Kindle Reads: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★       

Published: 2001/2011 (Author's Preferred Text reissue)

Publisher: HarperCollins

As a breathing life form who has spent a lot of time on the internet (and Tumblr), I've been aware of Neil Gaiman's American Gods for quite a few years now. It's always been a book that I've meant to read, but haven't. I'm pretty sure that I even bought it a few years ago but donated it because it just didn't seem like (at the time) I'd ever get to it. (Obviously I have.) American Gods is frequently cited as one of Neil Gaiman's best works — it's won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (both are for science fiction/fantasy), and there's plenty of fanart, fanfiction, etc., on the 'net. 

The edition of American Gods that I read was (I think) the tenth anniversary "Author's Preferred Text," which is longhand for "Director's Cut." If there's an "author's preferred anything," there's a good chance that I'll do my best to read it, despite the fact that it (like American Gods) might be loaded down with approximately 12,000 "extra" words. 

So, a summary: American Gods opens on a man named Shadow, who is coming to the end of a prison sentence for robbery (I couldn't really figure out if it was armed or not). Three days before the end of his trial, Shadow is told that his wife has died in a car accident, and that he has been allowed to leave prison early. It is on the plane ride back home that he meets a man who introduces himself as Mr. Wednesday, and offers Shadow a job — Shadow will act as his errand boy/bodyguard while Mr. Wednesday tours the country visiting his colleagues and associates. Shadow eventually learns that these "associates" are in fact gods, brought over to America by past immigrants. These gods' strength has been sapped over the past years (decades)  by changing American beliefs, and have begun to be supplanted by "new" gods — gods of technology, media, oil, etc. Mr. Wednesday's goal is to assemble a group of old gods to fight the new — and to assert the old gods' place in America. 

I think that the premise behind American Gods is super interesting, and (of course) put my little fandom brain at work, wondering how various gods would operate in contemporary American society. However, I was ultimately....underwhelmed by this book. Which, to be honest, I didn't really expect to happen. 

I'm not sure what it is about American Gods that underwhelmed me. I think part of it was because I felt like I had a hard time connecting to the protagonist, Shadow, and understanding his character or motivation. For a while I had a hard time knowing what his motivation even was. While he did go through a Mandatory Protagonist Transformation during the story, it still felt kinda..."meh" to me. I was more interested in reading about other characters, or the one-shot "Coming to America" chapters, where Gaiman told the story of an individual (or group of individuals) who brought their beliefs into America. I wish there were more of those chapters, because I think that they could have been utilized to show how American values and belief systems changed over time. 

I also wish that the "new gods" had more of a backstory. Like, what was their "coming to America" experience? They seemed to be more indigenous to the land and were more...theoretical than earlier gods (like gods of "the media," neon, the internet, etc.). I think that out of the new gods, the TV and IT gods were the most compelling because I was able to see examples of their literal operations (like possessing Lucille Ball on-screen). I do wish, however, that Gaiman had elaborated more on their worldview, or at least how they perceived humans. Did they like them? Hate them? Were they indifferent?

I think another reason that I felt so underwhelmed by American Gods was because there was soooo much hype about it on the internet. Given how hugely popular it is, and how aware I was of its popularity when I started reading it, I guess I had some really high expectations that just couldn't be met. Despite these issues, giving this book less than three stars didn't feel "right" to me because there were sections that really grabbed my attention (the murder-mystery subplot, mostly) (spoilers?), and the idea behind this book is really cool and unique.

I think one of the reasons that I felt so....underwhelmed? by American Gods was because it had been so. hyped. up. to me that I guess there wasn't really any way that the book could've lived up to my expectations (whatever they were). Giving this book less than three stars didn't feel "right" to me because there were sections that really grabbed my attention (the murder-mystery subplot, mostly) (spoilers?), and the idea behind this book is really cool and unique. I'm not sure who I would or could recommend this book to; it seems like everyone and their aunt on the Internet has already read it, so to those who haven't....give it a shot? Hopefully this review was balanced enough that you can still form your own opinion. 

I really liked how Gaiman incorporated gods into American fabric, and how he used the American Midwest as a setting for a lot of the novel. I feel like a lot of writers imagine "America" as New York City, or the American Southwest or California (not that those places aren't America too), so it was nice to see states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri and Kansas represented. 

I could see myself reading this book sometime in the future, since it's just so long and I want to be sure that I understand it was well as I can. I'm still a little confused about Shadow's future — not to mention the crime that landed him in prison before the book even started. Who is Shadow? What is Shadow? I still don't totally understand.

So, yeah, while I really liked a lot of the side characters, the novel's premise, and a lot of the imagery of the book, (as well as the Lakeside subplot) I feel like my inability to understand or connect with Shadow made it harder for me to like this book.  I'm not sure who I would or could recommend this book to; it seems like everyone and their aunt on the Internet has already read it, so to those who haven't....give it a shot? Hopefully this review was balanced enough that you can still form your own opinion.