Recent Reads: American Gods
I finally read American Gods. It's oft talked about, referenced, and used as an example, and it was high time I got my butt through those 465 pages of pure Neil Gaiman bizarro genius. Mostly, when people discuss this book, they sit strongly on one side of the fence or the other: they love it or they hate it. I hate how often and sweepingly that you-love-it-or-you-hate-it statement is made, but in this case, it's so true, I really mean it.
In the beginning, I was pretty skeptical--it's weird, it's slow, it's confusing. But with the whole novel under my belt now, I can firmly say I'm in the "love it" camp.
It's still definitely freaking weird. But when has anything written by Neil Gaiman not been freaking weird? It's weird in a completely brilliant way. I was also worried about the pacing; critics complain how it's a meander without plot, and I generally hate that kind of book. I was afraid with my tiny, commercial-genre-fiction attention span, I'd wind up bored out of my mind. In hindsight, I will say it is slow, and it is pretty much a meander without plot, but I still enjoyed every page.
My first impression of the protagonist, Shadow, was that he wasn't my type of protagonist at all. He didn't seem to have much personality, and what personality he did have, just didn't seem like my kind of guy. However, that impression proved completely wrong. His personality is masterfully subtle. It's solid, funny at times, and as mild and reserved a person he may be, it's a constant force driving the story. I love him, and I love all the other characters, too.
Another area that blew my mind was the beauty of the complexity. So much is going on (and I was so lost and floundering early in the book), I started keeping a list in my head of things I wanted to look up more about after I finished reading. By the end of the book, every question I had was answered. Everything wrapped together, fitting into their places like the intricate tiles of a thousand-piece puzzle. All the mysteries were explained to my satisfaction--even the little side mysteries--and not only that, they were gorgeous in how they pieced together. The climax and ending itself was a perfect "surprising yet inevitable" twist that made me all excited and giddy to figure out.
All in all, American Gods is a unique read. Near the end of the novel, things get really nuts, with switching between past and present, introducing new POVs, shifting narrative distance close and far, dipping into omniscient, even breaking the fourth wall. The beginning is slow and confusing, the plot is almost impossible to find, and the structure full of interludes and other bizarre narrative devices gets difficult to follow. Despite all that, it's a masterpiece, and I see why it won the awards it did, and why it's spoken about so frequently. As Stephen King said for one of the cover quotes, "Gaiman is a treasure-house and we are lucky to have him."
In the beginning, I was pretty skeptical--it's weird, it's slow, it's confusing. But with the whole novel under my belt now, I can firmly say I'm in the "love it" camp.
It's still definitely freaking weird. But when has anything written by Neil Gaiman not been freaking weird? It's weird in a completely brilliant way. I was also worried about the pacing; critics complain how it's a meander without plot, and I generally hate that kind of book. I was afraid with my tiny, commercial-genre-fiction attention span, I'd wind up bored out of my mind. In hindsight, I will say it is slow, and it is pretty much a meander without plot, but I still enjoyed every page.
My first impression of the protagonist, Shadow, was that he wasn't my type of protagonist at all. He didn't seem to have much personality, and what personality he did have, just didn't seem like my kind of guy. However, that impression proved completely wrong. His personality is masterfully subtle. It's solid, funny at times, and as mild and reserved a person he may be, it's a constant force driving the story. I love him, and I love all the other characters, too.
Another area that blew my mind was the beauty of the complexity. So much is going on (and I was so lost and floundering early in the book), I started keeping a list in my head of things I wanted to look up more about after I finished reading. By the end of the book, every question I had was answered. Everything wrapped together, fitting into their places like the intricate tiles of a thousand-piece puzzle. All the mysteries were explained to my satisfaction--even the little side mysteries--and not only that, they were gorgeous in how they pieced together. The climax and ending itself was a perfect "surprising yet inevitable" twist that made me all excited and giddy to figure out.
All in all, American Gods is a unique read. Near the end of the novel, things get really nuts, with switching between past and present, introducing new POVs, shifting narrative distance close and far, dipping into omniscient, even breaking the fourth wall. The beginning is slow and confusing, the plot is almost impossible to find, and the structure full of interludes and other bizarre narrative devices gets difficult to follow. Despite all that, it's a masterpiece, and I see why it won the awards it did, and why it's spoken about so frequently. As Stephen King said for one of the cover quotes, "Gaiman is a treasure-house and we are lucky to have him."
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