Old and angry gods (American Gods - Neil Gaiman)

Name: Bryn Pearson

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Date:	01/07/02 (928 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: strong plot, fascinating characters

Disadvantages: ned a good background in old gods.

What happens to gods when no one believes in them any more? Do they just go away? Do they take up fortune teling, whoring or whatever was closest to their original calling? How do you know if you meet one? Hold those thoughts.

Shadow seems like a fairly ordianry small time crook who has done his time and means to go straight, however, when his wife and best freind die in a car crash days before he was due to come out, he finds himself cast adrift in the world. He's offered work by a mysterious and slightly sinister man called Mr Wednesday and is soon travelling the country on a very peculiar and often life threatening set of jobs.

Gaiman is a British author, so his forray into the heart of America is ambitious to say the least. Sometimes the book feels a bit like a road movie, but its a road movie with a strong and compelling collection of plots, twists and some glorious jokes. The main plot is laced through with smaller tales, and while they might at first seem to be irrelevant asides, they give you a lot of clues about what is going on in the main story. (And it is much like the technique Gaiman uses in his graphic novels.)

Not knowing much about America doesn't seem to be much of a handicap, I might add.

However, if you don't know your ancient gods, this must be a hard read, if not very bemusing. Gaiman knows his mythology, and he draws on it. The plot doesn't make as much sense, I suspect, if these figures are not at least a bit familiar to you. (I'm guessing, because I knew almost everyone, even if I did miss one really obvious figure - the joke was on me and it was very funny.) Gaiman doesn't make it hard to work out whose who - the names he gives are huge giveaways most of the time. So, If you know just from the name who Mr Wednesday, Mr Nancy, Misters Ibis and Jaquel (funeral directors)and Easter are likely to be, then I can say with all confidence that you will love this book and really enjoy the g
ames Gaiman plays during it. (Where names don't give them away, physical descriptions do, I might add.)If you haven't a clue about any of the above, approach with caution and expect to be at least a bit confused most of the time.

I would add that if you've read Pratchett's "Small gods" then you might find there's a familiar theory or two knocking about, but in very different ways.

This book may give you headaches, or it might make you think a good deal about what it is that you believe in, and what it might mean to actualy be a god. Its a glorious text, an amazing plot full of fascinating details and sub plots, strange characters and people who don't seem able to decide if they are actually dead or not.

I'll finish with my favourite quote....
"Hey" said Shadow, "Huginn, or Muginn, or whoever you are."
The bird turned, head tipped, suspiciously, on one side,and it stared at him, with bright eyes.
"Say Nevermore." said Shadow.
"F*CK you." said the Raven.

Summary: