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A review by ethancf
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5.0
Read for Glenview Library Podcast
I read this...5 years ago, according to Goodreads. Barely remembered anything aside from a few of the minor twists, but revisiting on audio (full cast, perfectly-casted terrific audio!) was a great semi-quarantine activity as work is slowly reopening.
One of the common complaints about this is that Gaiman takes this premise of gods walking among us and turns it into this pedestrian road trip sprinkled with magical realism. But I think that complaint - while valid - fails to recognize that that's exactly the point. It's just a road trip novel in disguise as a fantasy novel. The book can get a little humdrum and certainly has long stretches where absolutely fuck-all happens (oddly, my favorite parts), but as a ponderous exploration of folklore's impact on culture and the replacement of that culture with new values, it works. It's serviceable enough, and there are just enough great characters to keep you flipping the pages. Tradition v Modernity isn't the most original story line in the world, but Gaiman's a clever enough storyteller to make it work with a few deft flourishes.
On the other hand, if you only want to read one Gaiman about folklore and its influence on our world, skip this one and just read Sandman?
I read this...5 years ago, according to Goodreads. Barely remembered anything aside from a few of the minor twists, but revisiting on audio (full cast, perfectly-casted terrific audio!) was a great semi-quarantine activity as work is slowly reopening.
One of the common complaints about this is that Gaiman takes this premise of gods walking among us and turns it into this pedestrian road trip sprinkled with magical realism. But I think that complaint - while valid - fails to recognize that that's exactly the point. It's just a road trip novel in disguise as a fantasy novel. The book can get a little humdrum and certainly has long stretches where absolutely fuck-all happens (oddly, my favorite parts), but as a ponderous exploration of folklore's impact on culture and the replacement of that culture with new values, it works. It's serviceable enough, and there are just enough great characters to keep you flipping the pages. Tradition v Modernity isn't the most original story line in the world, but Gaiman's a clever enough storyteller to make it work with a few deft flourishes.
On the other hand, if you only want to read one Gaiman about folklore and its influence on our world, skip this one and just read Sandman?