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Libby's Reviews > American Gods
American Gods (American Gods, #1)
by
by
This book rates a 4.5 for fascinating plot and intriguing characters. Shadow is released from prison after serving a three year sentence for assault and battery. He's released two days early because his wife Laura has just been killed in a car accident. On the way home for the funeral, Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday, who through tenacity manages to hire Shadow as a driver, security guard, and errand boy. The reader is by now figuring out that something paranormal is happening. Mr. Wednesday just happens to be on the plane to which Shadow has been diverted. And he just happens to know all about Shadow and his history. Shadow tried to ditch Mr. Wednesday; he leaves him sleeping on the plane, and rents a car. As a respite from the drive, he stops at 'Jack's Crocodile Bar,' and Mr. Wednesday is there. Thus, begins Shadow's adventures with Mr. Wednesday and the first of many introductions to a long list of characters that never gets boring. Gaiman foreshadows a coming storm, that wonderfully fills the reader with dread, doom, and the weight of the storm that is coming. Early in the book, the reader learns there is a war taking shape between America's old gods and America's new gods. One of the themes of the book is trickery, an obvious and old theme from some of our oldest mythologies. But Gaiman does it well. Shadow is fascinated with coins and uses coin tricks to calm and focus himself. Mr. Wednesday is a con artist among many things, and Gaiman shows this quickly. What is fascinating is how Gaiman weaves the trickery into the tale, along with the foreshadowing, and the permeation of the normal with the surreal. He creates the story so that the normal and the surreal flow alongside each other in a credible fashion. I like the way Gaiman sticks with mostly Shadow's POV. This gives the story a more seamless feeling. Other POV's are given, but for short narrative sections. There are strong elements of mystery as the reader tries to figure out what is going to happen to Shadow. Other themes that stand out for me in the book are love lost, the struggle for identity, the place of worship in our lives, and the meanings of our gods. The narrative is epic in its undertaking of these powerful themes.
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Reading Progress
August 5, 2012
–
Started Reading
August 5, 2012
– Shelved
August 5, 2012
–
1.89%
"This book is exciting from the get go. Gaiman using a deft hand to create foreshadowing. "Shadow wondered if it was the weather: oppressive, still, and cold. It felt as if a storm was on the way, but the storm never came. He had the jitters and the heebie-jeebies, a feeling deep in his stomach that something was entirely wrong.""
page
12
August 5, 2012
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1.89%
"Something feels weird, Shadow tells his wife Laura, on the phone from prison. Dialogue between Shadow and prison-mate Sam, "Storm's on the way," said Sam. "Feels like it," said Shadow. "Maybe it'll snow soon." "Not that kind of storm. Bigger storm than that coming. I tell you, boy, you're better off in here than out on the street when the big storm comes.""
page
12
August 7, 2012
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Finished Reading
