Book report: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman


Book report: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Gail D. would love this book. It's full of gods, demons, and other entities from sacred writings, myths, and legends all over the world.

Here's the basic idea: When people came to America, they brought with them the gods of their homelands. As time has gone by, these gods don't get the worship they used to, and a lot of them are down on their luck, scrounging their way the best they can in the world. In the meantime, people have found new modern gods to worship – TV, computers, the Internet, drugs, and so forth – and these new gods want the old gods out of the way. A massive battle is looming between the two groups, with weapons of supernatural power and technology.

Caught in the middle is a man called Shadow (we never learn his actual name: Dave would love it). Practically everything appears from Shadow's point of view. He's not the brightest bulb on the chandelier, and the reader figures out a lot of things that Shadow doesn't. There are some really funny scenes as a result. But Shadow is very likeable. He's a plugger, just trying to do his best in the face of all the bizarre situations he faces, because that's what human beings do.

This book has more symbolic, metaphorical, and allegorical references than you can shake a stick at. Most of them were over my head, but I’m sure that someone well versed in mythology would say, "Oh, Kali, right. Good one." Luckily, these references aren't emphasized or essential, they're just part of the atmosphere.

The idea about gods from the past still being around today reminded me of "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" by Douglas Adams. Despite that really terrible title, this is one of my favorite books of all time. Also, Shadow's really blasé way of dealing with the supernatural reminds me of Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. Lines like "So, are you a god, too?" are pretty common.

Interspersed with the actual plot are glimpses of the past, and how some of these gods were brought to America. These range from the fascinating to the horrifying.

Speaking of horrifying, there's a good deal of death in this book. In fact, one of the main characters is actually dead during the whole story, not that a little thing like death slows them down much.

I liked this book mainly for Shadow. I was rooting for him every step of the way. Figuring out some of what's going on was also fun. This book is a real roller coaster of the imagination. If you're into fantasy or mythology or curious about how an ordinary guy deals with fantasy and mythology, this is the book for you.

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