American Gods
The American Gods series, Book 1
Neil Gaiman
Harper Audio
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: After three years in prison, Shadow is looking forward to freedom again. His wife Laura has waited for him back home in Indiana, and he even has a job lined up, something few enough ex-cons can say. Mere days before his release, though, he learns that his wife has died in a terrible car crash, along with the friend who was holding his job open. It is on his way to Laura's funeral and an empty future that he finds himself on a plane, seated next to a strange man, who makes him an offer he can hardly afford to refuse. Thus Shadow finds himself employed as driver and general errand boy to Mr. Wednesday... and pulled into a mysterious world of fading old gods, rising new ones, and a coming war that will decide the future of America and possibly the world.
This audiobook edition includes an interview with the author.
REVIEW: American Gods is one of Gaiman's early novel-length efforts, and one of the most beloved by his fan base, for all that it's a bit hard to sum up easily. It's a road trip novel, an ode to America (particularly the Midwest), and an exploration of the powers (and pitfalls) of human belief and the contradictory ways gods and folklore both change through the ages and remain the same, similar beats persisting through myriad songs.
It starts with Shadow as he looks forward to tasting freedom again, yet already there are premonitions of the trouble ahead (and one bit of foreshadowing that is especially obvious in the audiobook version). He has learned, through his years in prison especially, to keep his head down and not ask questions, which can work against him as a main character, as he can come across as rather passive, especially when standing next to the brash and charismatic Mr. Wednesday and other (literally) larger than life characters he encounters along the way. In other ways, his pragmatic nature helps him, as he is able to make the mental transition from a mundane existence, blissfully ignorant of the supernatural elements and ancient powers moving through the world, to one where his eyes have been at least partially opened to the greater wonders and dangers without too much backsliding or frustrating bouts of prolonged denial (a.k.a story padding). Though Wednesday is the main engine of events for much of the tale, Shadow does come into his own, at first more in a subplot involving his deceased wife and then more and more in events related to the main arc, the brewing turf war between classical gods and folklore beings and new deities of television and computers and conspiracy theories, further complicated when Shadow is contacted by a third party. From his original ignorance, Shadow must go through significant transformation and sacrifice, some forced upon him and some chosen by him as he comes to understand what's going on and where he fits into things. It's a journey that takes him across vast stretches of middle America, the classic heartland that is almost a character itself, a richly-described landscape speckled with distinct communities and roadside attractions that hide deeper secrets than the average tourist could dream existed. Interspersed throughout the story are asides and interludes about how the old gods and old ways made the voyage to the New World, and how difficult it often was for them to thrive so far from their roots. The tale sometimes meanders and occasionally threatens to stall out entirely, and it necessarily requires some intuitive leaps and acceptance of a certain dreamlike logic to integrate the many ideas and divinities, but manages to build to a solid climax, followed by a mildly drawn-out epilogue.
There were a few characters and elements that seemed underutilized by the end, and some places that felt stretched (plus one or two points that could've used a slight bit more building up), but overall the story was fairly satisfying, with a certain mythic resonance underlying the tale. It kept me interested enough to use my free time after work to wrap up the story, at least, which definitely speaks in its favor; mostly I use audiobooks to keep me marginally sane at my often-repetitious job.
(As for the author interview included in this version, it was recorded shortly after this book was released and so necessarily dates a little bit, but it's reasonably interesting and provides some insight into the inspiration and writing of the novel.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Black God's Drums (P. Djèlí Clark) - My Review
Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman) - My Review
Small Gods (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
No comments:
Post a Comment