Hi guys! Rosa here. I was supposed to be on our Folklore episode, but due to illness I sadly missed it. Instead, I’ve written this spiffy review for you of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods which we were going to discuss on the episode. It’s the first review I’ve written since high school, so go easy on me :) I hope you like it!
American Gods is in many ways an odd book, and despite finishing it several weeks ago, I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it.
The story is about a man named Shadow. After being released from prison and losing his wife on the very same day, he undertakes a road trip with a stranger; Wednesday. Who may or may not be entirely human (spoiler: he isn’t). Wednesday is preparing for a war between the old gods and the new; the gods brought to America throughout the centuries by all the different groups of immigrants and those new ones of technology and media, who are now being worshipped instead. Wednesday enlists Shadow’s protection and help to seek out his allies. This journey is weird and magical, and so is Shadow, it turns out.
I am a huge mythology and folklore nerd. I am also a Dane, and since Norse Mythology was originally what sparked my interest in this, the Vikings and their beliefs have been a life-long passion for me. Looking at the summary for American Gods, I should love this book, but to my surprise, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected I would. I know I’m almost bordering on sacrilegious here, but to be perfectly honest, this sums up my relationship with Neil Gaiman perfectly.
While American Gods was certainly magical and imaginative and like nothing I’ve read before, it also had a very messy and chaotic, almost detached feel that I didn’t particularly care for. This style suited the story well enough since we see everything from Shadow’s perspective, but I still found myself detached from the story while reading, and I missed being more engrossed. Another thing that annoyed me a little was that despite meeting several gods and creatures (and his own dead wife) along the way, it takes a while for Shadow to fully believe what is happening around him. It is entirely possible that I’m just too used to reading high fantasy where magic is valid, but nevertheless I found myself frustrated that he wouldn’t just acknowledge it already, when it was so obviously happening right in front of him. Despite these small issues I had with this book, it is a well-written, well thought-out book, and overall I enjoyed reading it. And I imagine I might enjoy it more on a re-read, actually. Preferably after having read up on Native American beliefs. While I’m pretty well-versed in European folklore, and enough in Indian and Middle-Eastern to catch the references there, too, I felt like I missed out on a lot, because I know almost nothing about Native American mythology.
On the plus side, it made me really curious, and I learned something new. Which is another gold star to American Gods; I love books that make you want to read other books. To sum up, I would recommend this book, if you like odd, imaginative stories or have an affinity for mythology and folklore (or just Neil Gaiman). But that recommendation would also come with a small warning that you might not enjoy it as much as you expect. Which could work in your favour, since I might just have lowered your expectations. You are welcome! :)
Some fun side notes for the people who have read the book (or do not mind spoilers):
Back when The Avengers movie was released, I was a little late to see it (despite being a huge Whedon-fan, but that’s neither here nor there). Having not seen the Thor film beforehand, I did not realize that Loki would play a role in this film and I also had not heard the English pronunciation of his name. So there was a while there, when everybody talked about how awesome Loki was, and all I heard was how awesome “Low-Key” was. Which in film language is a light setting. For a few months, I honestly believed the light setting in The Avengers was just so epic that everybody felt the need to talk about it. And since I’m totally the kind of person who geeks out over light settings, it didn’t even sound that far-fetched to me.
This may or may not have worked in my favour, when reading American Gods; the first time Low-Key is mentioned, I thought “HA! It’s probably Loki.” While it made me feel really clever (and I needed that after feeling really stupid for the whole “Low-Key” mix up in the first place), I also felt like I was cheated of the big revelation in the end.
Another fun fact! In case you are wondering about Odin’s choice to call himself Wednesday; in my native language most of the weekdays are named after the Norse gods. Wednesday is Onsdag (old Norse: Óðinsdagr), which comes from Odins Dag, and translates to Odin’s Day.
As a little extra treat, here’s more weekly trivia: Tuesday is Tyr’s Day, Thursday is Thor’s Day, Friday is Freyja’s Day (which is why Wednesday in this book refers to Friday as “women’s day”). And as you can probably tell, these names were adopted by the English language as well.
Don’t you just all feel super enlightened now?
Thanks for reading!
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