American Gods

Electronic resource

English language

Published Aug. 7, 2001 by Headline.

ISBN:
978-0-06-001060-7
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
52640106

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (182 reviews)

American Gods (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow.

88 editions

Took a few weeks to get through, lots of questions and answers

4 stars

I'm still not totally sure what all went on. This book is like a road trip of interesting and perplexing ideas, people, and places, something to be experienced in between when the plot picks up again. I might've missed a lot in the several weeks it took me to read this book (I had days where I didn't read it and it might've messed with retention), and I was interested in what was going on, and where the characters were going. I really was there with Shadow most of the time, because we were both trying to understand what was going on.

As far as the rules regarding gods and humanity was concerned, I couldn't really figure it out. There were many questions, some answers, and other things about the plot I just couldn't get. But I'm still gonna keep it and give it another shot. Maybe after watching the …

Review of 'American Gods' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Why I Picked It Up ##

Bookclub! Last month bookclub read a sad book. So this month the theme was "a book that was turned into an easy-going movie", so we read Stardust, and later we're apparently going to watch the movie together.

## What I Liked About It ##

Simply a varietally correct fairy tale. Quick read. Tristan remained pretty insufferable right up till the end. His change of heart was swift and abrupt, but like I've said elsewhere, love doesn't really have to make sense in fairy tales. It just happens.

I really liked the stormlords as tertiary characters, and the witches too. Pleased with how everybody's stories came to a conclusion at the end.

## What I Didn't Like About It ##

Can't really think of anything. I guess the women in the story don't have much agency. Except for the witches. Witches do whatever the hell …

Review of 'American Gods' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It's deep and dark and sometimes almost desperate, but never in a depressing way. It's intriguing and dragged me in really deep and sometimes it was even a little comforting. It's far from uplifting, which you'll need to be aware of. I don't think it makes a good beach read, but it was perfect for these dark, slightly off out of the world days between Christmas and the New Year.

Review of 'American Gods (American Gods, #1)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I made a mistake with this book, I saw it was being made into a TV series and thought I'd read the book before the show airs, my mistake was reading this so soon after reading [b:Neverwhere|14497|Neverwhere|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348747943s/14497.jpg|16534]. Neverwhere was stunning and American Gods comes across as a weak rambling sort of story. This book is Neil Gaiman's "on the road" book, it was an interesting writing style, driving and describing all the places on the route, unfortunately there were some bits that bugged me.

At the end of some of the chapters there were extra stories about some random Gods and how they ended up in America, these bits were so long, almost a book in their own right, they weren't that interesting and by the time I'd made it to the end I had forgotten what had been happening in the main story.

One of the strongest things …

Review of 'American Gods' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Well, I dunno. This was kind of a mixed bag. Maybe good fiction, like life, is a mixed bag?

Was this good fiction?
It won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Bram Stoker Awards. Good credentials all so I figure it must be good fiction but in reading it I was more impressed with the accolades then the substance of the book.

I sort of liked a couple characters. The build-up was a little boring and the resolution of the main conflict was a let down.

Review of 'American Gods' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

Hugely entertaining book, full of weirdness and references - not only the gods themselves but I could see enough subtle little literary allusions to realise there must be many more there. Also some that I suspect may just be looking too hard, but oh well - they didn't detract anything from the book....

I love the broad ambition of this story, the multiple levels it runs on, and the ease with which Gaiman can switch between those levels. It suffers a little from trying to pack too much in. By the end I was a bit tired of new characters being introduced without development, and wishing a few of the subplots had been explored better. It's both telling and a good move that when Gaiman wrote a ~sequel (Anansi Boys) he picked up one of the second-tier characters from American Gods, fleshed him out beautifully, and told a much more …

Review of 'American Gods' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

Hugely entertaining book, full of weirdness and references - not only the gods themselves but I could see enough subtle little literary allusions to realise there must be many more there. Also some that I suspect may just be looking too hard, but oh well - they didn't detract anything from the book....

I love the broad ambition of this story, the multiple levels it runs on, and the ease with which Gaiman can switch between those levels. It suffers a little from trying to pack too much in. By the end I was a bit tired of new characters being introduced without development, and wishing a few of the subplots had been explored better. It's both telling and a good move that when Gaiman wrote a ~sequel (Anansi Boys) he picked up one of the second-tier characters from American Gods, fleshed him out beautifully, and told a much more …

Review of 'American Gods' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I read [b:Coraline|17061|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg|2834844], [b:Neverwhere|14497|Neverwhere|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348747943s/14497.jpg|16534], [b:Stardust|16793|Stardust|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328433738s/16793.jpg|3166179], [b:The Graveyard Book|2213661|The Graveyard Book|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303859949s/2213661.jpg|2219449], [b:The Ocean at the End of the Lane|15783514|The Ocean at the End of the Lane|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351914778s/15783514.jpg|21500681] and [b:Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch|12067|Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392528568s/12067.jpg|4110990] before [b:American Gods|4407|American Gods (American Gods, #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1258417001s/4407.jpg|1970226] and, definitely, this one is the best. Its similarities with Sandman make this book even better than I expected, full of sophisticated discussions that I missed in his other books. I enjoyed a lot the use of Mythologies, one overlapping the other, showing the complex tapestry that is the human mind.

Review of 'American gods' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Reseña completa:http://markapaginas.blogspot.com.es/2014/08/american-gods-neil-gaiman.html

He de decir que el libro me gustó mucho, y lo hice sin saber nada de él. Creo que así he podido disfrutarlo muchísimo. Sobre todo de la primera parte en la que a Sombra vuelve al mundo después de haber pasado una temporada en prisión, y tiene que lidiar no sólo con el estigma de haber estado preso, si no que además tiene que afrontar la vida sin su esposa que recientemente acaba de fallecer. Así que no tiene nada que perder cuando accede trabajar para el "loco" del señor Wednesday.

La verdad que leyendo esta novela sentí, creí por momentos que hubiese cosas que pudieron ser. Es una sensación rara, aunque muy parecida a lo que he sentido con pocas obras. Era como si debajo de todo Gaiman te estuviese susurrando un secreto.

Review of 'American Gods' on 'LibraryThing'

No rating

Read for discussion here. A picaresque tale about a man who encounters gods from various cultures liviing in mufti in America who are threatened by new gods of consumerism and technology. See Rock City! Where the gods clash - and the House on the Rock where ... well, you kind of have to be there. A strange and entertaining hero's journey through tacky American tourist spots and creepily idyllic small towns.

Review of 'American Gods' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This was a reread for my book club, I indulged myself and purchased the 10th anniversary edition for the reread. Loved it. On this round I gave myself leave to google the mythology, but it was difficult to abandon the story once I got into it. I have a list of characters to look up. Looking forward to our discussion, this is waaay out of the box for a couple in our group.

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