American Gods goes into my mental list of “it’s not you, it’s me” books. (I feel I’m loosing some imaginary “coolness factor” by not having loving it, like there’s social pressure involved. Some books have that aura.)
After all, it seemed to have all the ingredients necessary to win me over, including the epic scope and the appealing plot – old and new Gods fighting for the hearts and minds of Americans without them knowing? Sign me up! Also, I loved my two previous Gaimans (The Graveyard Book and Good Omens), always a good sign.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what didn’t do it for me, because the writing is clearly brilliant and none of the narrators in my audiobook was particularly annoying.
Although the plot sounded great, throughout the 20 hours of audiobook I had to tell myself to suspend my disbelief (unusual for me in fantasy novels) and stop over-analyzing, like:
- Why should I be on the side of Shadow and Odin and not with the new Gods of Television, Internet and Money? Didn’t Odin instigate wars, rape and murder? Why are we safer with the Old Gods? If I had a choice, I’d probably go with the new ones.
- Are we really more obsessed with money today than, say, 200 years ago?
- Isn’t there be a better way for Odin and his buddies to gain power? Maybe try to gather more human followers by doing a few tricks. Show off a bit. There are birds of thunder flying around and Shadow can control the weather, for crying out loud.
- Where are the current, strong Gods like Jesus Christ and Allah? Wasn’t it a cop-out not to include them?
There are a lot of contradictions in the plot line and in the end (because of it?) the story becomes very secular: Man has the power and (I ask myself) if Man has the power, why do we need Gods at all?
“Jesus does pretty good over here,” (…) “But I met a guy who said he saw him hitchhiking by the side of the road in Afghanistan and nobody was stopping to give him a ride. You know? It all depends on where you are.
Maybe Gaiman’s whole point is to make the reader think about this. Either way, all this questioning made me disconnected from the characters and it’s always more difficult to love a book with characters you don’t care about and whose deaths you’d be indifferent to.
I did enjoy it in general, especially the resolution of the missing girls’ mystery in the sleepy small town. The road-trip was a great opportunity for Gaiman to display his humor, clever writing and even cleverer observations of people and culture.
I just wish that Shadow felt more like someone with an actual will and opinion, that I cared 2-Euro-cents about his zombie wife, that all the build-up and premonitions had an explosive finale, that the Gods we get to know in the “interludes” (probably my favorite parts) made an appearance somewhere in the main story. Lots of things felt too… loose.
Technically, American Gods is grand but unfortunately I can’t really say that it won me over.
***
Other thoughts:
things mean a lot, The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Book Reviews, That’s What She Read, S. Krishna’s Books, Birdbrain(ed), Man of la Book, just add books, Entomology of a Bookworm, Life with Books, Melody & Words, Sophisticated Dorkiness, Reading with Tequila, a book a week, The Little Red Reviewer, ResoluteReader, A Lifetime of Books, The Labyrinth Library, Once Upon a Bookshelf, Amy’s Book Obsession, 50 Books Project, biblioathlas, Postcards from Asia, Becky’s Book Reviews, Stuff As Dreams Are Made On (yours?)
14 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 20, 2012 at 1:05 pm
sakura
I know a lot of people with mixed views on this book so you are not alone! However, I really liked it and it’s probably my favourite of Gaiman’s books (aside from the Sandman books). But I think this is partly because when I read it many years ago, the ideas within it were so new to me.
November 20, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Delia (Postcards from Asia)
That was an odd book. I so wanted to like it (and on some level I did) but I felt that I missed a lot because of the whole mythology aspect – not knowing more about the gods in the story, and also could not really connect with any of the characters, like you said.
I like his short stories a lot better, have you read any?
Thanks for the pingback.
November 20, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Tony
It’s funny that a lot of people share your views – but for different reasons 😉
I thought it was quite good, but (unlike you) I wasn’t overly impressed by the writing. It’s a great story, but the prose doesn’t compare to the kind of books I usually read…
November 20, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Redhead
It’s a pretty polarizing book, and I’ve never thought about the “Odin killed a ton of people, why shouldn’t I be on the side of the new Gods?”. now I really want to read it again!!!
It’s interesting too, that you bring up that you didn’t think Shadow had much free will or opinions (I didn’t much care for his wife either), as everytime I read a contemporary/mythology thing like this, I end up feeling bad for people who are trapped in their mythos – they have no free will, even if they want to. 😦
I love talking about this book, especially with people who liked/disliked different parts than I did, because then I get to see the story in a whole new way. 🙂
November 20, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Larissa
This is definitely a book that divides even Gaiman fans. I loved it, and I admire that book a lot, but it’s not the one I enjoyed the most. But if you want to know more about some of the gods, go and read “Anansi Boys”, I’m sure you’ll like that one more!
November 20, 2012 at 3:42 pm
nrlymrtl
Too bad this book didn’t do it for you. This is one of my favorite novels to reread every few years. Have you tried some of his other works?
November 20, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Indiscriminate Critic
I had so many of those same issues myself. “Loose” is a great way to describe it. The scope is simply too big to keep the story tight. I saw it as a case of biting off more than you can chew. And didn’t you feel a bit worried when such magical writing failed to pull you right in? Your review certainly made me feel a bit more normal in that regard…
November 20, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Melissa
This was actually my very first Gaiman book, more than 5 years ago. Since then I’ve gone on to read and love almost everything he’s written, but this one was never my favorite. I’d like to re-read it soon, because I don’t think I had any idea wha tI was getting into when I read it.
November 20, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Words for Worms
I really liked this book, but I can absolutely see where you’re coming from. Like the prostitute goddess who ate men mid coitus- I would have liked some expansion on that plot point. The copy I had was the 10th anniversary edition and it included a previously deleted scene with Shadow meeting Jesus… Although, I doubt reading that piece would sway you either way, because it clearly wasn’t critical to the overall plot.
November 21, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Joanne
A friend has just lent me this book, he loved it. I haven’t read any Gaiman before and am quite intrigued by the premise of this one.
November 21, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Jay
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the well-stated honest review. I still plan on giving this book a try at some point. It’s a TBR list book of mine that I’ve already purchased and downloaded (almost a year ago). The premise is enticing and I’ve heard favorable reviews elsewhere. My friend just read the Graveyard Book and was quite taken with it, too. I wonder if that one should be my first Gaiman instead of this one.
-Jay
November 24, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Joanna @ CreateYourWorld
Oh nooooo! 🙂 I really thought you’d like it! As you know, I loved it, but you’re making me want to re-read it, if only to be able to argue with you properly. 🙂
November 24, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Kailana
I haven’t had much luck with it either… I have tried, though!
November 27, 2012 at 4:44 pm
gpif
Well, all of your points are absolutely legitimate. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the book – at least ten years ago – and it’s too bad it annoyed you.
There’s one issue I want to stand by Neil Gaiman, though : the rise of money as an object is definitively quite recent, from the end of the 19th century at the earliest, so Money as a new god makes sense (except maybe for Killing Joke).