#AmReading – American Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2001) – Shadow is an ex-con trying to leave the memory of his wife’s death and infidelity behind him. The mysterious Mr. Wednesday hires him as a bodyguard. It’s a job that will take him across the country, and reveal his boss’s deeper identity.

It did not take long for me to experience that feeling after I began reading “American Gods”. It wasn’t a surprise that it was that good. It’s Neil Gaiman, for god’s sake! I haven’t read a lot, but I’ve enjoyed what I have read. His reputation for quality writing is well-founded and deserved. Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker award winner. Newberry and Carnegie medal winner. Master of multiple forms of writing, including my beloved short story.

This book did nothing to change my opinion.

Wandering through the heartland of America are some of the “old gods”. Ancient powers whose time came and went. But they remained, and they still have deep powers and deep desires. As humanity moved from the Old World to the New, they brought these old gods with them. In this new environment, they survived but neither thrived nor died. Gaiman makes the cold of winter in the Midwest radiate off the page. The balance of Wednesday’s personable but dangerous personality measures out in beautiful detail. All of the many parts of the bizarre world that Shadow enters are handled with precision. It sucked me in, held me fast and poured the story into my mind.

I give it the ultimate writer to writer accolade. As I read I kept thinking, “I want to write this well.”

Gaiman combines elements of horror, fantasy, mythology with our national mythology to create a world that feels familiar while taking us to a place we’ve never been before. It’s everything you could want from a story.

“American Gods” was a book I didn’t want to put down, and one I didn’t want to end.

Rating -**** Recommended