American Gods by Neil Gaiman (novel #216)

They [American gods] were afraid that unless they kept pace with a changing world, unless they remade and redrew and rebuilt the world in their image, their time would already be over. ~ Narrative

 

I’ve been intrigued by this novel but also dubious. Intrigued because I think Gaiman is an artist with words, dubious because it’s a bit out of my comfort zone.

 

Intrigue won out in the end.

 

This fantasy is about American gods – the little “g” gods that immigrants brought to America, both fairly recent since the discovery of the New World and ancient, the first peoples whose origins are mostly lost in prehistory. These gods, the creations of myriad cultures, are mostly forgotten, forsaken, and feeble.

 

Yet they endure in mostly human form and often as pathetic or bitter shadows of their former glory.

 

Speaking of shadows, the main character is Shadow Moon – not a god – released from prison a few days early due to the tragic death of his wife. Shadow is a strange dude. He is shaken by nothing: not the death of his wife, nor meeting gods, leprechauns, or imps; not by talking animals, nor TV shows that speak to him. These and other chimeras appear in Shadow’s world, and he treats them as casually as finding a penny on the sidewalk.

 

Like when he meets the ghost or zombie of his dead wife…

 

Her cold hand sought his, and he squeezed it gently. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. He was scared, and what scared him was the normality of the moment.

 

That was the first thing I didn’t like. I’m certain that Gaiman intended to make Shadow hardened and aloof, but he was unbelievable.

 

The story is captivating, at times almost maddeningly so. I couldn’t figure out where it was all leading and couldn’t stop until I knew.

 

It is leading to an epic battle between the old gods and the new gods of modern America: technology, capitalism, and mass marketing, which also have embodied agents. Shadow is stuck somewhere in the middle.

 

Despite the intriguing need to know what was next, I was mostly disappointed. At first, it had a feel distinctly like Stephen King’s The Stand, but as it progressed, it felt more like Gaiman’s own Sandman. Besides Shadow’s un-believability, the ending was anti-climactic. The characters were the best parts. Odin aka Wednesday, who was the other main character, Shadow's new employer, leader of the old gods and the one calling for the war.

 

They made me. They forgot me. Now I take a little back from them. Isn’t that fair? ~ Wednesday

 

Pain hurts, just as greed intoxicates and lust burns. We may not die easy and we sure as hell don’t die well, but we can die. ~ Wednesday

 

There was Shadow’s cellmate Low Key, who turned out to be Loki. Most of the gods went by monikers that were subtle clues to their mythical identities. I caught a few, but many were lost on me. Gaiman did his research, and he can certainly write.

 

My Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

 

I’ll read more by Gaiman. I enjoyed Coraline and Stardust, but Sandman not so much. But one of the best things I’ve read by Gaiman is his foreword to the 60th-anniversary edition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

 

 

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