I’m a little over halfway through Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, and at this point I have to ask: does it get any better? So far I am almost thoroughly underwhelmed. After reading all the critical praise – I think it even won the Hugo award – I was expecting something more. It’s not a lousy book, it’s just that I’m 60% through it and nothing is happening. We know that the old gods are still alive and are weakening because nobody believes in them anymore; a new pantheon of hip, modern gods (analogous to TV and the Internet) are threatening the rule of the old gods, and that’s pretty much it. It’s a good idea, an intriguing set-up . . . but then nothing happens!
The hero is a cipher, expressing little reaction to any of the strange things that are happening to him and thus making him hard to identify with. He wanders around, meets different gods, some of whom are interesting but none of whom do much of anything, and finally ends up living in a quaint little town under an assumed name, where the townsfolk are so down-home, down-to-earth, and generous that they could only exist on a TV show. Characters come and go at random – and sometimes reappear in what look to be astounding coincidences. In fact, pretty much everything that happens seems like Gaiman just made it up as he went, with no clear idea of where he was going beyond the initial idea of, well, American gods.
By the way, I like Neil Gaiman’s other work – I’m in the middle of reading the Sandman collections, and I really enjoyed Neverwhere, but sometimes I think he gets more praise than his work deserves. So to those who have read all of American Gods: should I even bother to finish it? Does it get any better? Is Gaiman just setting up all these apparent loose ends for a really whiz-bang finale that ties everything together and proves me totally wrong? I hope so, but somehow I doubt it . . .
I thought is was good, but not as good as I was expecting. Like you, I had heard a lot of hype about it and I guess I was hoping for something remarkable.
It does pick up toward the end. Things are tied together in a satisfying way by the conclusion. Definitely worth finishing. YMMV.
The idea behind American Gods is just needlessly nostalgic and preachy. Pardon me if I don’t mourn the passing of the Russian god to whom people used make human sacrifices by smashing their skulls.
Perhaps I’m a little jaded, because this theme came out in quite a bit of Gaiman’s Sandman, and I’m getting a little tired of it. It was one thing in Sandman to see Bast gird her loins for one last effort. There was no self-pity or maudlin preachiness there. In American Gods, the whole thing reeked of “Woe is us! Look what we have lost!”
Well no, sparky, it hasn’t been lost. We still know that they used to burn babies alive as a sacrifice to Baal. We just don’t do it anymore. And that’s a good thing.
Bah. Pardon me. Gaiman is absolutely brilliant. Fabulous artist. I love him and his de facto mentor, Alan Moore. But he’s just not as good a straight fiction writer as he is a graphic novel writer. He shines in comic books.
Agree with Tangent. The apparent randomness and odd things that you are noticing are in fact explained. I imagine you will be satisfied when you finish it, but still not all the impressed.
Well, duh. They’re gods. Gods live by sacrifice. They make no apologies for what they do.
It’s still kind of pathetic to think of a Thunder God living in an old ratty apartment in Chicago. And we can still pity them, even when they wouldn’t have pitied us for a second.
And yes, it does get better. And proves the point I make here, even more…
I am logged on via dial-up, so doing an SDMB search at this time of day is pointless. I say that because I posted a thread here a few months ago about basically the same topic.
IMHO, AG is a potentially interesting idea very poorly executed. It does not get any better towards the end, and (again, IMHO) the ending is silly and disappointing. No need for spoilers.
I was stunned when it won the Hugo (or whatever award it won). Must’ve been more of a lifetime achievement for Gaiman, who has done great work, but this ain’t it.
I adored ‘Sandman’ and have really liked some of Gaiman’s work, but AG was disappointing to me. A great concept, a few good scenes, and hundreds and hundreds of pages of nothing in particular. This should have been a much better novel than it was.
I’m about to give a very vague opinion about the ending(s), which may cound as a spoiler, but I really don’t think so. It’s safe to read, but just in case some space:
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Just read it myself. It starts real well, turns into a real page-turner. But, as the OP states, it reaches a certain stasis, and then…the promised climax is underwhelming, for reasons I won’t give away, and that also goes for the resolution of the missing children mystery (why even tack that on there?)
It reminded me of some of Stephen King’s books. As far as plot goes, he makes lots and lots of antes, which keeps you hooked, but when the cards are shown, it’s a weak hand.
Though I was kept entertained by trying to figure out who the various gods were supposed to be. And I’m a big fan of Ginesh; I was happy to see him when he showed up. And Gaiman has a knack for imagery.
An aside: I am still being driven crazy trying to find out who the ‘forgettable’ god is, the one in Las Vegas. Seems no one really has an idea, though there are several guesses. And someone asked Gaiman himself, who replied, quite coyly, that he himself couldn’t remember.
Anyway, Winston, it’s such a quick read that you might as well finsih it.
I too read all the ‘hype’ before I read the book - and I was also disappointed.
It’s not a bad book and the characters are well developed, but it’s overlong and it’s conclusion isn’t really satisying enough for the time it’s taken to get to it IMHO
That said - unless you finish the book you’ll never really know if it is/isn’t something you’ll appreciate - so…
If you’re 60% of the way through the book and really not loving it, then no, it won’t get any better for you. Personally I loved it, but hey, not everyone’s going to. Sorry you didn’t like it, I suggest tossing it aside and picking up something else. Life’s too short to waste on a book you aren’t liking just so you can say you finished it.
What everyone else has said… great premise, so-so execution, a lot of nice scenes along the way, and it does resolve, but it does so very unsatisfyingly (to me, at least).
But it is short enough that you may as well finish it.
I was vaguely disappointed by American Gods as well, but then I forgave it because it referenced allthese little places up in Northern Wisconsin, (where my Granparents have a cottage that I visited many times as a child), and he got the FEEL of the places right.
Definitely my least fav Gaiman work though. And I absolutely adore his other novels, Neverwhere and Stardust, which many people don’t like either.
American Gods should have been a wonderful short story or short novel about an elaborate grift of (pardon the pun) god-like proportions. Too bad Gaiman padded to 500+ pages and forgot to make the conclusion compelling, or make the reader (i.e. ME), care whether anyone lived or died.
The worst thing about American Gods, to me, was the overwhelming mediocrity of the novel. Aside from a few spots near the beginning, the novel seems content to merely build up to a mild climax and a drawn-out postscript. In the end, I had the curious non-sensation one receives after reading such a book; there’s nothing to really love or really hate about it. It just flounders about in mediocrity.
This isn’t a direct spoiler, but it does spoil the “theme,” if you will, and you shouldn’t read it until you’ve come to the climax of the book:
I think by the end the book comes down pretty clearly in agreement with you – it is a good thing that we’re no longer sacrificing babies to these jokers. Still, there’s something sad about the concommitant loss of majesty in the world.
I liked it a lot. It was the first work by NG I had ever read (besides Good Omens) so I didn’t really have any preconceptions. I think it deserved the Hugo. It isn’t a perfect work, but I thought it was good overall and various bits were absolutely wonderful. I do think it had some structure problems. On other note, I’d be one of the last people to agree with the whole nostalgia thing, but I honestly don’t think that’s what Gaiman was getting at. Whatever, we all have our own interpretations, I suppose.
If you don’t like it so far, though, I doubt reading further will improve your opinion.
I loved it, but then I didn’t know about the hype when I read it. I can see how it would totally suck if I was expecting something out of this world, though. And I totally didn’t pick up the nostalgia vibe, so maybe we’re reading it on different levels. (As an aside: graphic novels, ay? I’ll have to check those out.)
I loved it! Maybe it is because I am an obsessive fan and fellow writer who feels Gaiman can’t do wrong, maybe it is because I am a fast reader, so parts of the book that were “dragging on” or “slow” passed quickly for me, maybe it is because I am ~if I must be labeled~ pagan and believe this could happen (I mean about the Gods dying) or maybe… maybe I was drunk when reading it. Who knows!
I didn’t feel it was padded. Hell, I’m sittin’ here, scratchin’ my head, wondering exactly what could have been taken OUT of it that would not have harmed the story.
Then again, Gaiman seems to be one of those authors you either love or hate…
This does not necessarily follow. I love Gaiman. Always have, and I started reading him in comic appearances probably 15 years ago. I still think American Gods was sub-par.