- MP3 CD
- Publisher: HarperAudio; MP3 Una edition (Sep 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060836253
- ISBN-13: 978-0060836252
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (151 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 283,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
American Gods
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Within just a few pages of Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, he commandingly reveals that he is at his considerable best with this disturbing and dark journey into the hidden soul of America. Gaiman, one of the most talented and imaginative writers at work today, achieved nigh-legendary status with his comic Sandman, which took the genre to heights that even the equally talented Alan Moore had not attained; Gaiman's subsequent career as a novelist has displayed the same glittering inventiveness and exquisite use of language.
Gaiman's protagonist Shadow has patiently done his time in prison. But as the moment of his release approaches, he begins to sense that some unnamed disaster is lying in wait for him. As he makes his way home, he encounters the mysterious Mr Wednesday, who appears to be both a refugee from a distant country at war and the King of America. And perhaps even a god. As Shadow and Mr Wednesday begin a bizarre odyssey across the United States, solving murders is only one of their accomplishments. With an epic storm of supernatural origin brewing, one questions whether they will be destroyed before Shadow pays the price for grim mistakes in his past.
The use of language here is impeccable, and it is wedded to a surreal narrative that brings out the most quirky and unsettling aspects of Gaiman's imagination. Forget Gaiman the Guru: just enjoy Gaiman the consummate writer:
He opened his mouth to catch the rain as it fell, moistening his cracked lips and his dry tongue, wetting the ropes that bound him to the trunk of the tree. There was a flash of lightning so bright it fell like a blow to his eyes, transforming the world into an intense panorama of image and after-image. The wind tugged at Shadow, trying to pull him from the tree, flaying him, cutting to the bone. Shadow knew in his soul that the real storm had truly begun...--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'A very fine and imaginative writer' (The Times )
'Gaiman has a rich imagination...and an ability to tackle large themes'
(Philip Pullman ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
American Gods is a big book in more ways than one; not only is it over six hundred pages long, but it deals with big ideas. The main character, Shadow, has been released from prison a few days early in order to be able to attend his wife's funeral. On the way home, he's recruited buy the mysterious Mr Wednesday.
It eventually transpires that Shadow has been recruited into a war between gods; the old gods, brought to America by the various immigrants over time, and the new gods of television and media and so forth.
It eventually transpires that Shadow has been recruited into a war between gods; the old gods, brought to America by the various immigrants over time, and the new gods of television and media and so forth.
The nice thing about this book is the amount of mythology hidden to a lesser or greater extent in the storytelling. Some of the gods are more easily recognisable than others; the jump from "Mr Nancy" to "Anansi", for instance, is not so great, whereas the link between Mr Wednesday to Odin is not as immediately obvious. But you don't have to have much grounding in mythology to be able to enjoy the book, which is one of the great things about it; there are plenty of layers to be unpicked, if you're that way inclined, but on the other hand, you can just sit back and enjoy Neil Gaiman's masterful storytelling.
The added benefit of this particular edition is the author interview in the back, which gives that extra little insight into the book. It's apparently also the author's preferred text, though having read both versions, I have to say that for the reader it makes little difference.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
After Good Omens and Anansi Boys this is my third excursion with Neil Gaiman and unlike with the first two, which I enjoyed a great deal, this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me.
The book is based on a fabulous premise - namely of people bringing gods they worship / associated ideas into the new land they move to - in this case America. That these then need to arrange themselves there, in competition with many other views and in a land, which according to the author is not 'very suitable' for gods is in essence what the book is about. This story then unfolds in the book through the experiences of Shadow - the ex-con protagonist - who gets throuwn into this aspect of life after leaving prison. As such, the basic idea, the cultural commentary and the overall plan being set are great, with execution leaving, on occassion, a bit to be desired.
First of all, the length. While I almost always have a preference for a book longer rather than shorter, I did on several occassions (especially towards the middle) get the impression that this one started to drag a bit. This is the author's prefered version of the text - meaning that ca. 12.000 words that have been parsed from the first edition by the editor got reinstated in some shape or form. Not having read the earlier version, I cannot say for sure but my impression is certainly that the book could easily skip that amount and gain, rather than lose somethingn (just like it is interesting for fans to see Apocalypse Now Redux [DVD] [1979] to fill in some details in spite of the plain vanilla Apocalypse Now [1979] [DVD] probably being much better rounded as a movie).
On top of that, one gets the impression that the author often chose to forego focus to benefit inclusion - i.e. a lot of the vignettes included read more as testaments of research done, rather than a part of the story (granted, this may well be seen as a feature by some and certain ones of the vignettes present some of the best writing in the book).
Shadow, as a character, is perhaps not particularly memorable or someone you would naturally identify with, an aspect that may also turn some of the readers off. Whether he is believable is hard to say - people handle extreme situations in mysterious ways and one can certainly believe that his is a possibility.
In spite of these criticisms, I still find the book worth reading and apart from some 40 or so pages in the middle, I did not find it difficult to do so - conversely, at no point was it a page turner for me, either. If you can forgive the author his enthusiasm getting the better of him (and thereby bypassing some of the regular editing process) and are willing to follow the idea, and if the size does not deter you, I find the book to certainly provide adequate food for thought and enjoyment, even if it is not the author's best in my opinion.
The book is based on a fabulous premise - namely of people bringing gods they worship / associated ideas into the new land they move to - in this case America. That these then need to arrange themselves there, in competition with many other views and in a land, which according to the author is not 'very suitable' for gods is in essence what the book is about. This story then unfolds in the book through the experiences of Shadow - the ex-con protagonist - who gets throuwn into this aspect of life after leaving prison. As such, the basic idea, the cultural commentary and the overall plan being set are great, with execution leaving, on occassion, a bit to be desired.
First of all, the length. While I almost always have a preference for a book longer rather than shorter, I did on several occassions (especially towards the middle) get the impression that this one started to drag a bit. This is the author's prefered version of the text - meaning that ca. 12.000 words that have been parsed from the first edition by the editor got reinstated in some shape or form. Not having read the earlier version, I cannot say for sure but my impression is certainly that the book could easily skip that amount and gain, rather than lose somethingn (just like it is interesting for fans to see Apocalypse Now Redux [DVD] [1979] to fill in some details in spite of the plain vanilla Apocalypse Now [1979] [DVD] probably being much better rounded as a movie).
On top of that, one gets the impression that the author often chose to forego focus to benefit inclusion - i.e. a lot of the vignettes included read more as testaments of research done, rather than a part of the story (granted, this may well be seen as a feature by some and certain ones of the vignettes present some of the best writing in the book).
Shadow, as a character, is perhaps not particularly memorable or someone you would naturally identify with, an aspect that may also turn some of the readers off. Whether he is believable is hard to say - people handle extreme situations in mysterious ways and one can certainly believe that his is a possibility.
In spite of these criticisms, I still find the book worth reading and apart from some 40 or so pages in the middle, I did not find it difficult to do so - conversely, at no point was it a page turner for me, either. If you can forgive the author his enthusiasm getting the better of him (and thereby bypassing some of the regular editing process) and are willing to follow the idea, and if the size does not deter you, I find the book to certainly provide adequate food for thought and enjoyment, even if it is not the author's best in my opinion.
36 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
American Gods is possibly one of the greatest books ever written. Not because of its prose, not because it is an evolutionary book of its time, but because it is the most bizarrely conceived idea that is presented in an almost plausible manner with that magical ingredient: the story weaving ability of Neil Gaiman. I loved this book, truly.
The story centres on the character of Shadow who is about to be released from prison and is eager to get back to a life and, above all, back to his wife. Two days before he is due to be released Shadows wife dies tragically in a car accident. On the journey home from prison to attend his wife’s funeral Shadow meets the enigmatic Mr Wednesday who offers him a job. Having nothing of his old life remaining to go back to Shadow reluctantly agrees to the offer on, what he believes are, his terms.
Mr Wednesday takes Shadow to a bar where he drinks three glasses of mead to “seal the agreement” and the pair meet Mad Sweeney; a leprechaun and an alcoholic. From then on nothing in Shadows life is conventional as we follow him on the path of Mr Wednesday’s agenda to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.
I could rave on about this book but I would not want to spoil the plot for you. Needless to say it has won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award and the Locus Award. This book is pure Gaiman; its book heroin. I was reading it on the toilet, on the tube, during my tea breaks, during commercial breaks, in fact any spare minute that I had was spent reading this book I enjoyed it that much, and now my girlfriend is suffering the same fate. I would recommend this read in a heartbeat.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
American Gods
The book was a mixture of the surreal and the realistic, and I always experienced a jolt of surprise when it travelled suddenly between the two. Read more
Published 11 days ago by BruceL
Great reading experience!
This book is a very enjoyable tale of mythology, gods, love and destiny - told in an unusual way.
It's not action packed and fast paced, rather a world you slowly see more and... Read more
It's not action packed and fast paced, rather a world you slowly see more and... Read more
Published 16 days ago by L. Kragh
Dull, dull, dull
This is the first book I have read by this author and it will be the last. This is a bit of a shame as some of his stuff for younger readers sounds much more interesting. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Ted Anxious
not what I expected
I had just read a book about Angels by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (sorry forgotten the title of that book) which I loved. Read more
Published 1 month ago by A. Rea
Great read
First 20 pages took a little aclimatising, really got into the story from then on in. It's easy to overanalyse, but as an exploration of belief, new and old combined with a view of... Read more
Published 3 months ago by John Middleton
Flawed, but wonderful
American Gods gets off to a slow start. For the first fifty pages or so, I came close to abandoning it because nothing interesting seemed to happen and I was having a hard time... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Book Critic
Took a while to get through it
This is a very well written book as I am sure many would agree. And the premise of this book is absolutely brilliant, and very relevant to our current times. Read more
Published 3 months ago by S. Shamma
Fantastic
I haven't enjoyed anything this much in long time, a must for all lovers of fantasy, mythology and well written fiction in general!
Published 3 months ago by Ms. J. M. James
Way over hyped: good concept but badly written.
The idea behind this book is smart, the author's style certainly isn't. I mean come on, a two year old could think of better main character names than Shadow and Wednesday, and the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by surfingsimon
A powerful epic saga of godly size!
This book is a saga as complex, thrilling, scary, mysterious, challenging and exciting as being Alice and going through the rabbit hole into an entirely different world. Read more
Published 3 months ago by valkyrie1008
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