American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.
Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.
More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (June 19, 2001)
Media type: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Audio Book
Pages: 480 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0380973651
Followed by: Anansi Boys; The Monarch of the Glen (Fragile Things)
Publication date: 19 June 2001
Reader Review
"This Is a Bad Place For Gods..."
Released from prison shortly after the accidental death of his wife, ex-con Shadow finds himself free, but bereft of all the things that gave his previous life meaning. As he bids his farewell to the fragments of that life, an eerie stranger named Mr. Wednesday offers him employment. Wednesday needs someone to act as aid, driver, errand boy, and, in case of Wednesday's death, someone to hold a vigil for him. Shadow consents and finds himself drawn unsuspectingly into a cryptic reality where myth and legend coexist with today's realities.
Mr. Wednesday, trickster and wise man, is on a quest. The old gods who came over to this country with each human incursion have weakened as their followers have dwindled and are now threatened with extinction by the modern gods of technology and marketing. Wednesday travels from deity to deity, rounding up help for what will be last battle. He engages ancient Russian gods, Norse legends, Egyptian deities, and countless others who have found their way to America in the past 10,000 or so years. Shadow never quite understands what his role is in all of this, but he experiences visions and dreams which promise that he is far more than Wednesday's factotum.
The plot is unendingly inventive as it treks its way across the country. From Chicago to Rhode Island, and Seattle to the magical town of Lakeside, Shadow's journey seems to follow the back roads of America. The people he meets are gritty, and the gods are even grittier. Gaiman creates believable characters with quick brush strokes and builds vivid landscapes that belie their mundane origins. Gaiman, recently moved to the U.S. has invited us along on his own quest to discover an America uniquely his own.
This is a novel that resonates at many levels, it is Shadow's initiation quest, Gaiman's search for the American identity, a revisionist Twilight of the Gods, and last, but not least a captivating piece of fiction. The gods that people this story came with people who found their way to this country from almost every time and place. Gaiman has put his finger on once of this country's greatest truths. Every person who ever lived here has roots from somewhere else. We have crossed oceans and land bridges, on foot, and by every other means of transportation. Our culture has been created whole cloth out of the character and beliefs of all those people. Gaiman has managed to capture a bit of that vision and put it on display for the reader.
After his superb work in "Neverwhere," "Stardust," and the Sandman graphic novels, Neil Gaimon has established himself a force to be reckoned with in the crossover horror/fantasy genre. Now with his new novel Gaiman establishes his mastery in a remarkable story of quest and transformation as he comes to terms with his own vision of America. "American Gods" defies classification and invites superlatives. This is one of 2001's must reads.
- by Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™"
Neil Strikes Again
After waiting several years for Neil's new book, I hungrily devoured the 400+ page "American Gods" in just over two days. The story follows Shadow Moon, recently released from prison, as he comes to work for a man simply known as Wednesday. Wednesday is a peculiar old man with a frightening knowledge of Shadow's past and an amazing talent of swindling people who introduces Shadow to many fascinating characters, who it is later learned, are all transplanted Gods endeavoring to hold on to life all across America.
Gaiman explores the sacred power hidden in the kitschy roadside attractions doting the landscape of America's many back roads; their once glorious power waning as people worship more modern cultural icons and ideas. The sprawling story pits the forgotten gods America's immigrated citizens brought with them to the new land against the high-tech gods of modern living in a war for the very right to be worshipped. Shadow is pulled headfirst into the dispute and ends up playing a crucial role in the upcoming battle. The meanings of life and death, self-worth, spiritual beliefs, and redemption are all explored with Gaiman's witty intelligence.
Gaiman's ability to entwine multiple plot lines with clever cultural critiques while maintaining fantastic character descriptions and an engaging narrative solidifies the fantasy/horror author's place as one of the world's best storytellers. Much more than a magical tale of combating Gods, Gaiman paints a picture of a melting pot left too long to boil, and a country who worships the next big thing a bit too easily and with little consideration for it's ancestry.
Definitely worth buying, and undeniably worth reading (all though you might want to slow down a bit more than I did!). And while you're at it - check out "Stardust" and "Neverwhere", you won't be disappointed.
- by J. Dzwigalski "cyber junkie"
Definitely not a light vacation read
If you're looking for a good book to take on vacation to read in your hammock while listening to the waves lap along the shore, sipping your lemonade, basking in the sun, generally feeling quite pleasant about life, "American Gods" is not the book for you. However, if your goal is to be taunted and confused, yet strangely fascinated, then you should definitely pick up Neil Gaiman's latest novel. "American Gods" is a complex story about humanity and the moral fabric of faith, which is changing rapidly in our increasingly modern world. A thought provoking and intriguing read, Gaiman's story is rich with mythic characters and bizarre interactions. His messages about culture and society are all at once dark, humorous, cynical, depressing, insightful, enlightening and at times, gruesome.
American Gods depicts the journey of Shadow, a man just released from prison with nothing to lose, who takes a job for a mysterious man, Wednesday. His life takes many severe, dark and strange turns as he accompanies Wednesday on visits with other complicated characters. He soon finds out he is dealing with different deities from various parts of the world, who now try to survive in America. The group of gods is preparing for some kind of war. Shadow tries to stay impartial by simply doing his "job" without getting personally committed to the cause. However, somewhere along the way, his conscience leads him to discover more than he ever wanted to know about what is really going on between the supernatural forces, who all hold stakes in the culture and future of America.
Gaiman skillfully brings in many legendary, religious and mythological figures throughout his intricate plot. The true identities of these layered characters are riddled and hidden amidst different plays on words and clever uses of symbols. For example, Wednesday seems to obtain his name from the simple fact that it is indeed a Wednesday when Shadow meets him. However, the reader will soon figure out that the word Wednesday originates from Odin, the primary god from Norse Mythology. As the reader witnesses more of Wednesday's actions and personality traits, it becomes clear that Odin is in fact Wednesday's true persona. Wednesday reveals: "' I told you I would tell you my names. This is what they call me. I am called Glad-of-War, Grim, Raider, and Third. I am One-Eyed. I am called Highest, and True-Guesser. I am Grimnir, and I am the Hooded one. I am All-Father, and I am Gondlir Wand-Bearer. I have as many names as there are winds, as many titles as there are ways to die,'" (Gaiman 103). This is the case with many other individuals in the novel; their identity is slowly revealed over the course of events, the use of names with hidden meanings and connections to other characters. The facades are well constructed and later deconstructed as the plot surges along. This aspect of the book, while very effective for those readers familiar with various mythologies of the world, is sometimes over laden with references to events and symbols of the various deities. It's admirable to include such a wide variety of worldly figures, but somewhat detracting from the story if as a reader, too much extra research is necessary to understand the associations.
The use of supplemental "Coming to America" inserts is also a skillful yet time consuming venture for the reader. Upon first read these excerpts may seem out of place and unrelated, but after thoughtful review, are actually giving us a more rounded viewpoint of the gods' existence in America. The stories range from African gods to creatures from Oman to a woman from Cornwall, England who worships piskies.
If this book were to have a movie rating, it would possibly be NR (not rated). The language is often times harsh and abrasive. There are some very detailed and explicit sexual encounters, which although not gratuitous, do have readers wondering if it is necessary for the story's momentum and meaning. These scenes depict the sensual and all-consuming power of the religions of old; the depth of connection exists on a level that discomforts modern society. Have we grown shallow in our acceptance of the gods? Has god been put at a distance to be worshipped from afar?
The messages of Gaiman's novel provide a unique commentary on American culture. The status of religion is a major theme. The image of gods fighting for survival and yearning for genuine worshippers, forces the reader to think about the history of myths and religions and how those ideas were lost and/or revived in our current world. Gaiman seems to be noting that in America, people choose what they want to believe from a smorgasbord of theories and ideas. Shadow explains to the old gods: "'This is a bad land for gods. You've probably all learn that, in your own way. The old gods are ignored. The new gods are as quickly taken up as they are abandoned, cast aside for the next big thing,'" (Gaiman 420). The minimal role of the character Samantha Black Crow is powerful as she states her personal creed to Shadow about her contradictory yet passionate beliefs about the world: "'I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not,'" (Gaiman 307). She represents the possibility to live openly and respectfully of beliefs in America and embrace almost all of them.
There is also a personal journey aspect to the story. Shadow goes through many tragedies and trials, which lead him on a path of continuing self-discovery. He endures the unthinkable and comes out a stronger, wiser, "more alive" man. As readers, we can find a common ground with Shadow and his quest for answers to his questions. He finds his own voice in the sea of many.
"American Gods" challenges the reader's views of our world and society. The rich, and sometimes harsh language is adeptly woven together to create a book which is difficult to grasp at times but eventually pieces together the riddles and puzzles which have been laid out along the way. If you choose to read this novel, a wildly strange adventure with a deep and complex meaning await.
- by Emma Russell
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