Wednesday, October 12, 2011

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Interesting. Not a page to page absolute delight like Good Omens, but still an interesting premise with a quirky execution.

It seems that all the immigrant peoples to come to America (clear back to the folks who arrived via the Bering land bridge) brought their gods with them. As time passed, these became less and less the focus of their people's worship as social groups homogenized and new gods arose to supplant them. These new gods are representative of the ills and icons of American society. We enter the scene as the old gods are preparing for war with the new gods.

Shadow, the central character, has been released from prison a day ahead of schedule because of the death of his wife in an automobile accident. An unusual old man with a glass eye, who is called Wednesday, accosts him and offers him a job as his general dogsbody - and since he has nothing else to do. Shadow eventually accepts.

My friend and my daughter agree that Shadow is too passive. I see their point, but I think there is more to it. He just floats along and does as he is told for most of the story, but something like this requires an observer, and Shadow is a perfect observer. He is placed to see everything, intelligent enough to understand much of what he sees, and passes the rest on to the reader.

And I love the part about having Thoth, Anubis, and Bast run a mortuary and funeral parlor.

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