American Gods

Woaw. Je m'étais promis de lire ce livre avant le début de la série, le pilote m'a rattrapé et tellement séduit que je me suis rué dessus et dévoré ce livre. J'adore Neil Gaiman, donc difficile d'être vraiment objectif, mais j'ai dévoré ces 600 pages à une vitesse affolante et cela faisait très longtemps que je n'avais plus su lâcher un livre à ce point. Entre la galerie impressionnante de personnages, les retournements de situations, les intrigues et ce foisonnement mythologique fantastique, je ne savais plus où donner de la tête et j'ai été complètement émerveillé et séduit. Impatient de découvrir la suite et d'en apprendre encore plus sur cet univers particulier. Un véritable coup de coeur.

(4.5 stars.) I read American Gods for the first time years ago and didn't think much of it. I decided to give it another try because everyone I know loves it, and I thought I must be missing something. I don't remember my initial reading, so I don't know what I missed, but it was definitely something; this time around, I found it to be an absorbing tale.

American Gods is a slow burn of a story. I can see why some people have given up on it. Even 3/4 of the way through I didn't understand totally what was going on, but sensed that the pieces would come together in the end. And that's exactly what happened. Sticking it out until the end is SO worth it. The story seems to have all these pieces that don't have any weight to them. Just a series of events, until the last part of the book where it is all revealed and things that seemed to be random, aren't so random and are revealed to be much more significant to the whole story than I originally thought. The twists and turns and mythic scale that it ascends too in the end was really amazing storytelling and thoroughly satisfying in the end.
The book may not be for everyone, it is quite dark and atmospheric and weird at times, but I kind of enjoyed that aspect of it.
As far as urban fantasy goes, this is far superior to the bulk of what's out there. Today the term ‘urban fantasy' has become related to stories of vampires, werewolves and supernatural creatures prowling the streets of modern cities and that ‘special' someone fighting them for us lesser mortals. Some of them are really good and fun, but a huge portion of them are shotty knock offs. American Gods is truly in a category all its own. This is what urban fantasy should be. Truly unique and well told story and characters that I won't soon forget. Well worth reading if your tired of the usual urban fantasy fair, or even if your just looking for something really good and different and mythical on a whole new level.

Picked it up when I heard that a TV series is in the works. It's an entertaining twist on modernized mythology, but it's nothing like Percy Jackson.

I had grand expectations for this novel. I'd heard such wonderful things about Neil Gaiman, and was pretty astonished that he was so successful without me knowing so. When I'd read that the series was coming to TV, I knew that I needed to read it first. Let me say here first that I read the completely unabridged version, meaning that Gaiman inserted sections that were originally cut from the novel in its first print. My trouble with this novel is that it never felt as if it truly got started. One subplot would be underway just to be abandoned for another. It took me quite sometime to understand Wednesday's goals. I felt that there was some grand plan behind this novel, so that some mission would be unraveled and completed. And yet, everything felt completely unresolved. And when it was resolved, the subplot had been left cold for so long that I'd lost interest in it's conclusions. I do believe this book is ripe for cinema because of the long stretches of America that it covers. I hope though that some larger development comes of it. I'm interested to learn how The America when it was first published will meet with the America of today.

When I first marked this book as “currently reading” I found that I'd already marked it read and given in 5 stars. So either there was a glitch or I lied to GR because I have never read this book, which is weird because it's Gaiman and it's definitely I book I know I'd like, but never got around to it until I started see cast photos of the upcoming American Gods series and decided I should read the book so I know what to be excited about. But then everyone had the same idea I guess so I waited quite a while for this book to come in on hold, but I finally got it! Success!

And my lying self from the past was correct in thinking that I'd rate this book 5 stars so here's to her. This book was great. It was exactly what I thought it would be, and I was expecting it to be lovely and weird and beautiful and gross and scary and kind and cruel. I'm very happy that I've read this book now, and I'm extra excited about the series!

It was weird, a little fucked up at times, but also pretty cool. It also made me want to stop every now and then and look up where some of the Gods mythology came from. So, overall I liked it and I'm looking forward to the adaptation.
I think I liked the interludes more than most of the main story though. They were great! (And I'm glad at least a few of those will also be part of the Starz series!)

Meh!I shouldn't have to struggle so much to read a book that's supposedly great :

4.5 stars This was great! I can't wait to see the TV show adaptation they make. Ricky Whittle is going to make a fine Shadow! :D

While I was at first worried about the length of the book I can't believe how fast it flew by for me! I really, really enjoyed this. I've always loved mythological lore no matter where it comes from so this was pretty much a perfect book for me. It was sad and tense and I chuckled a couple of times - all perfect components for good story.

Actual Rating: 4.25

This was such a good book. It's the kind of book that you can re-read and pick up on stuff that you didn't pick up on before. It was confusing at times, but only because it was meant to be.

The characters were complex and unique, and each had their own dark secrets. It was fascinating to see how each god interacted with the others. And honestly, I think that the modern/new gods of America were portrayed accurately in this novel.

I'd recommend this book to a ton of people, but there are some more graphic scenes, so you should be at least somewhat mature.

This is one weird book. Its a battle between good and bad. there are Gods,living dead not only is there a battle between the gods but also the main character Shadow battle with his conscience. Well written, colorful characters you either love this one or not but its an interesting read.

One of the best books I've ever read. I was tempted to start it all over again the second I finished.

What a surprising great book. Of course not perfect, but what book is, still an amazing read which I highly recommend.

Amaaaaaaziiiiing.

I can never watch I Love Lucy the same way ever again, however. It makes me a little sad.

I can read this book over and over and always learn something new.

I find it a little scary.

Originally finished in May 2013.

This book comes up all of the time. It seems, each time I happen upon a list of must read books, or suggested reading based on the greatest novels of whatever era/demographic/genre, I am met with Gaiman's American Gods. Let me say this, the plot was convoluted via symbolic depth. The sub-plots did jive with the story's main arch. The characters were dynamic in an odd, abstract, contemporary way. In fact, I found everything about this book to be abstract. Perhaps this is a classic case of something having been built up beyond its abilities to deliver. All-in-all, I would not recommend this to most people. That being said, there will likely be scores of university literature, creative writing, and theory based classes with this book at the heart of a great number of thesis statements. That, I believe, is justified. The artisanship of the craft, the meaning, buried beneath meaning, buried beneath plot and character certainly exists. Simply, I gave this book two stars because I found myself appreciating the work, while begging myself to finish so I could move on.

This may just be one of my favorite books.

What a FANTASTIC book... Give it a try and you'd be glad you did.

Genial, mi segundo novelón del año. Es original y complejo, pero a la vez sencillo y directo. La mezcla de mitología con cultura de masas es sublime, y sencillamente, es un libro muy recomendable.

I saw Neil Gaiman when he was a guest on the wits radio show (I went to the live recording of the show at the Fitzgerald Theater). I realized that I've never read any of his books, so I decided that I should start. This book was an interesting tale of Shadow and his discovery of the Gods of the old world that traveled with settlers to the new world. The full-cast version of the audiobook is excellent, I recommend it.

The idea behind this book is grand. The fight for America's soul... as told by a foreigner (Neil Gaiman). Good characters all around, although I wasn't as tied to the lead as I could have been.

The idea behind this book is grand. The fight for America's soul... as told by a foreigner (Neil Gaiman). Good characters all around, although I wasn't as tied to the lead as I could have been.

Everyone keeps telling me this is one of Neil Gaiman's best books, but I gotta say it is a bit too weird for my taste.
Although, that is not to say it isn't and amazing novel!

I guess it's just a matter of taste... I would prefer to re-read Neverwhere :P

Everyone keeps telling me this is one of Neil Gaiman's best books, but I gotta say it is a bit too weird for my taste.
Although, that is not to say it isn't and amazing novel!

I guess it's just a matter of taste... I would prefer to re-read Neverwhere :P

Este es el tercer libro que leo de Neil Gaiman, sin contar Sandman, que es novela gráfica. Y puedo decir, sin duda, que esta es su obra maestra. Una apasionante historia llena de mitología y sueños. El tema onírico que ha caracterizado la mayor parte de su obra, no deja de estar presente en esta ocasión, mezclándose de manera magistral con la mitología y el panteón mas diverso de todos los imaginados, pasando por los dioses nórdicos, hindúes, egipcios, africanos... Todos reunidos y re inventados por el imaginario colectivo americano. Por lo que éste ha ido convirtiendo a los dioses o creencias que va capturando en ese sincretismo cultural que es América del Norte.

Como sucede a menudo, el mejor retratista de una cultura no es alguien que nació o está inmerso en ella de forma habitual, tiene que ser un extranjero que se compromete con la misma y decide vivirla con los ojos del que se maravilla y admira los procesos por los que ésta ha tenido que pasar para crear su identidad. Así es como Gaiman afronta la tarea de narrar, a través de la mágica aventura de Shadow, el protagonista de la historia, por el mundo de los dioses que habitan América y la inminente guerra que se avecina entre los viejos y los nuevos dioses.

Una recomendación que haría, si deciden emprender la aventura de leer esta excelente obra, es que lo hagan de la mano de Google para ir buscando de manera sistemática cada uno de los nombres que aparecen en la obra, gran parte de ellos son seleccionados específicamente de un panteón determinado para darle vida a una deidad o ser mitológico de las diversas culturas que se entremezclan en la historia.

Por último, estoy seguro que un secreto que me ayudó a disfrutar con mayor intensidad la última tercera parte del libro fue que tuve de fondo música que, por alguna razón, potenció cada palabra escrita por el autor: Dr. John y su Locked Down; Danger Mouse con su épica Rome; el A.M. De los Arctic Monkeys y algunos otros discos que acompañaron de forma maravillosa el concepto del libro.

Altamente recomendable.