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Title: American Gods by Neil Gaiman ISBN: 0-380-78903-5 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91 (407 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: I was dissapointed.
Comment: Considering the awards and positive reviews Gaiman received for American Gods, I was dissapointed by the quality of the story. Though he has some creative ideas, and has solid prose, there is very little depth here either in the plot, or the characters. I'm not spoiling anything by saying that the basis for this story is that people's beliefs of gods and mythical creatures throughout time has caused these beings to actually manifest themselves within human society - why not? It's an interesting idea with alot of potential for social commentary on the state of American culture, religion, philosophy, etc. Unfortunately, this rambling mess makes no effort to realize this potential. The story is a mindless, poorly thought out struggle between a handfull of legends and avatars representing various technologies (e.g. TV, the internet, the media, etc.). You would think that there would be some mention of modern religion (Chistianity, Islam, Judaism), but no, it's conspicuously absent. In fact the plot really doesn't make alot of sense - it's not clear why the gods are fighting, nor what is to be obtained by fighting (the ending left me scratching my head). The legends picked for the story are in my opinion eclectic and obscure. The main characters are in general two dimensional, and create zero emotional resonance. The plot is a slow tour of mundane, mid-West America, which I have to believe will bore most people out of their minds. It seemed like the main character, Shadow, spends half the book in a small Wisconsin farm town, where we learn about all the local town personalities, for no particular reason. Finally, the gratuitous sex in this book exemplifies how dumbed-down this story is. I'm fine with sex and violence, as long as they're tastefully done, and make sense in context of the story. It seems like the sex here was purely thrown in for shock value. Don't waste your time or money on this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: I was actually disappointed
Comment: This is not Neil Gaiman's best. That does not mean it is bad - quite the contrary, it is pretty good. I just got the feeling when I read it that after the well-deserved success of Neverwhere he felt he had to write something similar for the US market. Neverwhere dealing with London, UK.
It was kind of obvious to me that he is not as familiar with the mystic and magic of the US as he is of London.
The American Gods of the book are surprisingly poorly developed, and he chooses Odin as one of the main protagonists, which gives a bit of a tired feeling to me. On the other hand, the description of the restless wife and the protected American small-town are truly chilling and up there with his best.
Rating: 4
Summary: Look a little deeper...
Comment: Don't be thrown off by the random F-word in the first page of the book. (This, to me, is usually a signifier of poor writing, a way to spice up dry writing.) This book is a book that may or may not be worth your time. Many of the other reviews for this book merely talked about the plot and how one dimensional it was, but they were missing the whole point. Neil Geiman was really trying to say something about society with this allegory/satire of America. What exactly? i'm still not quite sure, but it was an interesting read.
Another warning; don't be turned off by the fact that the lead character is an X-convict. This very idea sort of made me reluctant to read it at first, I don't know why, I just thought maybe it would be a character you wouldn't be able to relate to at all. But the lead character is actually very interesting, in my opinion. Most of the story takes place as an AMerican road odyssey, and might not be what you think. This is not a fantastic, sexy, dark imagination fest like a Clive Barker book, or a historical plot with some magic thrown in like a Tim Powers book, this book is in itself what it is, and can't really be compared with writings of other authors. This book reminded me more of the type of thing they make you read in high school, with definate literary elements, obvious or not, and few characters that are easy to get to know.
While I liked the book and the sort of simple feel that Shadow created on his Journey of the situation, I found some points of the story to be dissapointing, however. First off, i hated Sam, (girl Sam). And I didn't understand what was going on between her and Shadow. She was such a creepy lesbian, but Shadow who you come to know and respect as a man of moral character in the book, has a thing for her or something. Second off, I didn't understand or see any purpose in all those little interludes between chapters that Geiman put it. He puts in these parts of the book where they explain what Gods are doing in America, or how they got there long ago, but then that's it. Characters are intruduced for one chapter that you never hear from again! For example, there is one chapter where the author takes you to New York where a Arab man is trying to get an interview. When he doesn't get the interview, he meets this cab-driver who happens to be a god. They have sex, and then the chapter is over. You never hear of either of these guys again! It just doesn't add up to anything at all. Not only that, but the ending had me, like another review stated, scratching my head. What happened to the war between the gods? Did i miss something? One minute, they were preparing for battle then they go back to Shadow discovering these secrets at one of the small towns he was at. Not only that, but whatever happened to his dead wife?
All in all, this was an interesting read. Given the downers of the book, this is probably a book you would want to read if you finish books fairly quickly. If you are the type of person that must really commit to a book and spend time on it, i wouldn't recommend this. And another thing, (...). There's bairly any sexual content in this book, just the forementioned scene i described and maybe one other brief one. Other than that, it's pretty non-sexual.
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Title: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman ISBN: 0380789019 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0441003257 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: May, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: stardust by Neil Gaiman ISBN: 0060934719 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Preludes and Nocturnes (Sandman, Book 1) by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, Michael Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III ISBN: 1563890119 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 07 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman ISBN: 0060934700 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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