Wednesday, February 06, 2008
[Book Review] AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman
Fiction/FantasyJesse Pool reviews AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman (W. Morrow, 2001)
Shadow Moon has had a lot of bad days. He didn't expect the day he got out of prison to be one of them. Shadow fears that the warden has opted not to release him early when he is summoned to the office a few days before his scheduled release. In a one-two punch, the warden tells him that he is free to go, and that his wife died the day before in an automobile accident with his
best-friend and would-be employer.
On his way home to sort out his wife's things, he is diverted en route and meets a mysterious Mr. Wednesday on a flight. Impossibly, Wednesday knows all sorts of things about Shadow and his late wife, Laura, and offers Shadow a job. Shadow refuses, but the persistent Mr. Wednesday convinces him after another encounter on the ground.
As it turns out, Wednesday is what is left of the Norse god Odin, who was carried to the Americas by the belief of ancient Viking explorers. Shadow soon learns that there are many other ancient gods and mythological creatures roaming the Americas, many of them immigrants, although there are a few newer gods, born of science and technology. America is a poor land for gods, however, and there is a war brewing between the old and the new gods over the limited amount of belief. The new gods seem to believe that by stomping out the embers of the old gods that they can grow in power and influence.
Many of the old gods are reluctant to join Wednesday, thinking he's looking more for a glorious last stand than an actual victory. Shadow spends his time helping Wednesday to convince the old gods to stand with him, avoiding the agents of the new gods, and trying to get his life back in order between visits from his dead wife Laura, who just can't seem to leave him alone. Shadow and Wednesday travel the country trying to gather an army before the war begins, often meeting prospective allies in odd tourist traps which are the megaliths of the new world. When the war finally comes (at Rock City on top of Lookout Mountain, no less), the final outcome lies in Shadow's hands.
Author Neil Gaiman does an excellent job of reimagining what many of the ancient gods might be like today, many of them old and decrepit from centuries of neglect and disbelief. Fans of mythology will have fun guessing at the identities of characters as they are introduced and slowly revealed for what they are. European, Egyptian, Asian, African and Russian deities all appear in the novel, as well as others that I couldn't identify. Even more interesting than the way Gaiman brings minor characters to life is his ability to portray the American landscape, from small, frozen New England towns, to the vast plains of the Midwest, through arid Native American reservations, all the way to the glitter of Las Vegas. Some of the places in the book are fictional, while others are very real. The huge cast of characters and the vastness of the American landscape make the novel feel truly epic.
Jesse Pool, Highland Branch Library
Labels: Fantasy, Reviews by Jesse Pool
[permalink] posted by Jesse Pool : 1:23 PM
Comments:
Jesse,
This book sounds very interesting. Thank you for telling us about it.
Why did Mr. Wednesday/Odin choose Shadow to be his helper?
Did the gods who came to America have a choice about coming to the New World or staying in the old one?
This book sounds very interesting. Thank you for telling us about it.
Why did Mr. Wednesday/Odin choose Shadow to be his helper?
Did the gods who came to America have a choice about coming to the New World or staying in the old one?
Doris,
I could tell you why Mr. Wednesday chooses Shadow for his helper, but then it might spoil your fun. Let's just say he has his reasons...
To answer your second question, though, the gods were brought to the New World in the minds of the people who believed in them, so in a way they didn't have a choice. However, being gods, some of them exist in more than one place (and continent), but for whatever reason they are cut off from the old world. I'm not sure if it's geographical distance or something about the land itself, because several places in the book mention that America is a bad land for gods.
I could tell you why Mr. Wednesday chooses Shadow for his helper, but then it might spoil your fun. Let's just say he has his reasons...
To answer your second question, though, the gods were brought to the New World in the minds of the people who believed in them, so in a way they didn't have a choice. However, being gods, some of them exist in more than one place (and continent), but for whatever reason they are cut off from the old world. I'm not sure if it's geographical distance or something about the land itself, because several places in the book mention that America is a bad land for gods.
Jesse,
My next question is similar to the one I asked you about William Gibson, why do you think that Neil Gaiman is so wildly popular?
Re: a previous question you wrote:
However, being gods, some of them exist in more than one place (and continent), but for whatever reason they are cut off from the old world. I'm not sure if it's geographical distance or something about the land itself, because several places in the book mention that America is a bad land for gods.
Having read part of Gaiman's Anansi Boys, I imagine that he's not afraid to address issues of race. I wonder if slavery and the treatment of Native Americans is part of what made America a "bad land for gods."
My next question is similar to the one I asked you about William Gibson, why do you think that Neil Gaiman is so wildly popular?
Re: a previous question you wrote:
However, being gods, some of them exist in more than one place (and continent), but for whatever reason they are cut off from the old world. I'm not sure if it's geographical distance or something about the land itself, because several places in the book mention that America is a bad land for gods.
Having read part of Gaiman's Anansi Boys, I imagine that he's not afraid to address issues of race. I wonder if slavery and the treatment of Native Americans is part of what made America a "bad land for gods."
What makes Gaiman so popular? Well, my best guess is that his writing is so very imaginative. Gaiman's early success came from the graphic novel Sandman series, which are very dark and gritty. He has also written books for children that certainly have a creepy factor, but are completely age appropriate. Probably the major appeal is his ability to make the magical seem almost normal while having an outsider protagonist who is very normal being pushed into another reality that coexists with our own, kind of like Alice in Wonderland.
Gaiman does go into slavery and treatment of the Indians a little in this book, but America was a land that was bad for gods even before man crossed the landbridge, if I remember.
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Gaiman does go into slavery and treatment of the Indians a little in this book, but America was a land that was bad for gods even before man crossed the landbridge, if I remember.
