Agree, agree with your assessment of the pace/ending. I recently re-read parts for a bookgroup read, and learned that it is based on a Norse (I think? I guess I didn't learn after all) myth, which may have helped me appreciate the arc a little better.
I think the biggest problem I had with this book was its hype; I just didn't see what everybody was going on and on about. I said exactly that when I was at a book club meeting in NY, and one of the members turned to me, quite surprised, and said something like "But you're from the Midwest. Aren't you supposed to appreciate Gaiman's nuanced Midwestern references more than us? This book did the whole region a huge favor. If it hadn't been for it, I wouldn't have known Middle America existed." (OK, he didn't say the last part, but that's what he meant.)
Does this mean you are in NY?
And btw, I didn't mean to imply that I understood the Norse mythological connection. Just that apparently, more insightful minds than mine therefore appreciated the character arc in a way that I could not. :)
No, I'm still in Minneapolis. I was in NY a few days before Christmas and came across the book club meeting while shopping at a B&N. It was an interesting experience. Once people found out I was from the Midwest, they all wanted to know about life in small towns. So I told them they'd have to experience it for themselves and suggested they go on an American Gods roadtrip and stop by all the locations mentioned in the book lol.
I completely agree with your assessment of the book. I did like it and his prose is vivid, clever and crisp, but I thought that Gaiman raises the bar himself and sets it quite high, only to fail to meet his own standards as the story progresses. Might be due to the hype as well. It's 3 stars from me as well.
Agree, Gaiman did over-reach by setting up an ambitious ploy and not delivering. Hype has ruined quite a few popular books for me, but I never thought a Gaiman book would be among them.
I think the biggest problem I had with this book was its hype; I just didn't see what everybody was going on and on about. I said exactly that when I was at a book club meeting in NY, and one of the members turned to me, quite surprised, and said something like "But you're from the Midwest. Aren't you supposed to appreciate Gaiman's nuanced Midwestern references more than us? This book did the whole region a huge favor. If it hadn't been for it, I wouldn't have known Middle America existed." (OK, he didn't say the last part, but that's what he meant.)
And btw, I didn't mean to imply that I understood the Norse mythological connection. Just that apparently, more insightful minds than mine therefore appreciated the character arc in a way that I could not. :)