American Gods

by Neil Gaiman

Hardcover, 465 pages

English language

Published March 26, 2001 by William Morrow.

OCLC Number:: 833825266

(11 reviews)

The storm was coming....

Shadow spent three years in prison, keeping his head down, doing his time. All he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife and to stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But days before his scheduled release, he learns that his wife has been killed in an accident, and his world becomes a colder place.

On the plane ride home to the funeral, Shadow meets a grizzled man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A self-styled grifter and rogue, Wednesday offers Shadow a job. And Shadow, a man with nothing to lose, accepts.

The storm was coming....

But working for the enigmatic Wednesday is not without its price, and Shadow soon learns that his role in Wednesday's schemes will be far more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. Entangled in a world of secrets, he embarks on a wild road trip and encounters, among others, the murderous Czernobog, the impish Mr. Nancy, and the beautiful Easter -- all of whom seem to know more about Shadow than he himself does.

Shadow will learn that the past does not die, that everyone, including his late wife, had secrets, and that the stakes are higher than anyone could have imagined.

All around them a storm of epic proportions threatens to break. Soon Shadow and Wednesday will be swept up into a conflict as old as humanity itself. For beneath the placid surface of everyday life a war is being fought -- and the prize is the very soul of America.

As unsettling as it is exhilarating, American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. Magnificently told, this work of literary magic will haunt the reader far beyond the final page. --front flap

60 editions

Dan Jones reviewed American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Review of 'American Gods' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book could be described as a fantasy novel about a war between the gods. It could be described as a travel book.

This book is about many things, but to me, I think this book is mostly the story of America, and the American experience. The story about the war between the gods is mostly a backdrop to this, more important, story.

Being written by a non-American, it focuses, to a great deal, on the immigrant experience. With America being a country of immigrants, this is especially appropriate. Some of these immigrants happen to be gods, having been imported to the mortal immigrants.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the portrait it painted of life in America, and the melting pot of cultures that make up our fair nation.

The one problem I had with this book is a mostly philosophical one. Many times the line "This is a bad country for gods" was repeated. That's something I simply can't agree with. In fact, I think the book itself disproves that. America offers the greatest variety of religious experiences in all the world. Religion is as American as baseball and apple pie.

All in all, I would recommend this book to just about anyone. I would give one fair warning, though. There are some very sexually graphic scenes in this book. These scenes are in the extreme minority, but they're hard to avoid. Besides that one caveat, this book is a great story for just about anyone.