American Gods (American Gods, #1) in On Paths Unknown

May 29, 2020 Annie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Every hour hurts. The last one kills.

Shadow is a man in prison. Seemingly of the quiet dangerous type with a young wife at home waiting for him to finish his sentence and she calls him ‘puppy’. And all Shadow wants to do is take a long soak in his bathtub as soon as he is released.
The best laid plans of mice and men.
Like strings on puppets, Shadow is manoeuvred into a landscape of glory and misdirections.
A land that is littered with gods. Old gods and new gods. Old gods vying for a foothold in ...more

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Sep 28, 2016 J.M. Hushour rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I found a list of voters' choices of the top 100 Sci-Fi fantasy novels so I figured, loving the genre, but having read not enough of it as I probably should be, I started at the top. I was a little surprised to find this Gaiman novel at #9. I'd heard of it, of course, and I love me some Neil Gaiman. "Sandman" alone is one of those priceless moments in comics that probably did scads of good in resuscitating the medium in the public eye. "Good Omens", though, was the only novel of his I'd read, ye I found a list of voters' choices of the top 100 Sci-Fi fantasy novels so I figured, loving the genre, but having read not enough of it as I probably should be, I started at the top. I was a little surprised to find this Gaiman novel at #9. I'd heard of it, of course, and I love me some Neil Gaiman. "Sandman" alone is one of those priceless moments in comics that probably did scads of good in resuscitating the medium in the public eye. "Good Omens", though, was the only novel of his I'd read, years ago, but I remember enjoying the heck out of it.
That's why I was really surprised to find this book so disappointing on several different levels.
First off, Gaiman is fine as a writer. Stylistically, there's nothing really new here, but at the same time, there's nothing to criticize. The prose is just sort of there. Sometimes he's funny, sometimes you can see some poeticisms starting to emerge, but they get swamped in the rest of the thing. Now, I'm not one to criticize lengthy works, far from it--I revel in them, but "Gods" went several hundred pages with little of note occurring and the main villains appearing twice for fleeting moments of questionable consequence. The main character, the lamely named "Shadow", is nothing more than a paper shill for the events of the book, with little depth except for the occasional, uncharacteristic witty, informed joke or jibe. He's a fine example of the weakness and hollowness of the Chosen One trope: because the character has, from his inception, been imbued with the power to lamely resolve the story, there is no real possibility for a character arc. Shadow doesn't really do much except wander in and out of "accidental" situations that are used for expository reasons, he never changes much until he's forced to, but even then it's all already been carefully planned out and thus robbed of any weight.
Second, the plot is wan and wanting. It's an idea that isn't new: gods are still alive and are somehow threatened by no one believing in them anymore, etc etc. This has been done before. There's nothing wrong with doing it again, if you make it interesting. And I understand, this is a fantasy novel, but, come on--gods immigrate with a small percentage of those who believe in them (ancient Egyptians god immigrated with ancient Egyptian migrants thousands of years ago; yes, we won't get into all that--I've been nitpicky enough) but, wait--what about all the believers who didn't immigrate from those other countries? Why wouldn't the gods and goddesses stay there if that's the source of their power? Why follow the trail if it results in inevitable dilution? Why do they all go, to all places, to America? Why not stay where they were born and strong and believed-in?
This gaping hole is answered later and a bit lamely, almost as if an afterthought (there are different versions of gods?).
Third, the American exceptionalism. This is weird, because Gaiman, the last time I checked, is English. It's even stranger because if he'd used a global scale, none of the critiques above would have much to stand on. Gods and goddesses would be having their own crises in their own territories, not in America. Interpret that as you will. Or maybe it's a negative American exceptionalism because all the bad guys represent things like the Media and Technology and the rest of...of the..world..doesn't have...technology...wait...hmmm.
The book as a whole never seems quite secure in what it is. A critique on modern society? A fashionable up-tick in the trend of newfound adoration for the strange folkways of the Old World, minus the crystal rubbing and chanting?
Maybe it'll work better as a TV show. George Martin's books did. A TV show can't get away with an utter lack of emotional depth in their characters. I also bet they'll change the climactic ending to make it a little more climactic.
...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Dustin Wilson rated it it was ok

I was told a long time ago to give this book a go. I've been a fan of a lot of Gaiman's comic book work for years but never gave his novels a try until I finally did read Neverwhere. When I mentioned I was going to pick this one up next, my friend told me not to, and if I did read it I wouldn't want to read anything else Neil Gaiman has written since.

I read it, but I'll give him another go simply because I read Neverwhere.

American Gods was -- in a nutshell -- terrible. Many science fiction and f I was told a long time ago to give this book a go. I've been a fan of a lot of Gaiman's comic book work for years but never gave his novels a try until I finally did read Neverwhere. When I mentioned I was going to pick this one up next, my friend told me not to, and if I did read it I wouldn't want to read anything else Neil Gaiman has written since.

I read it, but I'll give him another go simply because I read Neverwhere.

American Gods was -- in a nutshell -- terrible. Many science fiction and fantasy novels begin with a very good idea behind them and then fail miserably on the execution. American Gods, in my opinion, has that problem. The premise of the novel is that the old world's gods followed them to America and live among them somehow. It's an interesting concept, but the story itself is a meandering mess. The entire story is told from the main character Shadow's perspective, and he follows this old crook around much of the country performing scams and trying to recruit weird people for something that isn't ever explained to Shadow and therefore never explained to the reader.

Many people reading this book find they can't relate to Shadow because he seems to have a dearth of emotion. He doesn't seem to feel anything. He is quite a melancholic person, but considering what he discovers at the beginning of the novel that behavior can be explained. I couldn't relate to him because for most of the novel he behaved like a dog, simply doing whatever Mr. Wednesday told him to do and asking the most minimal of questions. This created a situation where for most of the book the reader knew nothing of what was going on; nothing made sense.

The most satisfying parts other than the ending were most of the coming to America stories that broke up the main storyline and the time Shadow spent in Lakeside. The side story of what went on there made sense from beginning until end. These combined with the satisfying ending was why I didn't give this book one star. The book ended well in a satisfying manner with everything explained. It's just too bad the journey for the reader to get to that point was a mess. ...more

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