My love for Neil Gaiman started with the episode he wrote for Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife." The episode was fun and witty and emotionally heart wrenching, especially in the crucial last minutes. Who knew hearing a time machine whisper a faint I love you would pluck so many of my heart strings. But, this episode stirred me to want to learn more about Mr. Gaiman and his other writing adventures. I have heard of Coraline though never watched it, I am aware of its great reviews! And, through ardent research (more like a quick google look up), I learned he was also a novelist. Interested, I wanted to get my hands on one of his books and over the summer, by the Costco gods, I did! Though, it was not the book I was going to read first (if only they had Good Omens beside it), I picked it up anyways because it hit my kink for ancient mythology. 

Finishing it over the summer, and having this review long overdue, I still can't place my finger on what would describe how I truly think and feel about the book as a whole. 

First off, it's definitely creative, mixing in the ideas of long forgotten gods with the technological advancement and "age of technology" worship in American society. The gods were run down and beat, and tried to make a living through sorts of manipulation. It certainly was interesting seeing and learning about gods who I would have never really paid much attention to. The language and flow of the book at certain points made me speed through it, trying to quench the thirst for Gaiman's writing. 

However, there were times when I set the book down and walked away. Not to soak in the words or because I was forced to stop to do real life stuff (though it certainly did get in the way at times), but because I just got...bored. The middle acts of the book can certainly be sliced down at least a good 80 pages or so. While reading, time seemed to stretch over months and months in the book, though I was corrected and told it wasn't long at all. I believe it was the writing that paced the time and setting of the book so slow for me as a reader.

Second, Shadow's detached nature as a character 90% of the time got on my nerves. It's one thing to have a character so detached that you feel sorry for the situations they're placed in and the consequences you'll know they'll face later on within the story. However, Shadow seemed apathetic to everything, even in the end. Maybe prison has truly dulled away his senses, or maybe I've missed some of the details, since Gaiman's work often relies upon that. If so, I might need to re-read it and maybe I'll love it as much as many others have. 

Overall, the book was a good and slow summer read with great imagery of the vast American landscape as the backdrop for such modernly adapted gods. 




Have you read American Gods? What do you think of it?