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Sep 30, 2011

David rated it:

Anybody who tells you that the book is about old and new gods, or about a man named Shadow, or about coin tricks, or about having one's head smashed in for losing a game of checkers, is selling you a line, because those are just details, not the story itself.

Much like any Neil Gaiman story, the devil is in the details, and you just have to resolve yourself to coming along for the ride or you'll miss it. It's not one story, or two, it's many, and it's all complete...and you have to ju More...

6 comments like (84 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Stacey rated it:

In 2003, I walked away from my childhood religion – a high control (some would say abusive) group with a tiny little worldview and a severe superiority complex.

This was my reality:

I believed with all my being that the things depicted above were real, and were just over the event horizon.

Leaving meant losing almost every friend I had ever made since childhood, it created a rift with my still devout f More...

39 comments like (76 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2007

Natalie rated it:

First Neil Gaiman book I ever read, and it might be the last. The idea behind this book seemed so cool, but it didn't really play out in a way that engaged me.

In fact, I had three big problems with this book. (I'm vague at times to avoid spoilers.)

First, his characters are so emotionally detached that I can't care about them. I've read stories where emotional detachment is done well, in a way where you feel pain or pity or something for the character, but this was just.. More...

31 comments like (154 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2011

Kelly rated it:

I am giving this book four stars due to two simple facts: the insightful choice of concept and the brilliant way in which the concept was articulated and executed through Gaiman's writing.

I'll start with the idea: I will not claim that the ultimate idea behind this book is particularly novel: the battle of the old ways and the new for the souls of the future, the mixed blessing that is "progress", what we leave behind, and what we learn. These are staples of the fantasy ge More...

14 comments like (36 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Meg ♥ rated it:

This is a tough review for me to write. I'm not exactly sure what it is about this book that I don't like. I'm not sure there even IS something I don't like. Since I don't want to just leave you all with the ever popular "I'm just not that into it", I will try to explain.

This book has all the elements of a book I would enjoy. The creepiness factor is up there, the writing is brilliant, the main character is a big lug I couldn't help but love. Also, I have always been fascin More...

31 comments like (40 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Stephen rated it:

My literary promiscuity being what it is, I have read and loved a lot of novels in many different genres. However, among the beau coup books that I have loved long time there are a select few that hold a special, hallowed place in my pantheon of favorites…American Gods is one of these elite.

Gaiman’s writing is both subdued and poetic. It is deeply emotional, but without a hint of melodrama. His descriptions are elaborate yet not drawn out. He tells a huge, complex, etern More...

44 comments like (62 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2010

Oceana2602 rated it:

"Read Gaiman!" they say. "I can't believe you've never read Gaiman! You have GOT TO read Gaiman!" "Gaiman is SUCH an important part of popular culture and one of the BEST contemporary writers! You HAVE TO READ GAIMAN!"

Well, I've read Gaiman now.

Hi Gaiman!
Bye Gaiman!

Let me quote:
"American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped arou More...

12 comments like (59 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Gayla rated it:

This book is great. At times its a little confusing what is going on in this story, but that just adds to the quality of it because the moment you figure out what is going on is like a great slap-in-the-face moment of understanding, like OHHHHHHHHHH, I ... GET IT! This book has some funny parts and it has some interesting concepts that makes you want to take a moment to ponder them, and I just really liked it.

Here is my FAVORITE excerpt from the book, a little long, but SOOO worth More...

5 comments like (14 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2007

Dan rated it:

This book (in a very round about way) taught me what good literature is. My mother was telling me about this book, and commented that it is good literature. Now, I was surprised to hear this because Neil Gaiman is usually a nonstop sex and violence party of disaffected goth teenager fantasy. Furthermore, I didn't really believe in good literature. I had had so much obvious bull-plop literary analysis crammed down my throat in high school (A high school teacher once said to our class "In More...

4 comments like (56 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Amanda rated it:

As my husband says, my love affair with Neil Gaiman is over.

I really did think that Neil Gaiman might be a modern writer I could love. I read Coraline, and thought he had potential. Coraline was not quite right, but it was written for the 10-and-under age group, so I thought maybe it was just my adult sensibilities kicking in, despite me loving young adult and children’s lit. But no. I picked up American Gods from the library last week. About halfway through, my dad came over, and I fo More...

3 comments like (17 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

Trevor rated it:

I did like this, I liked this very much.

This was on my to read list and given I’ve never heard of the guy before it must have been recommended to me by someone. No idea who, though. It is a little surprising that when I looked no one I knew had reviewed this book. What had inspired me to read it is lost now.

A friend of mine wrote to me last week about her son’s interest in magic tricks – now, that must be the first time in years that I’ve thought about magic at all. So More...

6 comments like (28 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Wade rated it:

i'm a graduate student in theology, so how can i not love this book?
this book is one of the most creative descriptions of my own understanding of theology. gods do not exist on some eternal plane, but they rise and fall with the cultures and peoples who support and worship them. these gods have avatars in many different places--they are not a single entity but many that are called by the same name. mythologies can be more true than reality. and it's a good warning about how careful we sho More...

0 comments like (26 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Seth rated it:

After having come to appreciate Neil Gaiman's voice as expression in the delectable Anansi Boys and other treats (MirrorMask and select episodes from The Absolute Sandman), I thought I'd give American Gods another shot. Years ago, after it had first been released, I purchased it on the strength of rave reviews. I got about two-fifths through and just lost steam. The book is not exciting. Still, maybe it was worth it, so I began anew a couple months ago and read the thing through over the course More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Kay rated it:

This book turned me over completely to Neil Gaiman and made me drooly and ga-ga for his writing like a Twilight fangirl on too much fairy dust. I've read a few of Gaiman's works before (The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and Stardust), but none have blown me so completely out of the boiling seas like American Gods.

American Gods is one of the quirkiest books on American culture and belief that I've read. Told from the perspective of a particularly i More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2010

Miss Kim rated it:

This one just was not for me. I think if I still got high that I would have enjoyed it more. I'm reminded of the time I watched Pink Floydd's 'The Wall' while stoned and thought it was awesome, and then saw it again sober, and I thought, 'WTF this makes no sense.'

This started out very good, and then stalled out. A man named Shadow is released from prison after 3 years, only to find his wife has been killed in a car accident while having sex with one of his friends. Ok, I can roll w More...

7 comments like (16 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2010

Becky rated it:

This was my first of Gaiman's novels-- not counting Good Omens, which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett-- and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Both books took well-known themes and twisted them into something new and unique, and I really enjoy that. I will definitely be reading more of Gaiman's work.

I really liked the concept of this book. In a very amateur way, I enjoy mythology, mysticism, religions, rituals and belief structures. By "amateur way" I mean that I am interested i More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Anastasia rated it:

Lo sapevate che fino a 50-60 pagine prima della fine (e sono 523 in tutto) pensavo già con rassegnazione di dare due stelle? Beh, se adesso sono quattro c'è un motivo. Mi ero presa un colpo, cavolo. Io, IO dare due stelle al caro Gaiman? Se avete sbirciato un po' fra le mie letture, io non do quasi mai un voto inferiore alle tre stelle. Infatti, fortunatamente non mi capita spesso di imbattermi in letture pessime. Quindi pensare che deve ripetersi questa rarità con uno dei miei scrittori preferi More...

8 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2011

Lena rated it:

This quietly profound novel starts with a character named Shadow, who is preparing to resume his life after a stint in prison. But the life he planned to return to evaporates shortly before his release.

His questions about what to do next are answered by a craggy old grifter named Mr. Wednesday, who hires Shadow for unspecified assistance. As they travel together across the American landscape, Shadow comes to understand that his employer is an American version of an ancient god, w More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2011

K.D. rated it:

USA, present time. 32-year old Shadow was released from the prison only to receive the news that his wife, Laura died in a car accident while giving oral sex to Shadow's bestfriend Robbie. Shattered, Shadow accepted the offer to work for Wednesday who was actually an incarnation of Odin the All-Father who was recruiting American manifestations of the Old Gods of ancient mythology in their quest to fight the New Gods.

Its been a long while since the last time I read a fantasy-themed bo More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2008

April rated it:

This is my first Neil Gaiman book. I've been dying to try one of his books since I saw Stardust in the theaters, and to be honest I think I should have started with Stardust itself. American Gods just didn't appeal to me as much as I thought it would, and I wavered on giving between three and four stars on this one.

What primarily turned me off a little was the subject, the various gods from various cultures -- not so much the gods themselves, but the entire hodge podge collection of More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2011

Ryan rated it:

American Gods has a strong premise, but a slow plot.

Many readers will find themselves skipping pages, simply because this story has already been told in a hundred ways. There are a million American movies about confidence men, highways, and modernization. Sadly, Gaimon's presentation of America often feels cliche and overbearing.

The pettiness of the gods as well as the nature of belief have already been better tapped by other fantasy writers, especially Gene Wolfe in his More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Donna rated it:

I had heard good things about this book before i read it and when I first started it I thought it was going to be just my sort of thing. However i have abandoned it at page 240. I still had no idea what it was about at this point and had no empathy with any of the characters. If someone wants to tell me what happens after this feel free, Maybe i have missed out on something wonderful or maybe Gaiman just isn't my thing.

I wild released this copy (www.bookcrossing.com) of the book o More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Laura rated it:

American Gods is so different, and rambling, that I think it takes a couple of readings to take it all in. Play spot-the-god, enjoy the interludes, be happy to have grown up in Lakeside, CA and not the Lakeside in this book (shudder).
A good story about this one: I pre-ordered it and had it mailed to camp, because it was published in (I think) July. That weekend, my friend Chelsea was staying with me over the break. I had already warned her that I planned to see Neil Gaiman reading and s More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

There were so many things I loved about this book. I do not remember the last time I was so completely enthralled by a story, from start to finish. One moment, the story made me extremely sad, the next I was excited, the next I was laughing and feeling hopeful. I would prefer to not give anything away, so I'll leave it at that and simply recommend this for anyone who appreciates imagination.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Kelanth, in tenebris lux tua rated it:

L'idea alla base del romanzo è geniale, ma lo sviluppo della storia difetta in molte parti: a volte, eccessivamente, il libro si rivela lento, macchinoso, con trovate un po’ al limite e l’idea che il lettore se ne fa arrivato alla fine è di aver fatto una piccola indigestione. Troppi, davvero a dismisura gli argomenti dati in pasto nella storia.
I giudizi da me letti erano molto positivi e visto anche le premiazioni Hugo e Nebula, è stato un incentivo a cominciarne la lettura, peccato che gi More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Lissa rated it:

I can't bring myself to say that I liked this book.

I've decided to shelve it and maybe wait a few years to see if I actually do care enough to find out what happens next (like China Melveille's Perdido Street Station, which I shelved a mere 20 pages or so from the ending).

Gaiman surely is a talented writer. I'm not criticising him. I admire and respect his imagination and his brain, and his writing is easy to read.

What I don't like about American Gods is the More...

14 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Sofia rated it:

Before I begin, I should say this is one of those books which have made such a deep impact on me that I find it difficult to talk about them. you have been warned.

If I had to choose one word to describe this book, it would be "epic". It manages to explore so many themes that, at times, it gets a bit overwhelming. It mixes religion, love, faith, society, technology, friendship, and it does it in such a seamless and clever way that is truly impressive. It is a novel about old g More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2011

Ben rated it:

Second Review (Finished December 10, 2010.)

Oh, let me count and enumerate the many and various ways I love Neil Gaiman and, in particular, American Gods. I love it because I am insecure and, at times, unsure of my love for it. I love it because it isn't perfect, yet it's still wonderful. I love it because it promises gods and gives us people, and somewhere along the way, somehow, Gaiman manages to make me cry about the death of a goddess who eats people with her vagina.

Ame More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 14, 2008

Jackie "the Librarian" rated it:

This is a work of dark, urban fantasy with roots going back to the dawn of man. The old gods who came to America with immigrants from cultures worldwide have faded with their believers. Now, they are in a battle for existence with the new deities of technology, transportation, and telecommunication. Can Odin rally the old gods to battle? Or is it too late?

* I really like all the background mythology flashbacks, with the different cultures and gods. And I was verrrry curious as to who More...

18 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2008

whatthedeuce rated it:

This is yet another book that has me feeling a bit ambiguous now that I'm finished with it because I didn't exactly enjoy it as much as I'd expected, but there were definitely aspects of it that I liked and that made the novel worthwhile. For one thing, it took me over 150 pages before I got anywhere near oriented about the events taking place and thus could start becoming interested in what was happening. I was seriously so confused at the start when Shadow met Wednesday on the plane, but I bel More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)