by Neil Gaiman

I kept hearing how good this book is, so when a buddy read came up, I had to join in. I had even bought the book without my usual vetting through reading a sample.

The beginning surprised me. It wasn't at all like I expected and although there were hints of weirdness to come, I found myself firmly in uncharted waters. It does take a little while to get going to where it starts to make sense.

I'll admit I found it slow at times and struggled to keep my attention on it. The subtle infiltration of gods was a brilliant idea, but it took an age to get to the revelations and if it hadn't been Gaiman, I might have given up.

A lot of diversions into side stories kept the continuity from grabbing hold, though they fleshed out the overall situation. A linear story does unravel before the end, but along the way I found myself caring less and less about the characters and looking forward to getting to the end so I could read something more engrossing.

A lot of people love this book, but for me it isn't one of Gaiman's best.

American Gods is a big sprawling road trip novel with surviving ancient deities and modern conspiracies and a fairly ordinary man stuck in the middle of it. There are grifters and zombies and men in black style feds, and a Wisconsin town that rivals Lake Wobegon. You really get the feeling that Gaiman could have kept this ball rolling indefinitely, adding more and more distorted mythological characters and mystery elements without ever getting to the finale, but he does get there are there is a satisfying payoff.

4.5

Book source ~ Library

I read the book years ago and then I recently found out there’s a graphic novel. Of course I had to read it, but my library didn’t have it. So I suggested the purchase and they obliged. My library is awesome!

First in a trilogy (or so I’ve heard), this volume covers Shadow’s release from prison and his introduction to Mr. Wednesday, all the way to where he’s leaving the funeral home of Ibis and Jacquel. For those who don’t think they can do the longer novel version I recommend the graphic novel because it hits all the high points of the story. Because of the medium it can’t quite get all the nuances (obviously), but it’s a really good adaptation. Since I read the book years ago, I didn’t really remember most of it until I started reading this one. Then it began to come back to me. The artwork isn’t really all that for me, but it’s nice all the same. It reminded me of some of Gaiman’s Sandman comics so I did some research and a few volumes use the same illustrators. Look at me! I recognized some artwork! Impressed myself, I did. Lol I may need to check out the tv show now. Maybe. We’ll see.

I wanted to like this book, maybe even love it, but it just wasn't meant to be. Three months after starting it, I've finally forced myself to read it to the end. I've enjoyed Gaiman's books in the past and although I know that's no firm indication that I'd like everything he writes, I just wasn't expecting to be so thoroughly bored by American Gods. The story started off well enough and even ended much better than I'd expected, but getting to that end was a trudge and a half. I found I couldn't remember character names only a few chapters in or chunks of the storyline after a day or two. I suspect it'll translate better in the recent TV series adaptation so I may give it another chance there. Shame, I really did want to enjoy this.