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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I... don't even know if I enjoyed this or not. The writing is very strong, the story somehow engaging and unsatisfying at the same time
Well…Well, where do I begin with this. I confess my book loving friends that I did this wrong. I watched American Gods the TV series on Amazon before I read the book! I know, never watch before you read. But Lovejoy was in it. And I’ll be honest, because you know, if you can’t be honest in your blog just where can you be? I’d never really been interested in the book until I watched the TV series. After after I finished the series I sat there and thought, without a doubt that was the weirdest thing I have ever seen.
I bought the book, with the TV series cover, that is in fact, the directors cut equivalent, that it includes some 700 billion extra pages (the actual number may differ from this).
It’s my first Neil Gaiman book and I loved it. I loved the storytelling, a real world George R. R. Martin crossed with David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks, you can just read and read and read and never want to put the book down, even when you don’t have a clue what is going on. but for you I will attempt to summarise (Cue spoiler alert). SPOILER ALERT.
Shadow Moon is getting released from jail, and he can’t wait to see his wife. Except for his wife is dead after being killed in a car accident with his best friend who coincidentally was her lover. So, heartbroken, Shadow is released early and after a little coercion, signs up to work for Mr Wednesday. As if someone who literally asks you what day of the week it is and then calls himself after that day isn’t suspicious at all. But you know, Shadow just doesn’t care right now.
Mr Wednesday is, well he’s different, and special and oh by the way did I mention he’s the Norse God Odin? Shadow slowly works this out until it’s pretty much smacking him round the face, as Wednesday starts rounding up the old gods, gods that have travelled across the sea from the old countries to the land of the free, for a ding dong with the new gods, technology, media, television etc. Shadow realises he is caught up in something beyond his comprehension, but also that his involvement is not completely by chance. Meanwhile, Laura, Shadow’s deceased wife, realises now she’s dead that she does in fact love Shadow and comes back to tell him and also help him with some new found supernatural powers. I mean, how does that work? Well the leprechaun has the answer there, obviously.
So while the old and the new square up, Shadow is having weird dreams and meeting even weirder and wonderful, and not so wonderful people, and trying to keep his head down and wrap his brains around everything, particularly why his dead wife is back and keeps talking to him.
I will confess further that I got slightly lost at the end, regarding Whisky Jack and the Buffalo man but that’s probably me being so excited I skim read some crucial points along the way, such is the pull of Gaiman’s story telling and my appalling attention span.
If you enjoy fantastic story telling, read this. To be honest you can watch the first season of the TV series which deviates from the plot somewhat, but I would still read the book first, because, well because I’m a book lover and the book is pretty much without exception, always better than the celluloid adaptation. Gaiman includes lost of historical stories of how the gods were brought over from the old countries and slowly forgotten or replaced, and it all ads up to what is unquestionably an engrossing incredible epic of a book.
(blog review here)
I bought the book, with the TV series cover, that is in fact, the directors cut equivalent, that it includes some 700 billion extra pages (the actual number may differ from this).
It’s my first Neil Gaiman book and I loved it. I loved the storytelling, a real world George R. R. Martin crossed with David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks, you can just read and read and read and never want to put the book down, even when you don’t have a clue what is going on. but for you I will attempt to summarise (Cue spoiler alert). SPOILER ALERT.
Shadow Moon is getting released from jail, and he can’t wait to see his wife. Except for his wife is dead after being killed in a car accident with his best friend who coincidentally was her lover. So, heartbroken, Shadow is released early and after a little coercion, signs up to work for Mr Wednesday. As if someone who literally asks you what day of the week it is and then calls himself after that day isn’t suspicious at all. But you know, Shadow just doesn’t care right now.
Mr Wednesday is, well he’s different, and special and oh by the way did I mention he’s the Norse God Odin? Shadow slowly works this out until it’s pretty much smacking him round the face, as Wednesday starts rounding up the old gods, gods that have travelled across the sea from the old countries to the land of the free, for a ding dong with the new gods, technology, media, television etc. Shadow realises he is caught up in something beyond his comprehension, but also that his involvement is not completely by chance. Meanwhile, Laura, Shadow’s deceased wife, realises now she’s dead that she does in fact love Shadow and comes back to tell him and also help him with some new found supernatural powers. I mean, how does that work? Well the leprechaun has the answer there, obviously.
So while the old and the new square up, Shadow is having weird dreams and meeting even weirder and wonderful, and not so wonderful people, and trying to keep his head down and wrap his brains around everything, particularly why his dead wife is back and keeps talking to him.
I will confess further that I got slightly lost at the end, regarding Whisky Jack and the Buffalo man but that’s probably me being so excited I skim read some crucial points along the way, such is the pull of Gaiman’s story telling and my appalling attention span.
If you enjoy fantastic story telling, read this. To be honest you can watch the first season of the TV series which deviates from the plot somewhat, but I would still read the book first, because, well because I’m a book lover and the book is pretty much without exception, always better than the celluloid adaptation. Gaiman includes lost of historical stories of how the gods were brought over from the old countries and slowly forgotten or replaced, and it all ads up to what is unquestionably an engrossing incredible epic of a book.
(blog review here)
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Book gifted by my sister before the scandals
Nice story, should have been around 200/300 page shorter
Nice story, should have been around 200/300 page shorter
The start of the book was okay for the first 50 pages, then it went downhill. There is no character development in this book in my opinion. The main charachter has been through so much, and he doesn't seem to progress. There where some stories between that I didn't really like, and after some time where just something annoying to get through. This book could have been easily 100 pages shorter if the other small things where left out. The book was recommended to me by friends, but I did not enjoy it.
I definitely respect the amount of research and work that went into this book. Clearly, Gaiman spent time and careful consideration into weaving this tale. There were enough twists and interesting characters to keep me amused, and I think he did a great job of fleshing out each story-line and moving the story along. His descriptions of the dreams were sparkling and interesting, and his prose was pretty tight.
As someone who has seen 48 of the 50 US States by road trip, and lived in northern Minnesota during winter, much of this book read true and spoke to experiences I've had during these travels and locations.
At times, the action kind of sagged and I felt a bit more like I was trudging through the book than reading on because I wanted to. I think it started to pick up toward the battle at the end, and it couldn't have come at a better time because I was starting to get a little worn out on meeting new people and this "impending doom" thing.
In the end, though, I guess one thing stuck out to me that I got from the bonus materials. In an interview, he mentioned something about being impressed by a book at an age when books could still change his life. I found myself wondering if this is the reason why I didn't get into this as much as I had hoped or expected. Maybe I'm out of that age range, as well. This was a well written book with plenty of positives, but it somehow...didn't move me. The whole time I felt just like I was reading to read, not necessarily because I was dying to enter into the world the book was presenting to me. I am curious to see how Bryan Fuller, my favorite TV director / producer, will translate this onto the small screen. After his treatment of Hannibal and the gorgeous visuals showcased therein, I think American Gods will sing in Fuller's hands. Perhaps it was because of this knowledge of its soon-to-be tv adaptation that made me wish for something more from the book. Overall, it feels like just another book I've read in the past, something I can talk about when it gets hyped up when the TV show airs, a point of reference for future media consumption.
As someone who has seen 48 of the 50 US States by road trip, and lived in northern Minnesota during winter, much of this book read true and spoke to experiences I've had during these travels and locations.
At times, the action kind of sagged and I felt a bit more like I was trudging through the book than reading on because I wanted to. I think it started to pick up toward the battle at the end, and it couldn't have come at a better time because I was starting to get a little worn out on meeting new people and this "impending doom" thing.
In the end, though, I guess one thing stuck out to me that I got from the bonus materials. In an interview, he mentioned something about being impressed by a book at an age when books could still change his life. I found myself wondering if this is the reason why I didn't get into this as much as I had hoped or expected. Maybe I'm out of that age range, as well. This was a well written book with plenty of positives, but it somehow...didn't move me. The whole time I felt just like I was reading to read, not necessarily because I was dying to enter into the world the book was presenting to me. I am curious to see how Bryan Fuller, my favorite TV director / producer, will translate this onto the small screen. After his treatment of Hannibal and the gorgeous visuals showcased therein, I think American Gods will sing in Fuller's hands. Perhaps it was because of this knowledge of its soon-to-be tv adaptation that made me wish for something more from the book. Overall, it feels like just another book I've read in the past, something I can talk about when it gets hyped up when the TV show airs, a point of reference for future media consumption.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
That said, the recent exposure of Gaiman's personal actions definitely colored my reading of.. literally every female character in this book.. in a way I almost definitely wouldn't have picked up on had I read it when I bought it so long ago, which made for a fair bit of necessary discomfort.
this book was published in 2001 so i want to account for that. however, i think it brings up a great question about appropriations in literature. there’s a section in this book that’s essentially a tale about transatlantic slavery, and it times it felt self-indulgent as written from the perspective of a white man. i know it was written in a different time but, it was very questionable to me. another issue i had is that occasionally, gaiman overexplained plot points as if he didn’t trust his audience to understand what happened. it killed the cleverness and momentum of the plot and his writing.
i know i just complained but despite that, i loved this book. i really did fall in love with the atmosphere and the characters. it definitely felt dated, but i can’t say i didn’t enjoy it.
i know i just complained but despite that, i loved this book. i really did fall in love with the atmosphere and the characters. it definitely felt dated, but i can’t say i didn’t enjoy it.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Percy Jackson, Noragami, and other properties have used similar premises with better results. I almost DNF'd the book multiple times because of the explicit scenes and lack of direction for 80% of the novel. Because the main character (Shadow) is a blank canvas throughout, things just seem to happen to him without any interesting discussion. While I can see the empty space being helpful for a a reader thinking through American Nationalism and the roles of legends, myths, and folktales in modern society, the actual plot of the book was all over the place.
Even when things finally happen/are revealed, it doesn't give closure to the various characters that have been introduced throughout the journey. I was honestly bored at times in the midst of death, war, and sacred rituals.
Altogether I simply just did not enjoy this novel. I'll likely try other of Gaiman's works to see if any of them grab me, but I felt that this book did not fully explore its own world enough to make the read worth the time.
Even when things finally happen/are revealed, it doesn't give closure to the various characters that have been introduced throughout the journey. I was honestly bored at times in the midst of death, war, and sacred rituals.
Altogether I simply just did not enjoy this novel. I'll likely try other of Gaiman's works to see if any of them grab me, but I felt that this book did not fully explore its own world enough to make the read worth the time.