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American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel
Written by Neil Gaiman
Narrated by George Guidall
Editor's Note
Dark & otherworldly…
Not just for the fantasy lover, realists will also relate to this dark and otherworldly criticism of American idolatry and deeply emotional tale of love lost.
Description
For the three years Shadow spent in prison, all he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife and stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But days before his release, he learns that his wife has been killed in an accident, and his world becomes a colder place.
On the plane ride home to the funeral, Shadow meets a man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday, a self-declared grifter, who offers Shadow a job.Shadow, a man with nothing to lose, accepts. But he soon learns that his role in Wednesday's schemes will be far more dangerous than he could have ever imagined.
American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. Magnificently told, American Gods is a work of literary magic that will haunt the listener long after it has been heard.
About the author
Neil Gaiman is an award-winning author of books, graphic novels, short stories, and films for all ages. His titles include Norse Mythology, The Graveyard Book, Coraline, The View from the Cheap Seats, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neverwhere, and the Sandman series of graphic novels, among other works. His fiction has received Newbery, Carnegie, Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Eisner awards. The film adaptation of his short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” and the second season of the critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated television adaptation of his novel American Gods will be released in 2018. Born in the UK, he now lives in the United States.
Reviews
What people think about American Gods [TV Tie-In]
4.2Reader reviews
- (4/5)I've been meaning to read this one for a long time, though various factors have intervened. It was indeed good. I particularly liked Wednesday, and Shadow was strangely winning for such a deliberately blank protagonist. I liked the Lakeview sections, but I found that they distracted quite a bit from the main thrust of the book. The cast of supporting characters and the historical interludes add a great deal to the book's charm and richness.Audiobook-specific note: I'm not sure I'd recommend listening to this one as an audiobook. I think the action would benefit from a faster reading than this form provides. Also, while Guidall's reading is generally excellent, his voice for Laura partakes of the annoying falsetto he sometimes uses for attractive or flirtatious female characters, which made her even less sympathetic as a character than she already was.
- (3/5)This is among the darkest of Neil Gaiman's books (and most of them are somewhat dark). I never got bored reading this, although with the Author's Preferred Text, there were some meandering sections that I felt were better left out.
- (5/5)Rich, dark, interesting, frightening, beautiful to read. An instant favourite.
- (3/5)I truly wanted to like this book. But the novel never achieved that magical moment where I was 'in' the story and the plot became compelling. The premise was good, the characterizations were interesting (I liked Shadow) but the appearance of his wife Laura threw me off and I didn't like the intrusion of this dead woman. The story became so convoluted, I was constantly derailed trying to work out what was going on. I never really felt that Mr. Wednesday was an Odin-based character, either. Maybe I've been influenced by many other Norse God tales, which I liked better.
- (5/5)An outstanding book, beautifully read. The edition I listened to included an interview with Mr. Gaiman, which was delightful.
- (4/5)I read this a number of years ago, and remember feeling fairly "meh" about it. Nevertheless, I was excited to hear it was being adapted into a TV series. I watched most of the first season with a friend who loved this book, who had read/listened to it multiple times, and who would nitpick the changes with me (hardly any of which I remembered) after each episode.The whole thing got me curious for a reread, but I'd offloaded my copy years and years ago, I thought the new copies were ugly (what is with this terrible new cover aspect ratio I'm seeing all over sf shelves?), and no used copies seemed to exist in stores, because of the TV show.I was shocked when I saw a reasonably priced copy (that looked just like my old copy -- bonus!) at Curious Books, so I snatched it up immediately.I definitely got a lot more out of it this time around, due to premade emotional connections to the characters via the TV show, but I suspect more importantly, that this time around I know approximately 1600% more about Norse mythology. Of course, it's not only the Norse pantheon that is important in this book, but it's pretty front and center.Speaking of which, surrounding the final conflict and its resolution are a series of reveals of various characters and mysteries in the story. Before my reread, I only remembered ones of these reveals, and that was probably what I would have told you the book was about, had you asked. This time around that part of the storyline felt much less central, as I got more about of the Norse-related portions.Lesson learned: while a familiarity with Norse myths is not absolutely essential, I'd say it definitely would increase your engagement with this book. Fortunately, Norse mythology is now kind of everywhere in our culture, thanks partly to the MCU and also to Neil Gaiman himself.