Jenny Reviews: American Gods

The Vitals

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Release Date: 19 June 2001

Page Count: 541 (in the edition I read, which included extra stuff not found in the original)

Genre: Hard to say, exactly. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Mystery

Target Audience: Adult

Series: American Gods #1

Summary (From Goodreads)
Days before his release from prison, Shadow's wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Notes on American Gods
Oh. My. Gosh. Why I have I not read this book before? I am almost mad that I am just now reading it. This is everything I love in a book- mystery, mythology, beautiful prose, plot twists, and unforgettable characters. It is really a genre-defying book. It has won several major awards in the science fiction/fantasy world and a horror award. Don't let that scare you away- I don't like horror myself. I feel that there is no way for me to possibly convey to you, faithful reader, how much I love this book in a coherent manner. There is too much to talk about in one blog post. Go read it for yourself and then try to describe why you love it. I personally think magic is involved somehow.

Memorable Quotes
“What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul.”

“All your questions can be answered, if that is what you want. But once you learn your answers, you can never unlearn them.”

“Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives.”

Overall Diagnosis

  

*Disclaimer*

This book is what Lesley Anne calls literary fiction. I call it a reader's book (can you tell she did lots of P.R. work in her degree?). It is not fast-paced and has some weird scenes in it. I do not want you to think you are reading the next Divergent or, heaven forbid, 50 Shades of Grey. It is a book for thinkers and Gaiman spends a lot of time setting up scenes and giving readers food for thought. It will take you a bit to put the pieces together because he does not spoon feed you. Just wanted to let you know so you don't go into it thinking it is a beach read... though it was my beach read and I loved every minute of it!