Rating: 
Summary: Not his masterpiece
Review: Weighing in at four hundred and sixty-one pages, rich in theme, inventive, researched and encompassing a massive vision, this book certainly seems like a kind of opus, but although it's a great read, I still think that Gaiman is capable of better.His instinct is for escapist fantasy, showcased so well in Neverwhere, and American Gods is full of excess. Just as one phantasmagoric scene begins to settle in the mind, another is immediatley pitched at the reader, upsetting any sense of realism that might have developed. Granted, a novel about godhood in contemporary America can't be held to strictly realistic standards, but really skilled psuedo-fantasy can still have that urgent 'this is happening' sense, and American Gods often doesn't. The weakness is made more acute by the occasional moments of absolute realism, scenes involving ordinary people, which don't fit right with the rest of the novel. The impression I was left with was one of immaturity: 'Wow, wouldn't it be cool if all the classical Gods were just entities conjured up by people's minds, and still existed today?' But this would be forgivable, as in Neverwhere, if not for the novel's more realistic pretenstions, and a kind of seriousness it seems to aim for in the final chapters. All that aside, Gaiman is a spectacular writer, and the setpieces of the novel have a cinematic quality. The writing is vivid and fluid throughout. The only scene which really seemed weak and difficulty to visualize (unfortunatley) was the climactic battle. I'm still waiting on that masterpiece, and I am confident it will arrive.
Rating: 
Summary: Tremendous originality + tedium
Review: This is a pure 5-star book on originality. But its delivery gets bogged down about halfway through and never fully recovers. The book has a very native American feel as old gods and beliefs take form to oppose the new ways, mainly technology. The main character, Shadow, is very well done and is the perfect "anti" hero without drawing on pity. I very much enjoyed Gaiman's character of Shadow. It's one of the highlights of the book. To me, the book hits a snow drift mid-way through after spending some time in the small Wisconsin town of Lakeside. I had a very strong impression the author was trying to figure out where he wanted the story to go, and there seemed to be quite a bit of wandering or observations without any meaningful connection. Sometimes, if you just keep walking, you'll eventually find the path. Well, he did find the path. Kinda. The ending was okay, but not the experience I was geared up for after reading the first half. It almost had a "Scooby-doo" feel to it ("...and if wasn't for you meddling kids..."). I don't mean to be unfair, and no doubt someone will hammer me on my lack of insight, but its my opinion that 'American Gods' is a good book that could've been great.
Rating: 
Summary: Great! Could not put it down!
Review: This is one of those rare books that you can't wait to get back to, once you start it. It grabs hold of you and keeps your interest from start to finish. The characters are fleshed out in detail, and even now, five months after I finished this gem, I can tell you about many of the characters in this book, as if I actually met them at some time in my life! I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: The Sting, but with gods
Review: In America the land was the church. The land was the religion. The land was older and wiser than the people who walked on it. According to this book, America didn't have inhabitants to begin with. They all traveled here from somewhere else, and when they came here they brought with them their own gods in their minds. Each god that was brought to America was smaller than their counterpart left back in the homeland they came from. The people who brought them here then became acclimated into the new land and for the most part either stopped believing and worshiping these lesser gods, or they didn't pass their beliefs down to their decedents, so they in turn didn't believe. This made the gods weak. Then if it got to the point that no one believed in these gods anymore then they became forgotten and died. In America, all of these lesser gods for the most part look like regular people or animals. They are con artists, drug addicts, prostitutes, cap drivers, and undertakers. Most of them are old. Occasionally Shadow the main character gets to see what they really look like and interacts with them. Shadow is an ex-con who is hired to work as a kind of bodyguard for one of the gods named Wednesday. Mr. Wednesday is also known by many other names. A war is brewing between the old gods and the new gods since they believe there isn't enough worship to go around to keep them all going. It then becomes a mystery as to why Shadow has become such an important part in the whole scheme of things leading up to the war. Shadow travels with Wednesday though America to try to recruit other gods to fight for their side in the upcoming war. At times Shadow becomes a kind of Jesus like figure (but not Jesus), and there are many comparisons you could make between them in this book. For the most part Neil Gaiman seems to stay away from religions such as Catholicism and Judaism, and just focuses on the gods themselves. Many of these lesser gods I had never heard of before, and it gave me an excuse to go out on the web and read their stories and learn about some interesting beliefs and legends. I wish I had known a little more about the Norse gods before reading this book. Some of the gods I learned a lot about were Odin, Loki, and Baldor. The other main characters in the book, Czernobog, Mr. Nancy, Mr. Jackal, Mr. Iblis, Whisky Jack, and Easter were also very entertaining. I also liked the character of Shadow's wife Laura a lot as well. At times this book reminded me of the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" when Shadow and Wednesday start taking road trips to small parts of America to meet up with these different gods. In "Zen..." the main character is on a trip through the heartland of America as well, and also keeps having dreams, in which he is soul searching to try to find himself. One of the towns they stay in is Lakeside which is a very nice town right out of the Twilight Zone with a mystery of it's own, and a nice side theme. I was also reminded a bit of the movie "The Sixth Sense", but instead of seeing ghosts everywhere, Shadow sees gods. The only detraction I can think of in this book was that some of the individual stories of how each god came to America was a little bit of a distraction, but Gaiman ties them all back in later in the book as having some necessary relevance to the story.
In the end you are waiting for everything to become perfectly clear and for them to spell it all out for you, but Gaiman doesn't do that. You have to do that for yourself, and a lot of it might still be left to interpretation. It was a very good book none the less. A story that makes you think is always a good thing.
Rating:
Summary: Overwhelming
Review: This book completely blew me away, right from the beginning. This wan't the "can't put it down" kind of good book, this was the "put it down but spend the next few hours churning it over in your mind" kind of good book, you cared about the characters right up to the point where they betrayed you, you fell right into the traps Gaiman set and then curse yourself for not seeing it before. The image of the young girl at the end stayed with me for days after I finished the book, I've never felt anything quite like it. My first brush with Neil Gaiman was in Good Omens with Terry Pratchett and after reading American Gods, it's easy to pick out the Gaiman dark grace of Gaiman from the bubbly but clever humour of Pratchett. I can't praise American Gods highly enough, it really was an amaising experience.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for a long road trip
Review: Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' is like 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' meets 'Lord of the Rings' meets 'On the Road' meets 'A Complete Encyclopedia of Mythological Beasts and Gods.' If this doesn't make any sense, read the book and you'll see what I mean. This is Gaiman's most fully realized work since his 'Sandman' series. It tells the story of Shadow, a prison inmate days away from his release who learns that his wife has died in a car crash. On the dreary plane ride home, he meets a man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday who knows more about Shadow than he has any right to. Wednesday informs Shadow that 'a storm is coming', and offers the man a job as a bodyguard. A tight lipped muscleman with a basically gentle nature, Shadow soon finds himself thrown in with Wednesday and his 'friends', who turn out to be ancient gods struggling to find believers in America. There's the suave African spider Anansi, the Egyptian cat goddess Bast, a genie who drives a cab in New York, and many more. These gods, in danger of non existence due to the lack of belief in the American population, are preparing to fight a war against America's 'new' gods; the gods of technology, Internet, convenience, etc. It's a battle for America's soul, and Shadow soon finds that he's got a more crucial role to play than he ever thought. It's a lot to absorb, and Gaiman doesn't force it down our throats. Instead of trying to keep the plot at a thriller's breakneck pace, the book's almost like a rafting trip. Sometimes it's slow, but it still moves; sometimes there are pockets of treacherous rapids, but there's always time to enjoy the scenery. In case I stretch this metaphor too far, just understand that this book is a rich experience looking to wrap you up in the colorful story about a man's journey through the world and within himself. It's the type of book for a road trip. It takes time, but it's worth every second. Gaiman's got to be one of the most original, daring and surprisingly soulful storytellers today. Shadow may remind you of the author's most famous character, Dream of the Endless (and our protagonist even looks like the Dream King), but Shadow is a slightly less tortured man, someone who's, to some extent, looking for his place in life again. Maybe he finds it, maybe he doesn't. I'm still not sure. But while the book is dark, it's rich with mood, and there are moments of unexpected humor and emotion. Laura, Shadow's wife, provides plenty of both. (Yes, she is dead. Yes, she has risen to follow her husband on his journey. Yes, it's weird. Just deal with it.) The jerky, tight-lipped tone at the beginning of the novel will take some getting used to, but if you stick with it you'll soon move with the flow of the words, and then you'll be hooked. The book can't have really flowing, elegant sentences, although Gaiman deftly sneaks some in there. This is Shadow's story, more or less, and he doesn't talk much. The only problem I can find is the ten pages of the denouement dedicated to the solving of an interesting but unnecessary mystery. This would be a real problem if the novel was plotted to be a tight, terse read, but this IS a drifting, dream-like story. It's not much of an annoyance. And the last scene has to leave you smiling. Maybe not the joyous mile-wide grin of a conventional happy ending, but you'll smile. The conventional happy ending thing is overrated, anyway. Buy this book, read it, love it, and understand just why Gaiman is a master writer. Not just a master fantasy writer, a master writer.
Rating:
Summary: alot of truth
Review: In a world of constantly evolving beliefs and morals this book stands to try to explain why we as Americans feel pressure to change our spiritual selves. Using Shadow to stand for our evolving society Gaiman shows how we WILL make it out the other side and how the new and old can coexist. With that said, the best parts of this book are the small bits of historical fiction interlaced with the main story that explain how some of the gods came to America in the first place. It has piqued my interest in old religions and an interest that goes beyond a book is the highest acolyte I can give.
Rating:
Summary: A Brit Nails America
Review: The litmus test of a satisfying read is a sense of sadness when the cover closes on the final page because you must say good-bye to everyone you've met. Rarely is the ending of an enjoyable book satisfying, but in American Gods, Neil Gaiman provides not only an ending that is expected and fitting, but an epilogue and postscript that are comforting as well. There is nothing surprising about how this book closes, and that is what I liked about it most. If you trust the storyteller, he takes you and his story exactly where you both need to go. I come to Gaiman, not from the Sandman books, but from Neverwhere (a moody, inventive, and haunting adventure tale) and Coraline (a children's novel that will take its place alongside those of Dahl and Burnett). American Gods is the next logical step for this writer: a far-flung epic that not only exceeds the author's reach, but does so in a way that will only make him better in his future efforts. The central story here is of a man named Shadow who is caught between life and death in the human realm and immortality, glory, and obselescence among the earthly and ethereal forms of gods across the ages. Although the central story is a bit plodding and sputtering in places, the overall construction of the book and the always entertaining writing of Gaiman delivers a novel that was simply made to be read and enjoyed. The main character of this book really is America as seen through outside eyes, and everything that happens takes place only because of America. This isn't complicated literature, and it isn't a simple good vs. evil story, either. It just happens to be a fantastic read that exists on its own terms.
Rating:
Summary: gods and everyman
Review: Shadow, the protagonist, is Everyman, or so he thinks. And no one else is what they immediately seem to be, although their names (Wednesday, Mr Nancy, Mr Jacquel & Mr Ibiss) give them away to anyone raised on a steady diet of mythology and folklore as I was. And what happens to those old gods when we make new ones? I almost expected a comic strip god to show up -superman, spiderman, batman, maybe even tinkerbell - since we have given those creations many of the attributes and expectations our ancestors had for their creations of Jove, Thor, Vishnu, or Isis. And like Tinkerbell, it is our belief that keeps them alive and powerful. Neil Gaiman is one of the finest modern fantasy writers. He holds to the conventions of the genre without being derivative. American Gods was one I enjoyed, passed on to my son, who read it in a weekend, and who has recommended to his friends, all of whom play fantasy games on their computers.
Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable, riveting novel!
Review: This is the first book I've read by Neil Gaiman. It won't be the last. AMERICAN GODS is about a man named Shadow. He is a good man, who did his time for a small crime. Getting out of prison, he learns that his wife has died. Flying home for her funeral, he meets a man named Mr. Wendseday, who offers Shadow a job...and seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does... Shadow finds himself in a world of myriad dangers and mysteries. What seems to be one thing is in fact another; the danger comes from places he never even dreamed possible. Is he going insane...or is the explanation for all this too great to comprehend? This novel is, at times, a bit harder to understand. However, with patience (a rudimentary knowledge of mythology won't hurt, either) everything comes together in the end, for a wham-bam conclusion that'll leave you reeling. Neil Gaiman is obviously a talented author. AMERICAN GODS is one of the best novels I've read in quite a while. Give it a try. Just be careful: you might not want to put it down.
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