American Gods

[Revelation]

This review I found on amazon pretty much sums it up for me. Don't read further if you haven't finished the book yet, as it contains SPOILERS

AMERICAN GODS wasn't a really bad book. It was just bad in a plain sort of way. Built on an interesting, if not new, theory, it started out strong, but didn't have the gas to bring it home. Midway through the book, I found myself alternately bored, tired and disinterested. I sighed a lot. It was hard to finish.I suspect Gaiman threw all the pieces and characters together with no real ties to bind them. Many, if not most, of the characters had no real purpose except to provide clever dialogue. I counted thirty-six pages of what were essentially short stories places throughout the book. Only one of them had a character that showed up againonly to be run down by a limo.
Throughout the book Gaiman builds our expectations of a great war between the old gods and the new. The storm is coming, is constantly repeated. The Storm Is Coming. And when the storm finally comes, nothing much happens. It's like a balloon that goes whooopthpthpth, instead of POP! And it's not so much that the war never happened, as it was the way it never happened. Gaiman pulls the proverbial rabbit of his hat. And it's a stupid-looking rabbit, too.
Ho-hum ... or blah. I don't know which.
I might have given it 2 stars if it were shorter, but I'm mad because of all the time wasted.

[disrepdog]

Originally Posted by Alan

Don't think so much about symbolism. Think more along the lines of metaphor. ;-)

Never thought about any metaphors for the coin tricks, don't suppose you'd pm me your thoughts about them please Alan?

I enjoyed it, I found some of the stuff dark and thought provoking. I disagree with the above Amazon review, I wasn't bored at all.

But then I like the old gods anyhow.

[owl]

Anansi Boys is a much better book IMO, and carries on one of the characters from American gods

[DarkIntentions]

I don't agree with that review either.

l SPOILER AHEAD!! l

I can see what it meant about how it ended but i don't think it was a waste of time!

[sanityassassin]

I am midway through it and I am enjoying it a lot although I have got to agree with a part of the amazon review about the interspaced short stories a lot of which seem pointless. There is a good game of spot the gods before he reveals them which I am at around 50/50 at the moment

[Giovanna Clairval]

What I like in American Gods, is what I like in Gaiman: his style, culture and intelligence.

I did enjoy reading AG, but I agree with those who said: is the ending satisfying?

About the scope…
I haven’t read the last one, but I find N. G.’s shorter, less imposing books wonderful. Coraline is a little marvel. Maybe, in AG, the scope and the questions are too demanding for one single novel. Like Moorcock, Gaiman will probably explore his favourite theme in many works.

… and the structure
Gaiman acknowledges Zelazny’s influence, and says he believes Roger would have liked American Gods, but I –forever an admirer of RZ– spotted a few shortcomings that the immense author of Lord of Light had as well: frequent digressions, wonderful stories but (sometimes) loose plots, a little show-off in a few too-witty dialogues.
All things that I love and forgive, because of the style, culture and intelligence.

[Princess Ivy]

i've probably read ng before, but nothing has stuck. i picked up a copy of american gods from the library and enjoyed every page. for me the ending? (any of them) wasn't a problem. in fact a bit of a relief from the 'hero's save the day, old vs new' theme so prevelant in much fantasy work. although shadow's parentage was a little lame (why can't the 'hero' ever just be ordinary), it didn't spoil the story.
for me, most of the little stories married within the context of the bigger picture, with the notable exception of the kobold. that seemed like a bit of a cop out - although i did still enjoy the book.

[rai]

Originally Posted by BradtheImpaler

Didn't like it at all. It seemed aimless - like he was thinking, "how am I going to end this?". I thought, once hearing the premise of some of the gods representing American culture, that there would be some clever representations, but he didn't come up with anything much.

I agree.

I am 300 pages in and would throw it in a fire today except I'm a bit curious to see if it will turn out to be any good. So far the deeper I get into it the less I care for it.

Coin tricks? why am I wasting my time on this book ???

[rai]

Did anyone find a lot of coincidences with 'The Damnation Game' which (I think) pre-dates AG?

--

I wanted to amend my prior post about me not liking AG.

I don't hate it but I think it's too self important. I think it's too 'cute' style where NG thinks he's soo cool with his snappy wit or his overly long descriptions such as the friggin Purple 4-runner (etc..) like I hope the purple 4-runner is important for as long as he goes on about it. I mean (IMO) skip the whole bit and make the book 4 pages shorter if it's not important to the story (which I think it isn't so far).

Also, I don't think it's horrible, but just when it's got so much positive reviews, I was expecting something to love. If it's 'Huck Finn-esque' I think I'd rather re-read 'Huck Finn', if it's a bit like Amber then maybe I'd rather re-read that (etc..)

But that's just my opinion. I'm glad most other people love it.

[rai]

So finally finished AG. It did get better towards the end but (IMO) really nothing great to me. It turned into "the Sixth Sense' for no reason also.

I can't seem to understand why people love this book so. The main character was was dull as if he was just tagging along bending to whoever came along to give him direction.

The 'new' gods were dumb (was there a VCR god who's is no longer around since we are watching DVDs now)?

I'd give it 2.5 (out of 5).