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mburnamfink's review against another edition
5.0
American Gods tops the list of books that I wish I could read for the first time once again. There's a storm coming, and in the middle is a man named Shadow: ex-con, recently widowed, working for the mysterious Mr. Wednesday. Shadow's dropped into a world where beings live on belief, where magic and ritual are real, and the dead are rarely gone. Gaiman's gods are very fallible supernatural beings, curmudgeons and mystics who drink, smoke, and feed off the scraps of belief left to them. America is a bad place for the gods; the Old World creatures are shambling shells of past glories, the new gods of Media, Technology, and the Spookshow (among others) anxious mayflies trembling before the winds of obsolescence.
It's a wonder how Gaiman blends the mythology of dozens of cultures with an utterly plausible explanation of how gods work, of their symbiotic relationship with people, and why America is such a terrible place for them to live. This combination of the fantastic and the logical is one of the joys of the book, along with Gaiman's evident skill as a wordsmith, and the lengthy and convoluted plot around the war of the gods. I enjoyed the frequent digressions into the lives of other goods, their journey to America with immigrants beyond the Ellis Island stereotypes.
I think this book opens some very interesting questions about the nature of belief, the necessity of having ideas and dreams about the universe, and the way that myths change shape in new contexts. That said, it is at times in love with how clever it is, and the Lakeside sanctuary plot is as slow and dull as I remembered it.
It's a wonder how Gaiman blends the mythology of dozens of cultures with an utterly plausible explanation of how gods work, of their symbiotic relationship with people, and why America is such a terrible place for them to live. This combination of the fantastic and the logical is one of the joys of the book, along with Gaiman's evident skill as a wordsmith, and the lengthy and convoluted plot around the war of the gods. I enjoyed the frequent digressions into the lives of other goods, their journey to America with immigrants beyond the Ellis Island stereotypes.
I think this book opens some very interesting questions about the nature of belief, the necessity of having ideas and dreams about the universe, and the way that myths change shape in new contexts. That said, it is at times in love with how clever it is, and the Lakeside sanctuary plot is as slow and dull as I remembered it.
kalizath's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to this audiobook to find out what happened after the show was cancelled. What a disappointment of an ending. The book follows the main story beats of the show, but the show is SIGNIFICANTLY more fleshed out. I recommend giving this a shot.
jertxt's review against another edition
3.0
I opened this book up again after a long lay-off, and this time I let it catch me. I think Gaiman can be an acquired taste--he has a propensity for the twee that can be irritating--but if you accept him for what he is, he can write complex, engrossing tales, full of mythos. I enjoyed it.
rketterer47's review against another edition
3.0
Listened via Audible. This book was good. I didn't think it was anything special, but it also wasn't anything bad. The whole book was build up of a war, and in order to not spoil anything, let's just say that the pinnacle of all of it was kind of disappointing. There were a couple unexpected twists I didn't see coming in other aspects of the storyline. I'm glad I listened! Looking forward to checking out the TV adaptation.
boomalannie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
swampster's review against another edition
4.0
The last 30% or so saved this from being a 3-star book. I like how things wrapped up, but this book was somewhat of a slog at the beginning.
disaster_enby's review against another edition
I really hated it. All the sex stuff made me uncomfortable doubled with the fact that it’s hard to read anything by Gaiman now that all the stuff about him happened. I’m sure it’s a great book, but not right now.
traceyt__'s review against another edition
4.0
There's no denying how great of an author Neil Gaiman has. He has a way with words, and I have loved everything he has produced. American Gods was a great read, but it took me so damn long. It's actually been awhile since I've read a book that's taken me months to finish. I flew through the first 3/4, immersed in the ups and downs of Shadow's journey and found the mythology involved so interesting. But then it hit a point in the book that I had to drag myself through, hence finishing this 2-3 months after I started it. There is A LOT to grasp from American Gods, a lot that I still cannot wrap my head around yet. But hey, it's still worth the read.
FULL REVIEW SOON.
FULL REVIEW SOON.