American Gods

Rating:
Summary: He gets better every time
Review: With his latest published work (American Gods), Gaimen amply demonstrates that his skill as a writer and more importantly, a true storyteller has not plateaued. American Gods is sweeping in breadth and thoroughly enjoyable. Gaimen continues to fascinate readers with his conceptual orginality and creativity. The story is engaging with a tremendously identifiable protagonist, while on an abstract level, incredibly thought provoking with implications about society in general.

Perhaps, the only criticism one can legitimately level at Gaimen is that his writing is so fluid, effortless, and believeable, that one can question where his encyclopedic compendium of mythology ends and his creative imagery begins.

In short this is another fine example of Gaimen's particular trademark, the captivating storytelling that one hopes never finishes.

Rating:
Summary: THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES...
Review: I have read several of Gaiman's books and been impressed by his imagination. I absolutely loved Neverwhere and wish desperately for him to write a sequel. This book however, has too much squashed between the pages, characters I don't give a hoot about, obscenities instead of dialogue, weird sex scenes. I found the book convoluted, confusing, disjointed and most of all, just plain boring.

Rating:
Summary: What happens to a god when no one believes?
Review: In American Gods, Neil Gaiman revisits some of the territory he touched upon in his "Sandman" series. If belief is the food of the gods, what happens to them when no one believes anymore? Gaiman takes a long, hard look at this idea in his book. Shadow, a recent parolee, finds his life in total disarray after his wife's death; in this confused state he enters the employ of Wednesday, who hires him to act as a bodyguard. This begins an epic journey into the concepts of belief, commercialism, death, and why America is so different from the rest of the world. I enjoyed the book, but I sometimes felt Gaiman had bitten off more than the reader can chew. By filling this book with so many diverse characters,and by assuming the reader understood their relative mythologies, Gaiman leaves the reader with the difficult task of understanding their motivations and actions. Maybe that is intentional, as man isn't supposed to know the way of gods, but I found it annoying. I have read many books of mythology and still felt left out by some of the references. It was a good read and Gaiman raises many valid points throughout, but it seems like the target audience was too small; the book seems like a missed opportunity to really take on America's cultural and religious ambiguity.

Rating:
Summary: Gaiman belongs with his characters, he's a god
Review: I recently stumbled upon Gaiman (well, 2 weeks ago) and since then have read nearly everything he's produced. A fabulous writer who takes the worlds we live in and creates realistic alternate realities that will leave you wondering just how much Gaiman had to make up :)

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't live up to hype
Review: I'm trying to like Neil Gaiman. I really am.

I appreciate clever, creative, inventive, passionate imaginations as much as the next guy. I understand how he revolutionized comic books with his Sandman series. I read Smoke and Mirrors, Stardust, Neverwhere and his kids' book about trading his dad for two goldfish (or whatever it was).

Each of the aforementioned books had moments of brilliance in them. Real, genuine creativity coursing through their veins.

However, as a whole, I've thought each of his books to be fatally flawed because of some plot, character or narrative defect that caused me to stumble and scratch my head. That doesn't happen when I read Bradbury or Leiber or Tolkien or Lewis or virtually any other of my favorite authors. But it happens with Gaiman. It's almost like he's trying too hard to be The Most Creative Writer On The Planet at the present time. I don't know.

I eagerly awaited American Gods and snatched it up the week it came out. I read it from cover to cover in about a week, taking it everywhere I went.

Sure enough, creativity and solid storytelling abounded. A few parts were gripping and awe-inspiring. Yet, a few parts left me wondering what the hell was going on, why he needed to add that particular part, why he worded it this or that way, etc. In other words, I found myself studying his narrative style more than enjoying a good read. I can do that with other authors (Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery series, for example) and not trip up. But I can't do that with Neil Gaiman. When he trips me up, I tend to stay that way for the rest of the book.

The creative idea that made American Gods is a surprising, almost profound one. But I don't think it was developed as powerfully as it could have been. The theme and focus seemed to shift from the idea of the gods battling it out, to the main character (Shadow) to subplots and characters that seemed almost too weird to even remotely pass for "real."

Please don't get me wrong. I think Neil Gaiman is very creative and talented. But I also think he's unfairly staggering under a load of critical praise and pressure that may cause him to think more highly of himself than he ought to...or cause his editors to not question flights of fancy that don't seem to go anywhere, or exist only for their own stake.

I certainly hope he continues to write books and share them with the world. Although I think American Gods was good, I don't think it's as good as the book he'll likely write five or ten years from now. Given Mr. Gaiman's staggering imagination and talent, THAT'S the book I'm waiting to read!

Rating:
Summary: Some large gaps...
Review: I love Neil Gaiman as much as most of his fans, having followed his progress through the Sandman series as well as his previous novels. As previous comments have stated, Gaiman chooses to expand on his old ideas of religion and gods. As usual, I found his theories deeply interesting and thought provoking, although far from unique. Asian folk religions have often held that ancestors require food and worship to stay strong, and that with enough worship, these ghosts ascend to ranks of deities.

However, I found it disconcerting that in the process of discussing dozens of religions, he fails to mention Buddhism once. As for Christianity, Jesus gets a passing mention as a hitchhiker. If you have read Sandman(which 80% of his audience probably has), you will know that the Christian-Judeo God is portrayed as far more powerful than any of the lower deities, although he is hardly mentioned at all. Because this god does not have emotions and adventures like the other ancient ones(and is thus void of human traits) Gaiman chooses to avoid writing about him(or her). Although I am not Christian, I live in a country where an astounding number of people are, and thus to write about America without mentioning Christianity seems ridiculous. The only explanation I could think of is that the Judeo-Christian God is above all the events in the story, looking down benignly. I would think that history has shown that faith in this God has not remained as strong as it once was, and thus he is succeptible to the same fate as Odin and the others.

I did like the book, but the lack of major religions startled me. I understand that the plot is about gods who have lost their worship base, but ignoring several religions that have key roles in the definition of America's past and present seems a bit jarring.

Rating:
Summary: Gods or demons?
Review: The thesis of this novel is that belief is what gives a god or goddess power. But this is not to say that gods are imaginary products of human imagination, i.e., fiction. No, in this novel all gods are real, and somehow they all are plugged into some kind of "belief meter" that gives and takes away power, kind of like a Nielsen poll. America is portrayed as a land where strange deities roam, from the old Norse gods to the "Christian god" Jesus ("Jesus does pretty good over here. But I met a guy who said he saw him hitchhiking by the side of the road in Afghanistan and nobody was stopping to give him a ride.") to uniquely American gods such as Automobile gods, Railroad gods, and TV gods. All this is really kooky and a little naughty coming from an expatriate Englishman living in Minnesota without any bags packed, and as fiction it draws on earlier authors such as Roger Zelazny and Lord Dunsaney, but frankly it wasn't to my taste, this novel about a war against the new pantheon of gods by old discarded gods roaming around. To be fair, it might amuse those with enough background on different worldwide religions and myths to have a chance figuring out who the different gods are without drawing a blank. A Bible-believing reader would just call all these gods demons, and the undue interest in them demonology or idolatry, and toss it in the twinkie.

Rating:
Summary: He Only makes It Halfway
Review: Gaiman is a great ideas man, which is why he has elevated comic book writing to great heights. However, his ideas often fall underdeveloped when they make it into book form. American Gods is no exception. Essentially the book is a few good ideas that were overextended without the follow-up or characters to fill a 400 page novel. Worth reading, but not up to the potential Gaiman has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of pure story
Review: Neil Gaiman has mastered the art of storytelling, and it shines through with his latest (and best), "American Gods." Few books over the past decade have demonstrated the incredible, unadultured story-telling displayed in this one.

Some will be offended, some will think that Gaiman is trying to make a point about religion or about American culture. He is not. Do not fool yourselves into believing this. The fact is, "American Gods" is nothing more than a story with no pretenses. It is being told not as social criticism but just for the sake of telling it. One can tell when reading "American Gods" that Gaiman plucked the idea out of the air. In fact, he has as much as said so.

Gaiman said the idea came to him when he wondered one day what happened to all the gods that immigrants worshipped in their home countries. He wondered whatever happened to all the Nordish, Irish, Indian, etc. gods that ceased to be worshipped over time when the immigrants arrived in the New World. This is the result of that nagging question. The gods, we find out, are still here. And they are not immortals, as we once thought. They survive, most with menial, anonymous lifestyles (some are taxi drivers, drunkards, whores, slaughterhouse workers, undertakers, etc.). Their menial, underground existence is due to a lack in belief and sacrifices. Their influence and power is being replaced by a new legion of gods - those of technology and television. Somehow, the old and the new were coexisting peacefully. Now, though, a storm is brewing.

Enter Shadow, a relatively good-hearted convict whose entire life is thrown upside down upon upon his release. Shadow is recruited to be a bodyguard for a mysterious man named Wednesday whom he finds is one of the old gods. Shadow is payed to not ask questions and to do what Wednesday asks. It becomes tougher and tougher to do so, however, as events play out around him and start to involve him in ways he could not have fathomed. Soon, Shadow finds his role as bodyguard expanding until he is in the middle of the war himself. As the war escalates, his role becomes more and more confusing. And then-

Well you'll just have to read to find out, now won't you? "American Gods" is one of those books you can't put down at any point. Every page is a treasure to read. There are no dull points and the story does not wait to begin as in some books. It is constantly pushing, constantly answering questions while posing new ones. As you follow Shadow's skeptical view of the impossible events around him, you are on the edge of your seat. Shadow is a hero you can like, identify with, and believe. You want him to find out more, and not only because you want to know yourself. You want him to find his place for himself.

Rating:
Summary: Strange and wonderful
Review: This was first of Neil Gaiman's works I've read besides some of the Sandman series. This book had me hooked at page 1. It is very interesting and filled with things that were rather unexpected. Also, Gaiman, with his wonderful writing style, made the entire story sound perfectly sensible and believable.