Take a photo of a barcode or cover
atarabishy 's review for:
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman
2.5 stars
This book was entertaining in a vague, page-turning way.
The main character is deliberately mysterious, and we're not given much information about him; his name is Shadow, which is... very subtle. Having finished the book, I really think he could've been better-developed while maintaining that aura of mystery. I found myself not really caring what happened to him, especially as it seemed that he didn't really care what happened to himself. Shadow sort of apathetically moves from one experience to the next; he has very little personality, and not much self-preservation. There are some in-story reasons for this, but it does make for a rather boring character.
The plot is bloated, with too many events, and poor pacing. In general, the book felt too long.
Having said that, there were things I liked. I really appreciated Gaiman's ability to describe a scene. In a few words, you get the feel of a cheap, dirty, poorly lit motel, or an ugly rusted piece of shit car (his words, not mine), or a random out-of-the-way gas station. The descriptions of long drives across the country were also entertaining; I imagine this would make a pretty good audiobook to listen to on a road trip.
Several of the characters were memorable. While Gaiman obviously knows his mythology, the characters felt like they were original creations, not simply rehashings of old mythological tropes.
All-in-all, the book was okay. I wouldn't really recommend it, but there's nothing I could point to as really *wrong* with it. I think some people would probably like it more than I did.
This book was entertaining in a vague, page-turning way.
The main character is deliberately mysterious, and we're not given much information about him; his name is Shadow, which is... very subtle. Having finished the book, I really think he could've been better-developed while maintaining that aura of mystery. I found myself not really caring what happened to him, especially as it seemed that he didn't really care what happened to himself. Shadow sort of apathetically moves from one experience to the next; he has very little personality, and not much self-preservation. There are some in-story reasons for this, but it does make for a rather boring character.
The plot is bloated, with too many events, and poor pacing. In general, the book felt too long.
Having said that, there were things I liked. I really appreciated Gaiman's ability to describe a scene. In a few words, you get the feel of a cheap, dirty, poorly lit motel, or an ugly rusted piece of shit car (his words, not mine), or a random out-of-the-way gas station. The descriptions of long drives across the country were also entertaining; I imagine this would make a pretty good audiobook to listen to on a road trip.
Several of the characters were memorable. While Gaiman obviously knows his mythology, the characters felt like they were original creations, not simply rehashings of old mythological tropes.
All-in-all, the book was okay. I wouldn't really recommend it, but there's nothing I could point to as really *wrong* with it. I think some people would probably like it more than I did.