Book Review - American Gods

[Amy Darvill]

Title of the Book: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Urban Fantasy (with a strong mythological bent)
Series: No? (There's a supposed sequel in the works, there are some short stories out there, as well as comics based on the book. Plus his book Anansi Boys shares a character in common with American Gods, but there is not a direct series at the moment)

(Notice: the book is adult fiction and details adult matters, including death and unsavory topics. Young readers should skip this one for now.)

Brief Overview: Shadow is a recently released convict who is left tetherless as his wife and best friend died in a car accident together. Hurt by their betrayal (they were having an affair) and in grief over his loss, he ends up meeting a man known as Mr. Wednesday, who hires him on as bodyguard and takes him on a cross country across the USA. However, the people they meet are not your average people. In fact, as the book states, many of them are gods or deity figures brought over from the 'old countries' and shaped by the changing American status. Or at least that's the old gods.

Mr. Wednesday is trying to get the old gods together to battle the new gods, aka technology, media, and other aspects that form modern life and are in a sense more worshipped by people then the old gods, which weakens them. However, Shadow finds that even as mind blowing as this is, there's much more hidden and things truly are not that simple..

Review: Preface: I actually don't like people making interpretations of Christianity, as I am one and so it goes on a cringy line for me. However, A. the chapter dealing with Jesus Christ is technically semi removed the book and B. the fact that the way these gods work are almost more facets of deities instead of the actual deity themselves, I even enjoyed that chapter.

In other words, I actually really love this book and my overview is too simplified to keep from spoiling it, but it's something that feels like a deep read, and yet you get so absorbed in it that I read this in just a couple of days. This was the book that made me put Neil Gaiman on my favorite authors list (this and one of his anthologies). Shadow works excellently as a main character, a fairly human (*cough*)counterpoint that shares in our bewilderment and confusion about this hidden side of the world. And Mr. Wednesday is charmable and so manipulative and yet you know you met him, he probably would wrap you up in his schemes, it's that believable. And while I didn't catch all of the references of the different gods because I don't know all of the mythology of the world, going back through with some research was kinda fun to see how he made those nods. (Although as an Ancient Egyptian fan, Mr. Ibis and Mr. Jacquel running a funeral parlor in Cairos Illinois was one I got, and probably made that one of my favorite sections.)

Now heads up, the book can get trippy sometimes. We are dealing with gods and Shadow undergoes some rituals that creates some imagery that like the adult version of that scene from Willy Wonka. I specifically am talking the carousel scene. Also, death is a big topic in this book and plays a major role in Shadow's story, and not just the fact he accidently kinda resurrects his wife, though that happens. Another caveat, it is a book that goes off tangents. There's semi short stories of different characters that don't neccessarily tie in the major plot. (Like the genie section, I don't remember how that ties into the overall plot.) The book is as much a love letter/exploration of how immigrants to America brought and lost their gods, which can make it a slow read. For whatever reason, this hit right in my jam, because I'm fascinated by beliefs and practices, but I have seen on Goodreads that people dislike it for that, so just a heads up. And as I warned at the beginning, death is not the only 'adult' topic happening in this book. It's written for adults, use your discretion.

5/5 stars