disappeared into oblivion. The major religions couldn't even obliterate these decrepit old pagan gods for good, but the real gods of modern America may finally do it - the harsh gods of money and technology. The straight man in the novel is a hapless ex-con named Shadow, who eventually realizes that the bizarre characters he keeps running into are those decaying pagan gods who need his help in their struggle. Shadow also eventually bumbles into the realization that these gods are allying themselves with him for a greater purpose. The concepts behind this book are indeed fascinating and highly creative. Unfortunately the book must be docked one star because the action peters out towards the end, and the anti-climax takes way too long wrapping up a bunch of boring subplots. But still, Neil Gaiman is clearly one of the modern masters of innovative, speculative fiction.
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