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American Gods

Neil Gaiman

Start date: April 1, 2017

Finish date: April 30, 2017

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What Members Thought

Apr 09, 2017 Nafisa Choudhury rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I would've given it 5 stars - I'm still not sure actually - but for the ending of the novel. No spoilers; I just felt like it left me hanging and unsatisfied.

This was a long, sprawling read for me and I liked it that way. It was okay for me that the pacing was super slow because: A. I enjoyed the writing and the subject matter, and B. I never felt like any words included were irrelevant. The novel builds up to the topics it wants to discuss, and it does so very well, through the vivid experience I would've given it 5 stars - I'm still not sure actually - but for the ending of the novel. No spoilers; I just felt like it left me hanging and unsatisfied.

This was a long, sprawling read for me and I liked it that way. It was okay for me that the pacing was super slow because: A. I enjoyed the writing and the subject matter, and B. I never felt like any words included were irrelevant. The novel builds up to the topics it wants to discuss, and it does so very well, through the vivid experiences of our narrator. I do realise this is a super subjective point: not everybody will enjoy the pacing. It takes its time unfolding the pieces, and can often feel directionless.

However, I'm happy the novel takes its time. It explored belief, religion, and most importantly America's diversity, its 'melting pot'. In a time when America, at least from an outside pov, seems to be lacking self-awareness of its hodge-podge origins. I felt like a more grounded picture was unravelled through the character in this novel. Gods or otherwise, their histories and origins play a vital role in the plot and over-arching theme. The well-crafted fantasy is perfectly related back to culture in an extended symbolism, touching upon the themes of history and different kinds of people that make up America. It journeys through different states, covers cities and small towns and wilderness. It feels like an attempt to define America, and it never felt awkward or presumptuous. It grounded itself in the people, in the personal.

I really like the main narrator. I was fascinated by his silences, the huge lack of information we have about him, but still able to relate to his responses. I really cared for him, and he was also the perfect perspective for the themes the novel explores. I think his arc was satisfactorily tied off at the end. The issue that I have is with the questions the novel has hitherto asked throughout, and then seemed to completely discard and ignore.

I guess I didn't feel like the 'climax' was climactic according to these questions, and they sort of deflated. I expected more after that build up. There was some conclusion, but not enough.

Nevertheless, American Gods is still a great novel that I thoroughly enjoyed: intelligent, imaginative and insightful. ...more

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Mar 04, 2016 Heather rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I don't know what to say about American Gods, other than that I quite liked it, despite feeling like some parts of it lagged. (This may have been partly due to circumstances: while I was reading this book I got a cold, and when I have a cold I tend to be a bit grumpy and also to have at least one day where I do very little other than sleep, which seriously cuts into my reading time.) The premise of the book is satisfying: everyone who comes to a place brings their gods with them, and those gods, I don't know what to say about American Gods, other than that I quite liked it, despite feeling like some parts of it lagged. (This may have been partly due to circumstances: while I was reading this book I got a cold, and when I have a cold I tend to be a bit grumpy and also to have at least one day where I do very little other than sleep, which seriously cuts into my reading time.) The premise of the book is satisfying: everyone who comes to a place brings their gods with them, and those gods, who draw life/power from their believers, carry on living in that place, far as it may be from home. America, then, has a whole lot of gods in it, but lots of them are from times/places that mean they have less of a following than they used to. Meanwhile, there are new gods, new things/ideas where people put their energy and faith. The book sets itself up as being about the clash between old gods and new, but it isn't, not really, though I'm not sure how to describe what it is about.

The book follows a character named Shadow, who's finishing up a prison term as the book opens: he's looking forward to going home and returning to normal life, though he has a sense of unease, a feeling that something's about to go terribly wrong. Which it does: he ends up being told he's getting released a few days early, because his wife has died in a car crash. There's no normal life for him to go back to, and maybe normalcy is a fiction anyway, which becomes abundantly clear as he's on his way home for his wife's funeral: he somehow ends up on a plane sitting next to a man who knows his name, knows that his wife is dead, and offers him a job as his bodyguard/errand guy. Despite misgivings, Shadow ends up working for this guy, who calls himself Wednesday, and things get weirder from there.

I like how very full of things American Gods is (gods and other mythological and folkloric creatures, coin tricks, cons, roadside attractions) and how the main story is interspersed with interludes about various deities/magical beings (some of which are written by one of the characters in charming story-within-a-story fashion). This is the first novel-for-grownups by Neil Gaiman that I've read, and I look forward to reading more. ...more

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Jun 18, 2017 Sam rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I've ever read! Highly recommended! ...more

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May 07, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, reread

This is the new, expanded edition, but to be honest my memory of my first read almost a decade ago is so shaky that I couldn't even remember the whole plot of the book, let alone the new bits! ...more

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