American Gods: A Novel
by Neil Gaiman
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Book Reviews of American Gods: A Novel
Book Review: Classical Mythology meets New World Obsessions
Summary: 5 Stars
I have only ever read one other adult book ( I don't count Coraline) by Gaiman, which was vastly different from this book in both style and mood - Stardust. A friend recommended I read this book many years ago since I like mythology. I found this book really had not much to do with mythology in the classic sense. Instead the characters that were pulled from mythology, such as Odin, Anansi, Horus, Bast, and Ganesha, among others, behaved like has-been D-list celebrities that struggle to survive in a country that is repeatedly described as "...a bad land for gods." The powers they rarely put on display were minimal and amounted to the same kind of "magic" as a skilled pick-pocket, con-artist, or amateur magician. The few times any real power is observed is once during the sexual scene of a re-invented Queen of Sheba (I'll spare you the R-rated details) and when the gods travel "behind the scenes," a state of existence that only the gods can enter.
While the names of classical mythology fit into the category of the Old Gods, there are New Gods that have taken root in America, born from cultural obsessions that have evolved and devolved over the years, such as railroads - a man dressed as a railroad conductor, television - a voice talking through Lucille Ball on a rerun of I Love Lucy, vehicles - stocky men that seemed to resemble vehicles themselves, and internet - a short, nerdy, nervous kid, among other American fixations and stereotypes.
In addition, one of the scenic devices used throughout the plot is what Gaiman's characters describe as places of power - side-of-the-road dives that road-trippers visit for no apparent reason, such as a place boasting the largest doll collection in America or the biggest wheel of cheese. And no, Disneyworld is not one of them.
One of the things I found interesting about this Gaiman-born world is that the Old Gods only exist in the New World when regular people travel from other countries and bring their memories and practices with them, even when they don't intend to stay themselves. The gods are "born" from these average people, and even though they can be killed by others, they don't die otherwise, but instead alternately starve or thrive based on the behavior of the people who live and die in the New World. They all have counterpart manifestations of themselves in the countries they are pulled from, but one's existence does not affect the other - though they do seem to be aware of each other.
All of this is merely the background of the main plot, which centers around the activities and travels of a seemingly mortal man with a single name, Shadow. I never did "get" the one-name thing, but whatever. Through Shadow's narration, the reader learns of an impending storm - a battle between the Old Gods and New Gods, the former fighting for survival and the latter fighting for dominance. Shadow works for a mysterious "Mr. Wednesday" and is randomly haunted by his dead wife, Laura, but otherwise seems to have little drive of his own for most of the book. In fitting irony, he has his own brand of "magic" - an obsession for coin tricks to pass the time from his days spent in prison - which I could never really follow the descriptions of.
To be completely honest, I truly did enjoy this book, though I am struggling to say exactly why. Perhaps I was fascinated by the "shadowy" way that Gaiman told the story, or how he developed this over-the-hill world of gods and goddesses that better resembled America's middle and poor classes' struggles for survival, money, and influence. Some of the personal touches that Shadow's character added to the plot made him at times surprisingly endearing. In addition, the way that Shadow seemed to address the reader at the very end of the book was so satisfying that I laughed out loud and had to read it again several times. Something about that just brought the book to life for me and help me to fully appreciate the versatile style of Gaiman. This is one of those books you don't have to fully understand to fully appreciate.
Book Review: The Gods Aren't Dead, They're Just Getting By
Summary: 4 Stars
Every so often, a book comes along that is sui generis -- in a class of its own, unlike anything else. Maybe it's Pynchon's GRAVITY'S RAINBOW, McCarthy's BLOOD MERIDIAN, or Marquez's ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE. Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS, while far from scaling those vaunted literary heights, nevertheless deserves to be singled out as an unforgettable, uniquely inspired novel of modern American life.
When Gaiman's story opens, a taciturn man known as Shadow has just received an early release from prison because his wife Laura died with Shadow's close friend in an automobile accident. On his way home for the wake and funeral, he meets a mysterious stranger who calls himself Wednesday (since, as the stranger asserts, that's today's day of the week). With a little persistent cajoling from Wednesday, the otherwise directionless and unemployed Shadow agrees to work for the stranger as his driver and general gopher. Thus begins a bizarre relationship between the two, combined with a picaresque road tale through much of America's central and north central heartland.
AMERICAN GODS is a difficult story to describe without spoiling its delicious surprises. Suffice to say, the book's title refers indeed to a large group of small "g" gods living below the radar, disguised in human form and struggling to eke out mostly meager existences. Gaiman's underlying premise cultivates the notion that every race and group of peoples who have traveled to or lived in America - ancient Egyptians, Norse Vikings, Irish settlers (with their leprechauns), African slaves from hundreds of villages and tribes, Hindus, American Indians - have each brought their worshipped gods with them. Those gods physically "took up residence" in this land, only to be discarded or forgotten over time due to their believers having died out or being assimilated into other religious beliefs. As their believers declined in numbers, those gods' power declined accordingly. Strength derives from belief, or at least a proxy for belief in the form of sacrifice.
Gaiman excels with his oddball characterizations of these sadly spent gods whose true forms Shadow is occasionally permitted to see. They constitute a panoply of memorable figures: quirky, irascible, and still haughty despite their reduced circumstances, yet entertainingly sympathetic for the human-like foibles that plague them. In another setting, they could be a collection of misspent souls from a Cuckoo's Nest asylum or cranky but vital oldsters from a retirement home. However, the author's efforts are not nearly so endearing, and far less convincing, in presenting America's new, unnamed gods of mass media and the information age, now the recipients of the country's attention and adoration. It is the threat of war, a final battle of the heavens, between the old gods and these 21st Century secular gods, that propels the novel's action. Not surprisingly, Shadow plays a far more important role in these proceedings than he could ever have imagined.
AMERICAN GODS offers a marvelous satirical view of contemporary American culture and life. The book is filled with clever notions and imaginative portrayals, such as the scene where Wednesday takes the too-human Shadow to a meeting held "behind the curtains" as it were, in another dimension accessible only to the gods. Perhaps the novel's biggest shortcoming arises from refusing to acknowledge (or even mention) the gods who still command human belief, such as Jesus, Allah, or Vishnu. Then again, Gaiman's view could be that these big "G" Gods are simply too powerful or busy to worry about the survival struggles of Norse gods and African tribal deities.
Regardless, AMERICAN GODS is enjoyable and delectably irreverent, a fun read with a creative premise and entertaining characters that will stop readers in their tracks and make them think. If only for a minute, that is, but at least long enough to give those small "g" gods a little energy boost.
Book Review: Mixed Feelings
Summary: 3 Stars
I had high expectations for "American Gods," yet I ended up feeling ambivalent, despite its historical and philosophical depth, in addition to the totally awesome title. I can certainly see why others have enjoyed Neil Gaiman's modern mythological adventure tale, but I just felt something was lacking.
I definitely think Neil Gaiman had some great ideas and really enjoyed the philosophical side of the story. On the first page of the Epilogue, for example, there's a quote from an imaginary book by the character Mr. Ibis (originally an Egyptian deity) that strongly recalls the some of the theories of Jean Baudrillard, particularly his seminal book "Simulacra and Simulation," which argues that reality is today undergoing a breakdown as the "transition from signs which dissimulate something to signs which dissimulate that there is nothing" is inexorably ushering in the age of "hyperreality," an era "of simulacra and simulation, in which there is no longer any God to recognize his own, nor any last judgment to separate truth from false, the real from its artificial resurrection, since everything is already dead and risen in advance." Similarly, Gaiman's gods, many of whom date from prehistory, insist that they were more or less born of human belief: "People believe, thought Shadow [the protagonist]. It's what people do. . . they conjure things and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen." In other words, humans experienced aspects of reality that they could not comprehend and, out of the impenetrable void that was the material universe (anyone familiar with ancient myths and the literature of centuries past - i.e. "Beowulf" - knows that nature was once seen as the threatening, external "other"), they formed divine truths that gave meaning to the cosmos and the sublime actions of nature.
Religious symbols, then, are a primordial human expression that shapes how the individual perceives the external world. So arguably, humans have always created reality through symbolism, and it is the death of this paradigm and the birth of the age of pure, cold, unrelenting science - or, in Gaiman's world, the new gods of Freeway, Credit Card, Television, and other material aspects of modern society - that is mourned by Joseph Wood Krutch in his 1929 book "The Modern Temper": ". . . [W]e cannot deny that life is made paler and that we are carried one step nearer to that state in which existence is seen as a vast emptiness which the imagination can no longer people with fascinating illusions." Of course, those old illusions can always slug it out on a vast metaphysical battlefield with the new ones who have been forcing them out of business. But, at the end of the day, America is still a "bad place" for gods," which has me wondering what the old gods intended to do if they won. Maybe I'm missing something, but I felt there was a plot hole there, which made the whole war feel rather pointless.
I guess the main issue I had was with Gaiman's prose, which simply failed to impress me. After awhile, the book seriously started to drag and I just wanted the gods to start fighting already. Gaiman's depictions of the American Midwest, though critically praised, merely came off as generic USA, and I really got tired of Shadow hanging around doing basically nothing. However, I will say that, unlike Salman Rushdie in his novel "Fury," Gaiman, a British transplant, actually *does* exhibit a full grasp of American English. And there's also quite a lot of history here which Gaiman really should have expanded on. But, again, I can see why other readers have loved "American Gods" so I guess it's just not the book for me. I am still interested, however, in reading other Gaiman works, especially his graphic novels, so hopefully I'll have better luck next time.
Book Review: Even Gods Rebel Against Being Forgotten
Summary: 5 Stars
To go to "American Gods" after first reading "Neverwhere" seems to be a lot to ask of a new-found fan of Neil Gaiman, but Gaiman winds up getting your imagination wrapped up in the story all the same. It's like going from a cartoon to an Eastwood movie in one day.
Gaiman has his way of slowly establishing the mood and the plot, and establishing main characters that seem to get moved around by their circumstances. "American Gods" starts out with a big guy named Shadow in prison, but it's his last day: he's being released in the first chapter, but that's not a totally happy story, at all, for him...
Gaiman's technique is to introduce the main character to some otherworldly character who will take (or in Shadow's case, send) him to a different world where he'll encounter new, strange things... It's interesting how the reader is somewhat made to encounter, to a degree, Shadow's uncertainty between the real world and the world that he encounters in his dreams (it's not really a world of fantasy and wonderment, so it doesn't really strike the reader as a "dream world").
As the story progresses, the reader may not realize that 3 quarters of the book is a "build-up" in 2 directions and by the time you realize where the build-up is taking you and Shadow, you're thoroughly in awe of the circumstances! So, with "American Gods", Gaiman puts your imagination on a slow boil (unlike the strong boil to the imagination that is his book, "Neverwhere"). But, make no mistake; "American Gods" is not boring at all. The characters that Shadow meets along the way are very intriguing, The first being his "boss", Wednesday, of whom you aren't sure whether he's the bad guy or the good guy, which kind of makes you wonder, "so what does that make (or rather, what is that making) Shadow, a bad guy"? That's what makes "American Gods" so intriguing; you're not sure of what's happening to the main character's development and neither is Shadow, himself, sure.
As you read Gaiman's books, you find that the main character, at some point deep in the story, must go through a major rite of passage [or in Shadow's case, purgatory (a purging)], that death doesn't necessarily mean "dead and gone" and that YOU WILL get a full-length, real-life history lesson late in the story; perhaps this is Gaiman's means of re-establishing the balance of FACT and REALITY to all the IMAGINATION and FANTASY that he has stirred up in the readers' minds; my favorite `lesson' of his is in "American Gods"; he really lets you know a lot about Lookout Mountain, and that's where the climax plays out (one of them, at least); I even researched Lookout Mountain on YouTube).
Another intriguing aspect of "American Gods" is the presence of mini-stories (or bonus short stories) that Gaiman has included at the end of certain chapters; and there are many of them in "American Gods"; the first one at the end of chapter one is a jaw-dropping, eyebrow-raising twist from left field that the reader just won't see coming, making one wonder, "Uhmm, ok..."? My favorite was one that dealt with what Africans were put through in slavery in America; it's a poignant tear jerker. The premise of all the "shorts" (although, some not so short) is that there are "gods" lurking amongst us normal folk, always have been, always will be.
On Youtube there is a vid of Gaiman talking about "Anansi Boys", in which he mentions how he intended for that to be light hearted and funny (and funny it is!!) and he wanted to get away from all the seriousness that he conjured up in "American Gods", even if it didn't get him all the awards that "American Gods" brought him. "American Gods" is a very intense, macabre read and the ending is worth every word read up to that point! For a contrast on his endings, read my review on Gaiman's "Neverwhere".
Gaiman is truly a MASTER STORYTELLER!
Book Review: Lost in the Land of Milk and Honey
Summary: 4 Stars
I mentioned this in my review of "Good Omens" but just to recap, I came by this book after reading Terry Pratchett's fabulous Discworld series. From there I went to "Good Omens", an apocalyptic comedy penned by Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. So now I'm segueing to Gaiman solo in "American Gods." I have to say, for the record, I think Pratchett's books on the whole are a lot more fun. While there is humor in "American Gods" it's darker and a little more subtle--ironic might be the best way. The difference is probably that the Discworld books are written as comedies while "American Gods" isn't. I still enjoyed this, but in a different way.
"American Gods" covers territory covered by Gaiman and Pratchett (or Pratchett & Gaiman) in "Good Omens" and by Pratchett in Discworld books like "Small Gods" and "Hogfather." That territory is the concept that gods exist because people believe in them; gods are an extension of a human belief to believe in something. Over time, for a variety of reasons, belief in gods rises and falls. For instance, thousands of years ago no one outside the Middle East had ever heard of the god we know as GOD. They believed in their own more local gods, some like the Greek/Roman gods we studied in school and still remember because they're named for things like planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto) or Greek restaurants. Others have pretty much faded away from memory entirely, except perhaps for an artifact in a museum.
What Gaiman does in "American Gods" is to take that concept a step farther. For thousands of years people have been coming to America--"Native" Americans, Spanish, French, English, Dutch, and of course the Vikings--and with them they bring their gods and make sacrifices to them and build places of worship to them and so forth. And in the process they give life to those gods in America. But what becomes of the gods after war, disease, slavery, and assimilation have eroded that belief in them? Basically they're left roaming the countryside, living essentially as mortals.
A big man named Shadow gets out of prison and meets one of these fallen gods, a grifter now going by the name of Mr. Wednesday. With no job, no family, and no place to live, Shadow agrees to become Wednesday's bodyguard for a dangerous mission that takes them across the United States, though much of the action is centered in Illinois and Wisconsin. There's a storm coming, one that threatens not just Shadow but the entire fabric of reality. Because, you see, there are new gods being created everyday--gods of Technology and Media and so forth. When old gods and new gods clash, all hell is bound to break loose.
As for Shadow, he has to confront his tragic past and his destiny. Plus he has to find a way to bring his zombie wife back to life.
Overall this is a good book, though the ending seems pretty anticlimactic. I guess that's how life is sometimes. It would help too if you knew more about mythology than I do; I know a little about Greek and Norse myths from school but Gaiman includes myth creatures from pretty much every culture in the world. (Though it seems like the Greek gods like Zeus, Aphrodite, Athena, Poseidon, and so forth are missing.) Anyway, I think this is the kind of book I'd really have to read a second time--or possibly more--to GET it because there's so much going on.
Of course a lot of people will probably steer clear of a book like this because it might challenge their personal beliefs. Though I personally like a religious philosophy where pretty much everyone can be right.
That is all.