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 …
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.