I find myself shocked at the awards this book has won and the praise heaped upon it. How on Gods’ Earth could a book about Gods walking on the Earth among mortals be so pedestrian? Somehow Gaiman managed to turn a potentially cool premise into something boring. For those who love this book—and I know it is many—please forgive the sarcasm to follow as I blaspheme against the beloved Gaiman. But Gods help me, the more I read, the more I hated American Gods.First off, while the premise sounds inter...

No denying that this one is a big boi. A long boi. Extra extra page boi.But was it worth all that paper?Click the link for my video review of the big bois in my life.The Written Review: Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end. The Old Gods - brought over by immigrants. Wild, fantastical tales of elephant-headed men and trickster spiders. Of power and lust. Of fear and worship.The N

In 2003, I walked away from my childhood religion – a high control (some would say abusive) group with a tiny little worldview and a severe superiority complex. This was my reality:I believed with all my being that the things depicted above were real, and were just over the event horizon. Leaving meant losing almost every friend I had ever made since childhood, it created a rift with my still devout family, and quite possibly saved my life. Is it any wonder that fiction – alternate realities, fa...

This is a tough review for me to write. I'm not exactly sure what it is about this book that I don't like. I'm not sure there even IS something I don't like. Since I don't want to just leave you all with the ever popular "I'm just not that into it", I will try to explain.This book has all the elements of a book I would enjoy. The creepiness factor is up there, the writing is brilliant, the main character is a big lug I couldn't help but love. Also, I have always been fascinated by mythology, so

"Read Gaiman!" they say. "I can't believe you've never read Gaiman! You have GOT TO read Gaiman!" "Gaiman is SUCH an important part of popular culture and one of the BEST contemporary writers! You HAVE TO READ GAIMAN!"Well, I've read Gaiman now.Hi Gaiman!Bye Gaiman!Let me quote:"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."I agree with everything but the beginning a...

Anybody who tells you that the book is about old and new gods, or about a man named Shadow, or about coin tricks, or about having one's head smashed in for losing a game of checkers, is selling you a line, because those are just details, not the story itself.Much like any Neil Gaiman story, the devil is in the details, and you just have to resolve yourself to coming along for the ride, or you'll miss it. It's not one story, or two, it's many, and it's all complete...and you have just to read it,...

(A-) 81% | Very GoodNotes: The concept's pretty brilliant, but the plot can be slow and plodding at times and the end doesn't live up to the build.

Whenever we have a cold snap here in Wisconsin, I find myself thinking about one of my favorite pieces of American Gods. I remember reading it back in 2002 or so. This was back in the day. Back when it was a bit of a secret that Gaiman lived in Wisconsin. I read the following section of the book nodding to myself, thinking, "Yup, that's exactly what it's like." Then I had another thought: "I bet this comes from that really bad cold snap we had here in Wisconsin about six years ago." It was prett...

My first thought on this book:This is a 2.5 to 3 star book max for me. I am pretty sure this will be my last Neil Gaiman book. I have tried two others (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch and The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and one of those was okay (Omens) and one of them I couldn't stand (Ocean).I realize that my feelings on Gaiman and his books are contrary to popular opinion, but they are just not my cup of tea. They are slow. They seem intentionally odd and...

Do you ever read a book and become completely lost in the words and, ultimately, wonder what is actually happening? Well, I do. So, I go back and read the bits I may not have picked up or accidently skimmed over. This allows me to actually understand the book. I tried doing that with this, and I quickly realised that I still had no idea what was going on. The plot of this felt completely random, drawn out to the point of ridiculousness and the events, themselves, felt incoherent. I have no idea

In this unique love letter to the United States, Gaiman manages to celebrate its underground spiritual traditions, glory in the magnificence of its landmarks, landscapes, and bizarre tourist traps, and--most important--both mourn and venerate its pagan (often immigrant) gods in decline, battered and diminished though they may be by the shallowness and speed of our technological world. The gods are indeed the best part of this very good book: degenerate and threadbare, yet still gods, capable of

American Gods by Neil Gaiman, by the author’s own description, is a work that has inspired strong emotions and little in between – readers have either liked it a lot, or loathed it entirely. Reading some of the reviews bears witness to this dichotomy. I liked it, liked it a lot, but I can also understand why someone may dislike the work. Gaiman, in his storyteller way, has stepped over boundaries and stepped on toes. And not just religious or theological ideas, but nationalistic ideals as well.

Audiobook re-read 2020I'm sticking with my original rating, but only because the voice cast is simply amazing. If you're on the fence about this version of the book, I'd highly suggest listening to it. It's long, it rambles, and it doesn't go anywhere very interesting. The actual plot of this book could have filled 100 pages, while the other 500 pages read like a mythological travelogue of the United States. There's nothing wrong with that, and it was exactly what Gaiman set out to do. I'm just

***Now a celebrated TV series on Starz.***“‘I read some book about brains,’ she said. ‘My roommate had it and she kept waving it around. It was like, how five thousand years ago the lobes of the brain fused and before that people thought when the right lobe of the brain said anything it was the voice of some god telling them what to do. It’s just brains.’ ‘I like my theory better,’ said Shadow. ‘What’s your theory?’ ‘That back then people used to run into the gods from time to time.’” Shadow

This is an exceptional tale. And the idea of this tale, the central concept, might even be better than the tale itself. Yet, it’s still a masterfully-written, wonderful book, which tells you just how fantastic a concept it is. It was published in 2001 and won the 2002 Hugo and Nebula (and yes, I’m just now reading it). I read the ten-year anniversary edition with the extra 12,000 words.Compared to Europe, America has no mythology and hardly a history. Norse mythology can be traced back to the 13...

I find it really weird how many American media products have the word "American" in the title. Obviously, this; a few weeks back I also read American Rust. You've got your American Beauty, American Ninja, An American Werewolf in London. American Psycho. American Sniper. American Pie, American Dad, American Graffiti. What is going on here, what are they trying to prove?? I really don't understand it. I mean you'd never get "British Beauty", "French Psycho", would you? That just seems completely l...

4.5 stars

American Gods (American Gods #1), Neil GaimanAmerican Gods (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow. Shadow is an ex-convict who is released from prison three days early when his wife Laura is killed in a car accident. Shadow is devastated by her death, and is distraught to learn that she died alongside his best friend Robbie, with w...

I listened to the full cast audiobook of this while on a long drive and I highly recommend it for the experience. This book is meandering, in such a way that you can feel yourself getting lost. But, in Gaiman fashion, he has a way of tying everything up in the end (or not in some cases) in a way that was satisfying for me. If you don't mind a character focused story with a lot of detours and LOVE mythology, you'll eat this up.

My literary promiscuity being what it is, I have read and loved a lot of novels in many different genres. However, among the beau coup books that I have loved long time there are a select few that hold a special, hallowed place in my pantheon of favorites…American Gods is one of these elite. Gaiman’s writing is both subdued and poetic. It is deeply emotional, but without a hint of melodrama. His descriptions are elaborate yet not drawn out. He tells a huge, complex, eternal story, one small

I finished American Gods two weeks ago and I postponed writing a review as I was trying to come up with something smart to match the book. Obviously, as always when I struggle too much, nothing comes to min. I will just let my heart do the talking, then. Neil Gaiman is a genius. There is something magical about his writing that enwraps me every time I open the pages of his creations. Maybe it is the way he combines action, mystery, mythology, mysticism, surreal, together with life lessons and ha...

A man was swallowed by a woman's vagina - so my mom wrote me a note and now I don't have to review this book anymore.

American Gods, a meandering tale of a book, took me at least two tries to get through, despite my gravitation towards urban fantasy.. The concept of "old versus modern" gods is an intriguing one, and I can always get involved in themes of belief, stories and myth. It didn't always work, however, and was completed at stuttering pace. Transitions can be rough, and it's not always clear where a particular chunk of narrative is heading. I feel like part of it is that we have indeed lost the old gods...

I am writing this review ten months after I started this book, and eight months after finishing it, because in addition to me taking two-thirds of a year to get around to penciling in some thoughts I also took straight up sixty days to read it.Well, not read it. Listen to it. This is the first audiobook I have ever listened to, and it is twenty hours long. This event caused me to give myself the well-earned and extremely catchy nickname “the real American God of this whole situation - get it bec...

"Many things prove to me that the gods take part in the affairs of man." - Herodotus In Gaiman’s story, the converse is equally true: the very existence of the gods depends on the affairs of mankind, specifically, that people believe in them. Like mortals, they need to be loved.Gods from cultures around the world travelled to the US in the minds of immigrants. The indigenous people already had their own gods, and now (2001) there are new gods as well: internet, capitalism, media etc. In a mater...

Neil Gaiman , what a storyteller! This is an amazing piece of writing. All the characters in this book are brought to life so well. In fact many a times, I felt like I was destined to read this book, as I was meant to be part of this story.American Gods - is all about belief. If you can believe it, then you can live a life of God. This book is a grand tale of ancient and modern gods.But, always remember, "Gods are great, but the heart is greater. For it is from our hearts they come, and to ou

‎ إن كنت مهتما بالأساطير والخرافات والأديان القديمةوالروايات الحديثة سريعة الإيقاع ‏فإنك ستحب هذه الرواية "If you are to survive, you must believe." ‎"Believe what?" asked Shadow. "What should ‎I believe?" He stared at Shadow, the buffalo man, and he ‎drew himself up huge, and his eyes filled with fire. ‎He opened his spit-flecked buffalo mouth and it ‎was red inside with the flames that burned inside him, ‎under the earth. ‎"Everything," roared the buffalo man!‎::::::::::::::هي ملحمة خرافية عن...

Interesting. It appears that this book that I reviewed back around 2011 was deleted off my shelf and readded in 2017 - but definitely not by me. What makes me furious is that it erased the entire long comment thread for this review. Conversations with friends are NOT replaceable. But at least it prompted me to start the long-overdue re-read.————————— 2020 re-reading: This book is long and epic. It slowly meanders through strange places and events, with nothing coming together to form a coheren...

a protagonist, Shadow. calm, collected, quiet, passive, cagey, a tough guy and a sensitive guy. his life has been about reacting and not impacting. he moves through his story as if through a dream; tragedies and betrayals and mysteries and confidence games, the beginnings and endings of hope and love and life - all viewed as if through water, as if these terrible wonders were happening to someone else. he could be nothing more than a pawn in life - let alone a pawn of the gods - but yet his pass...

Update: Re-read for the first time in years to prep for reviewing the tv show. So excited!!! I'm recapping for B&N, I'll be putting links up on my profile periodically to the recaps. Overall, this is a harder book than I remembered. So much harder (as in, harder-edged) and more thoughtful than I remember, both. It's not as twisty/turny surprise-y as it was when I read it last time, but it more than makes up for it with the new thematic things I have the headspace to think about. There's so much