Neil Gaiman American Gods [Author's preferred text] (2004)
These are gods who have been forgotten, and now might as well be dead. They can be found only in dry histories. They are gone, all gone, but their names and their images remain with us.
It's a good idea to be given a reason to read outside your comfort zone. To shake your reading up a bit. I would never have selected American Gods of my own volition, although I have heard good things about Neil Gaiman, as I consider that I'm just not a very 'fantasy' type of reader. However, I am polite and as such I could hardly refuse to read my younger brother's Christmas gift to me - and I can highly recommend the outcome of having good manners. {grin}
Of course, as soon as I began American Gods, I realise that it was right up my mythologically-inclined alley (so to speak). The story of the journey of Shadow across America in the service of the mysterious Mr Wednesday reads like an epic in its 'big' theme of the battle between the Old - European/Norse - Gods (brought to America with her immigrants) and the New Gods who represent (i.e., who are) technology and all its spin-offs. If you like mythology and you like trying to figure out who are/were the mysterious figures who populate this book, then this book is for you. Amongst all of the repositionings of archetypal storylines (in the Jung/Campbell sense) and characters there are also many interesting byways to distract and hold the reader: a small crime story interlude; a spot of erotica; and so on.
'Maybe,' he said. 'Maybe I can get some kind of a happy ending.'
'Not only are there no happy endings,' she told him. 'There aren't even any endings.'
In sum: um, Homeric road movie? American Gods is a great read. My only caveat is that it is very, very long and I wondered, as I read, how much shorter is used to be before it was republished as the 'author's preferred text'. Actually, I checked: the answer is 12,000 words longer. So, it was always a very large book.
Rating: 8/10.
If you liked this... I've heard good things about Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Maybe I can get into this fantasy stuff after all.
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