Name: Matthew Jackson's review of American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Item: American Gods
Rating: 5
Author: Matthew Jackson

Neil Gaiman

American Gods

   The extraordinary epic novel from storytelling genius and international bestseller Neil Gaiman. Now brought vividly to life for TV in the highly acclaimed, Emmy-nominated Amazon Prime video seriesstarring Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane and Emily Browning. For fans of Good Omens and His Dark Materials. 'Gaiman is a treasure-house of story and we are lucky to have him' Stephen King After three years in prison, Shadow has served his time. But as the days and hours until his release tick away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before his release date, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But the storm is about to break . . . Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Gaiman's epic novel sees him on the road to the heart of America.

American Gods #1

“What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore, it knows it's not fooling a soul."

Matthew Jackson

The storm was coming.... Shadow spent three years in prison, keeping his head down, doing his time. All he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife and to stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But days before his scheduled release, he learns that his wife has been killed in an accident, and his world becomes a colder place. On the plane ride home to the funeral, Shadow meets a grizzled man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A self-styled grifter and rogue, Wednesday offers Shadow a job. And Shadow, a man with nothing to lose, accepts. But working for the enigmatic Wednesday is not without its price, and Shadow soon learns that his role in Wednesday's schemes will be far more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. Entangled in a world of secrets, he embarks on a wild road trip and encounters, among others, the murderous Czernobog, the impish Mr. Nancy, and the beautiful Easter -- all of whom seem to know more about Shadow than he himself does. Shadow will learn that the past does not die, that everyone, including his late wife, had secrets, and that the stakes are higher than anyone could have imagined. All around them a storm of epic proportions threatens to break. Soon Shadow and Wednesday will be swept up into a conflict as old as humanity itself. For beneath the placid surface of everyday life a war is being fought -- and the prize is the very soul of America. As unsettling as it is exhilarating, American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. Magnificently told, this work of literary magic will haunt the reader far beyond the final page.

A Novel

ivan

The first half of the book was really slow moving and picked up around the 60% mark imo. I did enjoy how Shaow unraveled the identities of the gods — albeit a bit slow, there is that feeling of uncertainty esp since Shadow can be unreliable at times.

Cat Josephson

This just seemed a bit too slow-paced for me, at least in the beginning. It got a bit better after the first 150/200 pages.

Author's Preferred Text

Audrey Lord

very hard read but interesting nonetheless. what an adventure.

Jimmy Cerone

A fascinating book about America, in an imaginary world that somehow describes it better than the real one.

Rohan Uddin

Great dialogues. Essentially a road-trip novel, with large-scale theme(s). Liked the story. But did it sag in the middle? Maybe just a little. The many interconnected tales are a product of Gaiman's great imagination.
Good be a great source for a television mini-series. HBO, no doubt.

Anna Ureta

I would give this a 3.5 but goodreads can't do .5 - not enough for a 4 IMHO 

The middle part dragged on.... it felt like filler... but when it actually came together in the end I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

Stefanie Viens

I was blown away by this book. The concept in itself is brilliant, the style is efficient and imaginative and the main character is easy to sympathize with.

Rachel Kanyid

Not my favorite book ever, but definitely interesting and engaging. I would recommend it to anyone who liked magical realism and more gruff main characters.

Trish

I'll be frank, I did not like this book. It was too outlandish and weird for me. I appreciate the uniqueness of Gaiman's story, but American Gods was simply not my cup of tea. Neither the plot, settings nor characters did anything for me and, unfortunately, this is most likely the last time I'll ever pick up a book by Neil Gaiman.

Joshua Line

This book would have been great to my twenty-year old self. I'm no longer in that place...

Izza

4.5 stars | This was great! I can't wait to see the TV show adaptation they make. Ricky Whittle is going to make a fine Shadow! :D

Cindy Lieberman

“Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you—even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition."
This is a sweeping story about the "old gods" fighting to remain relevant to Americans who are busy worshiping the "new gods" (such as television, drugs, money, etc). The main character, Shadow, has a strong moral center which makes him easy to root for as he encounters many obstacles while working for his old-god boss.

Haley Murray

High Fidelity

What can i say that hasn't already been said. Great book.

Kirsten Simkiss

** spoiler alert **
           I honestly just didn't like it that much. It was an interesting read, and I see why it's being made into a TV series because I think that at least this book would lend itself well to a television adaptation. I will probably read the next book, just to see where the plot gets taken from this point onward, but it won't be high on my priority list I don't think.

I have no real complaints about characters or the general plot or anything like that. But the pace of the book is what really didn't sell me, as much as I hoped it would, this grand battle for who were the true gods of America. The main character is interesting and looks at things in a different light that many others might. The plot twists were interesting and, for the most part, unexpected. The ending ties everything up well. 

But, as I said, the pace of the book just didn't sell it for me. The main character spends most of the book very calm and collected. Nothing phases him. If something surprises him, he just goes through the motions very calmly and never really panics or gets angry or anything despite everything that happens to him. One of the characters, Laura, says to him that he isn't really alive because he's so unaffected by the happenings in the world. On the one hand, it's a very admirable thing to never overreact or panic - just accepting things as they come. He passes no judgement on anyone and accepts everyone for what they are, which is probably remarkably important for a main character in his shoes. However, you never really get a strong feeling of what he believes in - not in terms of gods, as you might think, but what really drives him to be him. He likes coin tricks, of course, and surely you can say he was loyal, but he's not particularly remarkable to me in much of any other respect. He has no real interest in what he's aiming for or who he'd like to be. You get a smattering of past events, descriptions of a quiet child who was always quiet so they called him Shadow. Seeing everything from his perspective was just... peaceful. And because it was so peaceful, it was very slow for me. I think it would have been more fun to read the whole book from Sam's perspective, or a minor gods' perspective. Someone with more "life" to them, as Laura might have said.

I really did love the world and the concepts behind the world. I think my favorite characters were Mr. Ibis and Mr. Nancy, who were both very lively and very different creatures. I hope we get to see more of them in the next book because I enjoyed them a great deal.

Philip Young

Interesting book, I am sure there is a whole bunch of symbolism and hidden meaning that I never got. It kept me entertained and made me think. I will probably read it again in a few years.

Ofelia

La gente crede, pensò. E' così che fanno gli uomini. Credono. 
E poi non si prendono la responsabilità della propria fede: evocano le cose e non si fidano delle evocazioni. Popolano le tenebre di spettri, dei, elettroni, storie. 
La gente immagina e crede: ed è questa fede, questa fede solita come la roccia che fa accadere le cose.

Tre stelle e mezzo per me, anche se le ultime 150 pagine meritano molto di più di tre stelle.
Il resto del libro però si trascina a fatica sopratutto per le prime 200 pagine, in un libro troppo carico non saprei come altro definirlo. Troppi personaggi, troppa mitologia diversa, troppe storie secondarie che si intrecciano, troppe pagine. Adoro i libri lunghi non fraintendetemi, ma la storia di Shadow poteva essere raccontata benissimo con 200 pagine in meno ed il libro non ci avrebbe perso, anzi ci avrebbe guadagnato.

Ahmed Salem

خلطة مدهشة جمعت بين الميثولوجيا القديمة و قيم الحداثة الأمريكية (العالمية) الاستهلاكية في رواية اتصفت احداثة بشيء من الملل المحبب للمراهقين

Shay Henrion

Whatever the point of this book was, I think I missed it.

Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a mysterious stranger offers him a job. But Mr. Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than is possible, warns that a storm is coming -- a battle for the very soul of America . . . and they are in its direct path.

One of the most talked-about books of the new millennium, American Gods is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an American landscape at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. It is, quite simply, a contemporary masterpiece.
--back cover

Jayme Bosio

By far my favorite Gaiman book. I, too, have wondered what happens to those Gods that have fallen out of favor. Beautifully written.

Adam

The idea behind this book is grand. The fight for America's soul... as told by a foreigner (Neil Gaiman). Good characters all around, although I wasn't as tied to the lead as I could have been.

Phil James

Definitely good, ticks all the boxes, but it wasn't as good as I might have expected.
I really liked Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. They wrote together and continued in the Mythical-realist style but went in different directions.In this book he seems to take the whole, personification of mythical gods and forces, too seriously and it made me miss the humour of terry pratchett or even Christopher Moore.

For me there is one great mythical-realist book. Little Big by John Crowley. But, maybe coming to it from this book, one could find it long and winding and a little twee. Still, for me, it started the genre, and remains the best.

Kady Groen

I was supposed to read this book in college but didn’t, and I’m so glad I came back to it. In a young country comprised mostly of fairly recent immigrants, the ancient gods we brought with us are at odds with the new ones created by American culture and values. I thought this was really well done.

Elinor

i personally did not like this book, i only liked a few sections towards the end and as an icelandic person i found it fun y how the postscript is in iceland. but i did not like this book only really because it didnt suit my personal tastes writing- and story wise.

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