Tuesday, June 17, 2008

American Gods

I LOVED this book. But it is very strange. Even more so than The Thirteenth Tale. I think you have to be in a certain mood to read this. The words that come to mind when I try to describe it are Strange and Mighty.

The book, by Neil Gaiman, centers on a recent prison parolee named Shadow, who becomes the focus of a war in America. The war is between the Old Gods of America and the New. The Old include all the creatures and spirits that people brought over to America with them when they immigrated here: their versions of Odin, Anansi, the Queen of Sheba, The Zorya, etc. The New include things like Technology, Media, Credit, etc.

It is brilliant, but also disturbing. NOT a PG read. The strangest little piece of this book as far as I'm concerned is the part about a goddess (Bilquis) whose girl parts actually eat men. Just so you know.

So now that you know that, if you want a very intelligent, thought-provoking, uniquely fun and entertaining and intriguing read, go for it! It was one of the best books I've read recently, and I'm planning to get my hands on another Neil Gaiman book in the near future.

1 comment:

Tasha said...

I've never read Neil Gaiman. I don't know if this is a good one to start with, but I'm curious about him. I also want to read The Thirteenth Tale, which didn't interest me at first, but I keep hearing/reading about it.