Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Big book, big ideas, 30 Nov 2005
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. 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.
|
|
|
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
The most fun that you can have by yourself., 22 Nov 2005
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.
|
|
|
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
The FSFH Book Review says:, 21 Jan 2007
This is the story of Shadow, who is released from prison following his wife's death and finds himself in the employ of a man named Wednesday.
As Shadow and Wednesday travel across America, another world is revealed. Scraping a living among the people of the modern world are old gods, brought to America in the beliefs of settlers and slaves. These ancient gods, their power waning as they are forgotten, find themselves threatened by the young gods of modern America, gods of TV and technology.
This is a book which meanders, and Gaiman clearly feels that the journey is far more important than the destination. In this case I agree, but if you don't, then don't worry because despite it's meandering, the book builds towards the battle between the old gods and the new.
Of the new gods, my favourite element was the spooks, sinister Men-in-Black type characters who represent the height of modern mythology. However, it is Shadow's encounters with the old gods that makes for the most compelling reading. They range from Odin to the spider-god Anansi to the Egyptian gods of death and the underworld. I was only sorry that my insufficent understanding of mythology meant that I didn't understand some of Gaiman's more subtle references.
There are also some brilliantly written interludes which reveal how some of these older gods first arrived in America, telling stories of Viking explorers, stone age nomads, African slaves and Cornish thieves. In short, this book contains it's own mythology, whilst being about the concept of that mythology itself.
At surface level this book is a brilliant story of magic, deception and human nature, but look a little deeper and you'll see that every page is riddled with fascinating metaphors.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
(25)
£4.79
![Neverwhere - The Complete BBC Series [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aa1Lex-fL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(8)
£11.98
![Mirrormask [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51537WGGEDL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(37)
£4.97
See all Product Description
(3)
£5.00
(
