American Gods

by Neil Gaiman

[clementine]

3.5 stars

You know, I didn't love this as much the second time round. I do really enjoy Gaiman's prose and storytelling in general, and it's no doubt that his ability to synthesize various plotlines, mythologies, and ideas into one coherent novel is admirable. But I guess I find the traditional gods vs. new gods thing sort of heavy-handed at this point? And the Lakeside murder plot was super interesting and one of the things that really stuck with me from the first time I read this book, 4 years ago, but it does seem like an entirely different story. I seemed to like that about it 4 years ago, and I don't mind that the scope of the novel is generally large, but the Lakeside bit really sticks out like a sore thumb to me. If it were its own novel I'd totally read it. Anyway, I think this novel is hugely ambitious and executed pretty well, but it's not without its flaws. I'll still hold onto it, and I might even revisit it. I think it's possible to enjoy a book that you think has pretty obvious, large flaws.

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Original review from January 20, 2013:

You know when you're aware of a book for a really, really long time and you have some preconceived notion about what it's going to be like and then you read it and it's not that thing at all and then you don't even know what the hell you thought it was going to be?

Yeah. This was that book. I don't even know how long I've known that it existed. A long time, really. For some reason, there was always a part of me that was like, "You won't like Neil Gaiman," and I literally have no idea why, but this was a thing that I thought, despite the fact that, like, all of humanity likes him. And then my friend Ashley recommended him to me, and I was like, "Okay, noted." But my mental "to-read" list is jumbled and even though it's miles long whenever I'm in the vicinity of a bookstore I forget everything on it and I just never got around to buying it. Then Christmas happened, and Ashley sent me this book, which was a very polite but firm way of saying, "Okay, READ THIS FUCKING BOOK."

So I did. And it was totally not at all what I expected. In a good way.

Honestly, by the time I actually started it, I was pretty sure I was going to like it, despite all my years of thinking otherwise. It has been determined that Ashley and I have very similar taste in books, so I was like, "Yes, okay, I will like this." But, I don't know, it was just different from what I envisioned.

It was sprawling, and atmospheric, and realistic (which is hilarious considering the subject matter). It had depth and warmth and character. Like, it wasn't just a really great execution of an interesting idea - it had zest. A lot of it, in fact. That's what took this from an ambitious, well-executed project to, like, WOW.

I think what was most impressive was how much it covered. There was the mystery of the annual disappearances (which, by the way, I figured out like half a page before the reveal, and gasped), there was everything with Laura, there was everything surrounding Shadow's work for Wednesday. Like... it felt like a bunch of books all in one: a portrait of a small town, a disturbing mystery, a modern war tale. So much happened. Things were constantly happening. But it never felt like there was too much going on, at all, even though THERE WAS SO MUCH GOING ON. Even at the end, when you're like, "Well, okay, things are going to wind down now," NO, THERE IS MORE. So much more. And I loved that!

I also loved the characterization. There were a lot of characters, and I just liked them all. Even the minor characters were developed sufficiently enough for me to have a soft spot for them (Chad Mulligan, y'all. He was awesome), and there were, of course, characters who were kind of assholes but I liked anyway.

I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea. I can see why. But I thought it was utterly fantastic, and it has certainly earned a place on my favourites shelf - both virtually and physically.

This review was a ramble and I didn't really say much. But, whatever. I liked it. There you go.