Thoughts on 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman

I love this novel by Neil Gaiman. I give it five stars.  It may not be jam-packed with action and that's okay.  I can read George R.R. Martin for that.  The true brilliance of the book comes within the narrative, within finishing the story of Shadow, son of Odin, and how American Gods is among many things, an allegory of the modern times.

On the surface, the story is a tale of manipulation.  The old Gods, Loki and Odin, have created a grand scheme by which they will gain power when the old and new clash.  Underneath, we find themes of the young abandoning and devaluing the old (think of nursing homes where no one visits), a lack of communication and understanding between generations, and a fundamental definition of what it means to worship.

What the hell is worship anyway? It's an interesting concept. The easiest definition is to say "worship is something that we do when we go to a church." However, as Gaiman points out cleverly in his novel, it is a much trickier devil than that.  So what are the Gods then?  Well Gaiman would say to you that they are simply beings who historically got a lot of attention.  And the reason that they got that attention defines who they are and allows them to live on for centuries and have certain magical powers. And when the attention stops, they get bitter...really bitter.  Does any of this sound familiar? Are any of you out there who are reading this thinking...I really wish I had more attention?  Are you striving to be the next American God?  I would love it if the attention-hogs in my life would sit down and read this novel. But they can't/won't read.  Attention-hogs are too busy getting attention, right? Who has time for reading?

Gaiman says over and over in his book, "This is not a good country for Gods." He's right. In America, everyone believes to some extent that they ARE A GOD which is why it isn't a good country for one.  They think, "You should be following me; you should be worshiping me and be thankful that I say hi to you." You see it everywhere, especially amongst the beautiful and the young. To elaborate, I've noticed that these people think that they are deserving of attention simply because others want to sex them up.  The word I'm searching for here is "entitlement."  The problem is, everyone in this country has got this to some degree or another--more common I think amongst men than in women. The one out of a thousand that doesn't...well, he or she has got to choose between the 999 that do think they're gods and decide whether or not he or she would like to worship that person.  You can guess where I stand, I'm the one in 999 that says "fuck you" to all the gods in my life.

I work with people who I think believe they are gods.  The same goes for some acquaintances.  You know the problem with these "American Gods" is that just like in Gaiman's book, they do nothing for you.  They just take your worship, they gain power from it, and they are absolutely useless otherwise.  They have no true interest in you at all; they just want your worship.  Heck Odin as Wednesday even steals from people to get money to entertain his buddies.  He's a thief, a deceiver, a womanizer, and a con-man.  Way to go Odin.

Everything the gods do for you is a leg up for them in some way.  And if they need to destroy you to get what they want (the war of the gods), they do so without even thinking about it.  Laura in Gaiman's book is a perfect example of this (she's one of my favorite secondary characters btw).  They destroyed her to get Shadow on the right path, only it backfired with one of the greatest tropes I've seen in a novel--coin tricks.  Personally, this book gave me a lot of perspective on life and I think I could do with less gods to 'worship' and more people like Shadow--a man that is so aptly named that he stays out of the light and thus by doing so, becomes a true hero that shines brighter than any of the other characters in the book.

This book is a masterpiece of American literature. It's a novel about America written by someone not even born on this soil.  Thank you, Mr. Gaiman and I shall read more of your books.  Oh and by the way, it goes without saying that his prose is perfect, the pacing is wonderful, and the colorful characters are taken straight out of a comic book for uniqueness, grotesqueness, and sheer fantasy.