American Gods
Ratings1,612
Average rating4
I'm sorry, but I just could not bring myself to finish this book. Maybe it's because I was trying to read this during a difficult time in my life, but it just really did nothing for me. It was actually making me feel even more stressed out haha so I just put it down. I didn't really enjoy what I read..it just felt stodgy and (to me, at least) poorly written. Again, maybe I need to go back and read this when I am in a better state of mind. But for now, I'm leaving it alone.
DNF
I read to 1/5 of the book and I put it down and realized I would never pick it back up again. I got that far in it and realized that not much has even happened. I loved Stardust by Gaiman so I figured I would really enjoy this! I was very wrong. There was just way too much descriptions of the surroundings and seemingly useless information. I had no respect for the main character. I generally dislike when it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't and in this book I was just waiting for him to tell me that every single thing he saw was not real. It was just too difficult to continue. I was warned about this book but figured I would give it the benefit of the doubt.
❝People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe, and then they do not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjuration. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe; and it is that rock solid belief, that makes things happen.❞
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods
DNF @ 32%
Generally, I like Gaiman books– not always 5 stars, but enough that I can say I like them. Most I've even listened too, so I thought this book would also follow the same line for me. It did start off GREAT. I was loving this one.
Then things seemed to slow down and I realized I had no idea where the plot was going. As an audiobook, this just doesn't work for me. Note on narrators: Loved it. I love the full cast and every one of them fit and sounded great. I really liked the narrator for Shadow There are also quite a few plot lines...I think, which again is hard in audio format for me.
But, because of the slower pace and it being slightly confusing I just don't think this one is for me.
Got halfway through and gave up. It's not bad, it just didn't really grab me enough to keep going. I read enough to get the idea so I can watch it in TV now.
I ended up caring a lot more about the local lottery that Shadow takes part in than the actual storyline
God this book sucks. I heard so many good things about it and Neil Gaiman and so decided to read it. No matter how mind-numbingly boring it got I held on trying to finish the book because so many people liked it. But no, the story is about as dull as it can get Our main character is a nothing character. You can't even say he's a flat character, he is a block of wood with the ability to be where the important stuff happens. He gives no shits about anything. He's not an interesting character on the inside or out. He works for literal gods and his reaction is nothing more than the barest an acknowledgment that it is happening. His reaction is akin to finding out your fish is a different species than you thought. Sure, that's nice to know but who really cares. I'm not asking for an emotional breakdown just be interested, ask a few questions at the very least. And there is nothing interesting about the gods. the point of the story is that the gods from all the mythologies exist. Wow, that's cool, how does this affect the world in any significant way. Can we look forward to something interesting about them like lives that are even the slightest bit different from your average human? NO. They are all just depressed people. Odin is basically just a scam artist. Nothing else not even incorporating the mythology, like making him need to know stuff which was an important part of him in Norse culture. No, just some scam artist dude. The book has nothing compelling about it. The main character does not want anything. Even finding out his wife cheated on him elicits like a, I felt bad for a bit, then it was immediately cleared up, wow so much for that subplot. The gods are unlikeable to with Odin robbing people but not in a fun anti-hero way and sleeps with underage women. Then the twist at the end is treated like a big surprise. Nothing even happens for half the book.-Shadow gets hired, Loki is recruited, Shadow is kidnapped and ends up in a frozen wasteland which he easily escapes. Also, the story makes no sense. Odin and Kali and Loki are all gods of things like violence wisdom and trickery. There is no reason they should be weak because people still are violent, tricky and smart. Sure they aren't worshiped but neither is TV, people just use it a lot so they shouldn't be weak. There would just be more gods. Thereby making the entire story pointless
Gaimen's best in my opinion. Wild, archetypal, compelling, nightmarish with his trademark fairytale feel.
Just re-read it. Actually I just listened to it in Audible's full cast Author's preferred version and it was so00o good. Strangely enough I remembered the first half but the whole second half had slipped away like a dream... Hmmmm... Really looking forward to the TV adaptation.
Everyone likes this book but me, it seems. There's nothing wrong with it, exactly, but I liked it more when I read the same ideas by different authors years ago. This treatment of them is nothing special.
The mythology involved in this book is awesome, huge fan of that in general but the way it's portrayed here is/was quite unexpected.
Gave up at 56%.
I read the summary of the next two chapters and decided there's no point in continuing (for now). It's alright, I like the characters, but it's also quite boring. Things happen, but nothing really drives the plot forward. So yeah, Gaiman lost me on this one. Maybe I like another one of his better.
Overall, this book impressed me once I finally got into it. It took me picking it up and restarting it about 4 times before it finally stuck, but once I made it past the first quarter I was hooked. It’s a little long winded and difficult to follow at times, but powering through was well worth it in the end.
Between this and Good Omens, I'll just accept the fact that I don't care for Gaiman's adult books.
Yes, yes, this book has a paragraph of the amount of prizes it won and rightfully so. This is an amazingly done book with Neil Gaiman's unique storyteller writing style, the characters, the settings, and the anecdotes. However, I found the progression of the plot as well as the pacing to be such a headache that it's what brought this book to a one-star.
First, I don't think this book should've been as long as it is. Although some anecdotes were entertaining, I didn't think they affected the story all that much and honestly left me confused. I understand that it was fleshing out the world, but some stories felt up-right unnecessary along with some of the scenes lacking any point to the plot whatsoever.
For the first 100 pages it was great! The story was interesting as well as the whole world we were setting into, but everything after The House of Rock scenes felt more and more boring. I think there is some merit to not enjoy a book simply because it's boring even though it has a good theme and interesting message.
TL;DR book was boring and badly paced. On another note, I did sense some saving grace in the book so I might re-read in the distant future.
Some beautiful language in this work of fiction, however the characters, events, and scope of the novel fell outside my wavelength. There was a surreal quality to the storytelling and characters that I struggled to make meaningful. This is not a limitation of the author, rather it is a reflection of my own deficits, my lack of imagination, and my preference for literalness. I never fully appreciated Vonnegut, Voltaire, or Hesse either for similar reasons.
Overall a decent book. I enjoyed the beginning and the end, but felt the middle dragged a little and could have been cut down a little. When I first started it I thought “This is Gaiman’s best” but now I’m not so sure. Shadow was a fairly blank slate character. He had his moments but was a little dull. A good concept with an interesting plot.
It’s meandering, strange, structurally all over the place and it’s one of the best books I have read. It has bought magic to my day to day life and will stay with me forever.
Neila Geimena “Amerikāņu Dievi” ir aizraujoša grāmata ar meistarīgi izstrādātu pasauli, kurā mijas mūsdienu realitāte un senie mīti. Romānā ir daudz interesantu tēlu, kas piesaista lasītāja uzmanību. Tomēr sižets dažkārt kļūst lēns un fragmentārs, un beigas man tomēr šķita pārāk sasteigtas.
Kopumā: laba grāmata, kas piedāvā aizraujošu ceļojumu pa mūsdienu Amerikas mitoloģiju, bet var nebūt piemērota visiem lasītājiem.
The premise of the book is a fun one, but the actual plot does drag in places . . . I read the extended version and it felt . . . Well, indulgent. And certainly there are readers who would enjoy that extra indulgence! I think philosophically my views differ from the author's, so I didn't take to all the extra scenes as readily. My theory is you will adore this book if you tend toward pessimism/nihilism/”everything is meaningless” (the main character does try to die repeatedly, and the main mythology is Norse, after all). I personally am more on the curious/hopeful/universal love end of the spectrum, so I found it rang a bit hollow. That said, I also know a lot about mythology already, so I anticipated some of the twists ahead of time. I still liked seeing how they were retold, but it wasn't perhaps as “fresh” for me as it feels for others. Overall I did like the premise and the main character, but I maybe should have read an edited version!