Review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Title: American Gods

Author: Neil Gaiman

Published by: William Morrow

Released: 2001

Source: Library

Summary: Shadow Moon's life has been put on hold after being sentenced to prison. Now he's served his three years and is excited to get out. He's ready to go back to his life, his wife. Life has a way of throwing obstacles though. Right before he's to be released, Shadow learns his wife has died in a car accident. Shadow is unsure of what to do, where to go.

On the plane ride home, he's assigned the seat next to a strange man who offers him a job. The man calls himself Mister Wednesday, and the job is to travel with and protect him. After some thought, Shadow accepts.

And thus begins Shadow's strange trip around America. Discovering places, people, and things that have been hidden from sight. Shadow's journey is more than he could have ever expected.

My Thoughts: I can now say I've finally read this book. Yayy!

I didn't know what to expect going into American Gods, and after finishing it, I don't even know what to say about it. The whole story was just very strange, odd. It just kind of meandered along. It did feel kind of like a road trip, where the pages are the miles, and you're ready to reach your final destination. In a way, I don't feel like a lot of stuff happened, especially considering the length of the book. Don't get me wrong though, I liked it but I feel weird about it too.

The idea of the book is interesting. Not something I believe in, but interesting. I'm a religious person. I believe in God. I wasn't offended by this book. I like to say I'm able to separate real life from fiction. Maybe I wasn't offended because it pretty much stayed away from personifying major religious figures of today. It was an interesting idea to read about. I like stuff that deals with mythology, so that could be part of the reason that I liked it. It is crazy to think of the sacrifices people made to their gods though, like blood sacrifices, people sacrifices. Even the sacrifices of the Old Testament. I couldn't imagine doing that today.

I really enjoyed Neil Gaiman's writing. Even though the story was weird, I never got bored with it. This guy can tell a story. He can get a little long winded though, but I was never bored.

I also liked the character of Shadow Moon. He's a mysterious guy. Seems like he's got a lot of stuff going on underneath the surface. I liked experiencing the story from his view.

I'm glad I finally read American Gods, and got to experience my first Neil Gaiman book! I'm pretty sure there will be others in my future. This story was very weird, but I enjoyed it. I'm interested in watching the show they made from it, but I wonder if the weirdness will be too much. This was an intimidating, long read, but I'm glad I took the journey. It was weird, but good.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

Super weird, but good.