Rating: 
Summary: Surprised
Review: Surprised, that is, that this book has been met with such critical acclaim. I found the characters, especially Shadow, to be wafer-thin, and plot holes abound, many of which have been pointed out by previous reviewers. The writing is pedestrian, without much spark, and never did I reread a section for the simply enjoyment of well-crafted prose. It wasn't a bad read; it was just very average, and I certainly don't think its worthy of the accolades heaped upon it. Perhaps my luke-warm response was in part due to the fact that I read Meiville's fantastic Perdido Street Station immediately prior to this. The ideas in American Gods are tired and recycled, folks, not incredibly imaginative - if you want to be blown away by a writer's imagination, try China Meiville. My theory as to why this book has met with such success: the sci-fi community is always looking for those authors it feels can accomplish two things 1. impart literary respectibility to the genre and 2. reach a wide audience. Gaimain is the current anointed one, so he's going to keep piling up the awards until everyone realizes the mainstream literary community still just doesn't give a damn.
Rating: 
Summary: the forgettable god
Review: Sad to say, but this is the first book I read by Neil Gaiman.I thought that it was a purely magical journey. Even through the parts that seemed slow moving, like when Shadow and Wednesday are seperated, there was some spark of magic in the air. It was at those moments that it seemed you were Shadow looking into a world you forgot that existed. I also found myself constantly looking up the names of the characters to figure out who they really were: some were obvious and others required a bit of work, not to mention the forgettable god that still eludes me. American Gods is a riddle which probably can be answered in nearly infinite ways. Its kinda like watching the Matrix movies the first time and scratching your head wondering what just happened. Worth reading several more times and maybe taking a couple of notes and smacking yourself for not catching some of the obvious clues to certain gods. Read and enjoy. Though I warn you that there are some graphic bits in there that might sneak up on you.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: This is one of the most well written books I have ever read. Neil Gaiman has the ability to make characters that you love to hate and hate to love. He easily draws up mental landscapes and populates them with quirky and insanely human characters.
Rating:
Summary: Food for thought
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and I had a hard time putting it down. It made me think a lot about the nature of divinity, about the place of the old gods in the modern world (though I was disappointed not to see any of mine in the book), and about what kinds of things Americans seem to "worship" nowadays. The conversations I've had based on this book were quite interesting. So maybe as a novel it's not the best ever (though it's quite good), but as a starting point for pondering and conversation, it's superb.(Plus, Odin's conversation with the "Pagan" in the coffee shop was quite familiar to me, and good for a laugh.)
Rating: 
Summary: B O R I N G and Disgusting .... I threw it away!!
Review: I bought this book when it first came out. I was at the airport and I was travelling cross country and had lots of time on my hands. I gave this book a really good try but it was so incredibly boring, depressing, and frankly disgusting that I ended up throwing the book in a trashcan at the airport.. something I have never ever done. I didn't even want to pass it on to anyone in the event they might enjoy it even though I hadn't. It was just THAT bad. At the time I bought it, it hadn't won any awards. In fact, as I was browsing Amazon, I was shocked to see the rating this has book acquired. I just did not find a man consumed by a prostitute, in a very disturbing manner, all that entertaining (I won't describe it beyond that because I want to keep this review clean). It was, quite simply, gross. The story is depressing, too. Blech. It's just a loser. I am an avid reader and I treasure books. This was not worth the paper it was printed on.
Rating:
Summary: Rarely a story like this
Review: When I first started this book I had no idea what Gaiman's style was. So I had a very hard time getting over the very fictional and unreal events happening in what he painted as a very natural and real world. Now I realize this IS Gaiman and he uses his unique style to make some of the best stories. I call them stories because, when reading any of his writtings, you get the feel that someone is sitting down with you in conversation and has you spell struck with one heck of a story. Very unlike many novels these days.
Rating: 
Summary: An interresting Story
Review: American Gods is modern fantasy centered around many of the Old gods from various cultures and is an interresting story of what could happen in the New World when they are brought to America by followers in the pioneer days and then forgotten. It's a tale of beings trying to survive, and desperate for the worship which once made them strong, and how a human may be caught up in thier struggle. Shadow, the protoganist, finds himself caught up in a plot by Odin to bring on a war against the new gods of Telivision, Computers and thier minions. Events culminate into a battle. It did make me think about how important it is to honor the old gods today, something of a "what if we never gave them offerings?" what would happen to them? How would they cope? Fourtunatly, the old gods today are remembered, and given thier offerings by people who still follow the old ways today in the new world. I found the concept of the new gods of the information age to be interresting, however, I think this is another reminder to live deliberately, and to know how to use a technology properly. Computers have done more to help spread and gather those who follow the old ways than could have been done without them, so I personally would see computers not as a competing force, but as a tool which has been, and can be used to further the purposes of the Gods and Goddesses.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read; Good times
Review: As always the characters are what drive the story, and it was interesting enough to keep me reading with every free moment. As always, I love Gaiman's attention to the little details of mythology and history, and his compelling characters. However, you can tell what's coming down the road through the whole book if you've read any of his other work. It's worth the read though.
Rating:
Summary: A journey
Review: Absolutely delightful! Personally, this book goes in with my list of absolute favorites! This book is well on its way to becoming a classic for sure.....
Rating:
Summary: ridiculous and mostly boring
Review: I haven't finished reading this book yet, but I'm very close to the end, and so far I am NOT impressed. I think maybe Mr. Gaiman was overreaching when he wrote this book, and should have taken a step back and reconsidered things. I couldn't sum it up better than the reviewer who said, "slow pace and moderate characters;" don't read this book unless you're looking for a lot of nonsense. And how in the world did this book win the Hugo?
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