American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of American Gods: A Novel
Book Review: A deep understanding
Summary: 5 Stars
Neil Gaiman understands something about the collective unconscious and the way Gods form within it. He also knows something about the way these Gods interact. I think the reason his books resonate with so many (I mean heck there are more than 700 reviews on this site alone), is that he speaks truth within fiction.
I love the TechnoGod, the brash kid and the conflict between the old and the new. This is real folks, more real than you can imagine.
Book Review: A fascinating and complex new world, but overall the novel lacks depth. Good, but not great; recommended
Summary: 4 Stars
Shadow is a convict, surviving the final weeks of his sentence and looking forward to a return to his life and to his marriage, when he is told of his wife's death and is released early to attend her funeral. On the flight home, he meets a man named Mr. Wednesday that seems to know more about Shadow than he has any right to do. He offers Shadow a job: to protect Wednesday and work as his right hand man in the big storm that is brewing. When he accept the offer, Shadow is swept into a slice of American life that he never knew existed: a battle between the old gods, brought to America by early immigrants and now dying of neglect, and the new gods of TV, strip malls, and modern America that have been born on American soil and are steadily gaining power. In the course of the novel, the characters journey from cities to roadside attractions to small town to Indian reserves, and Gaiman explores the power in both folk life in America. The novel is as enduringly off-kilter as the roadside attractions Shadow visits, with Gaiman's edge of magic and darkness that give it gravity and purpose. The resolution to the battle between the American gods is too brief, and I don't find the premise quite as interesting as some of his other novels, but the book is an engrossing read, well written, and complex, carrying through a number of characters and concepts, as I expect from this author. I do recommend it.
Ever since by surprisingly good experience with Neverwhere, I've been itching to read the rest of Gaiman's novels. American Gods was the first novel in that quest. Despite the fact that Gaiman writes in no particular genre, his work is always distinctly and recognizably his own. They investigate the supernatural within the normal, often in the form of a magical social structure that runs underneath to its mundane equivalent. In this vein, American Gods explores the supernatural world of the gods that populate American soil, arising from human inhabitants, including natives, immigrants, and citizens, but exist largely underneath daily life: in shadows, hidden out of the way, and/or wearing masks to allow them to exist undetected. Because the characters are by their nature explorations into the depths, the novel has an innate level of complexity. However, because the complexity is innate, the author isn't pushed to make the text deeper or to investigate more. As a result, the ideas are brilliant and reading the book is like discovering a new, hidden culture that exists below and adds depth to one's own, but the content of the novel lacks independent complexity, both in concept and in character. The text is interesting, unique, and original, but it lacks the total depth that I look for in what I would deem "literature". In other words: it's a good book, not a great one. (I also didn't enjoy the hidden world in American Gods as much as the hidden worlds of London Below and Fairie from Gaiman's other books, but I consider my own dislike for Americana a matter of personal taste.)
For all of that, the plot of this novel is pleasantly complex, working at both a personal, local, and cosmic level in a few interconnected narratives. The plot lines fit together almost seamlessly and the stoyline is generally linear, so the narration isn't as complex (or as difficult) as the first few chapters sometimes make it seem. The resolutions come a bit quickly, especially in the cosmic plot (the war between the new and old gods), and the hasty conclusion, as well as the nature of the conclusion, makes the plot up until that point fall flat--not completely, but to the point where it is noticeable. It isn't a huge issue and doesn't destroy that plotline. Nonetheless, it was my biggest disappointment in the book because on the whole the other aspects--from characterization to the other plotlines--are strong. The number of concurrent stories keeps the book running at a good pace and the reader consistently interested as well as making for a text that takes more into account and so achieves a greater depth.
The otherworldy aspects of the book are, as always in Gaiman, walk the line between fanciful and disturbing, and are all the more interesting as a result. The darker, more dangerous, sometimes sinister cast to the unnatural elements gives the book gravity and keeps it out of the realm of light, dismissible fantasy. Shadow as protagonist, however, sometimes detracts from the supernatural aspects: he accepts the strange occurrences too readily (a necessary aspect for the smooth progression of the plot, if somewhat unrealistic) and so, through his role as emissary between novel and reader, makes them seem too ordinary to the reader as well. On the whole, I recommend this book, both for Gaiman's unique otherworldy writing and for the unique and intelligent plot, but it didn't sweep me away in the way that some of the author's other work has. It's a good read, but not great literature, nor my favorite Gaiman novel.
Book Review: A graphic novel...in prose
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm not sure if I underappreciated this (popular) novel, but I'm relieved to be done. The vibe I got while reading was similar to watching a movie based on a comic-book, which is hardly surprising, really, considering Mr. Gaiman started out writing and illustrating graphic novels. The overall mood is dark, and if the characters were illustrated, I picture them all with sharply-contoured facial expressions and inhabiting a sharply shadowed, edgy world.
Shadow (the name fits the mood, doesn't it?) is released from prison and goes home to Indiana only to find that his wife has been killed in an accident. Unsure of what to do and with nothing to lose, he takes a job as an errand boy for a mysterious man named Wednesday. Shadow soon finds himself mixed up in a war between the dying "old gods" of traditional world cultures, and the "new gods" that are replacing them, represented by various anthropomorphic embodiments of the Media.
Overall, an interesting idea, but the greater pulpy feel rubbed me the wrong way, possibly due to mere personal tastes. I found the prose repetitive and tiresome: a character's every movement is described in great detail--to make up for the fact that this isn't a "graphic novel" with illustrations? A character takes a bite, chews, swallows, puts down the sandwich, wipes his mouth, picks it up again...really? What is the purpose of inflating a book in this manner, with all that meaningless detail? There are also some overly-gruesome scenes whose presence can only be explained by the physical shock value, as they fail to propel or be relevant to the story. These too I could have done without. Glad to be finished.
Book Review: A impressive, powerful exploration of the American soul
Summary: 5 Stars
One could draw parallels between Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS and Alexis de Tocqueville's DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. Just as the latter was an analysis of the character of American politics by an outsider, so the former is an exploration of American spiritual beliefs by an outsider. Some might object to the novel's insistence that this is a bad country for the gods. This is, after all, a profoundly Christian nation and in the seven years since the book's publication we've witnessed an unprecedented intrusion of fundamentalist Christianity into national polity, as Bush appointees have structured policy around their own narrow religious beliefs (NPR only a couple of weeks ago broke the story of a highly praised, politically conservative Department of Justice official being fired because of suspicions that she is a lesbian).
But I think Gaiman is largely correct. In America the land itself precluded many of the beliefs that had been accorded to the various gods in predecessor cultures in Europe, Africa, and Asia. But also America has had a largely profane approach to life, even in many Christian arenas. I remember vividly a number of years ago attending as the guest of a dead friend a service at First Baptist Church of Dallas and hearing the minister state in his sermon "The American Free Enterprise System is the only economic system ordained by God" and that "Great Britain is under the judgment of God because it has socialized so many aspects of its government." If this isn't a bald attempt to make sacred the utterly profane, I don't know what is. It is impossible to imagine a Christian in any other corner of the world in any historical epoch since the time of Christ uttering a similar proclamation.
In one way this novel should have been impossible. A bald description -- that a recently freed convict would be hired as a gofer by the Norse God Odin in anticipation of a war between the old Gods and the new American Gods -- points to a book that is not only highly improbable, but simply beyond the ability of any writer to execute. Yet Gaiman not only wrote this book, but made it riveting and endlessly satisfying. He produces a string of memorable characters and situates them concretely in an America I both recognize and want to explore. I loved the conceit that many tourist traps were actually constructed because they were situated on places of great power. I'd like to think that there is some excuse for the horror that is Mt. Rushmore.
I highly recommend this. Though written by an Englishman, this is one of the best novels about America that I have ever read. He writes in his afterward that several people contributed in eliminating Anglicisms. They certainly did a good job because one will be hard pressed to find any. On a side note I was fascinated that the album I was listening to most frequently as I read the book was the Magnetic Fields' 69 LOVE SONGS, which in the same afterward he stated was the album he was listening to while he wrote it. But since the novel was about the gods and the magical it seemed somehow divinely ordained that I'd just happen to be learning to love that album while reading a novel written by someone learning to love it.
Book Review: A real slog
Summary: 2 Stars
Gaiman is a good, original writer, but this novel was a huge let down. Meandering,slow and fairly pointless as far as I'm concerned, with odd interludes that add nothing to the story. I suppose they are intended to add some kind of epic scope, but the main character is so frustratingly passive throughout that I had to really push myself to finish it, and then was sorry I'd wasted the effort.