50 Books Challenge, Take 2 - American Gods (Audio Book) by Neil Gaiman
The other year, I tried a challenge that was basically reading (and reviewing) 50 books in one year. I didn't succeed. (According to my notes, I only finished 35/50. I'm pretty sure I actually finished more than that, but I didn't write about them and I'm positive I still didn't reach 50.) So... this year, I'm gonna challenge myself again.
Last year, I fell in love with audio books - in particular Neil Gaiman's audio books - in particular particular, the ones read by him. During the heat wave we had in Adelaide last week, I kept thinking of the cold parts of American Gods - the chapters set in Lakeside, so I decided to listen to my copy of American Gods again.
This is my third time 'reading' it. (The first time, I read it, the other two times were the audio book.) I think it's safe to say that this is over-all my favourite Neil Gaiman book. I can see how it inspired the White Wolf Scion game. (Ya know... the one I ran for several years.) It remains relevant to my interests because I'm going to be running a Norse-only game soon. (And I am considering blogging about it in detail.)
Okay... summing up American Gods as if to someone who hasn't read it... It's about an ordinary person thrust into a magical world of modern fantasy. No, that's the plot for all Gaiman's books. Okay. Seriously.
The main character is a man named Shadow. The book starts off with him just about to get out of prison after being in for three years. All he can think about is how excited he is to see his wife again. Then he gets news that his wife has died and he gets let out a day early. On the plane home, he meets a mysterious man named Mr. Wednesday. Wednesday offers him a job. Things get... strange from there. Wednesday, as it turns out, is actually Odin. He recruits Shadow to be an errand boy/body guard while Wednesday is trying to recruit other old gods (Anansi, Czernobog, Kali, among others....) into a war against newer gods. (Personifications of the Internet and Media are major players.) Along the way, we run into Anubis, Thoth and Bast running a funeral home in Illinois, Thunderbirds, and a long, freezing winter in a very pretty northern town with a dark secret.
I find it a mark of a good book in that I can't decide who my favourite character is, because I have so many. Shadow in an interesting character to be sure, but I also really like Chad the small town cop, Easter, Thoth and the other Egyptians, and Anansi. My heart goes out to Mad Sweeney the tragic Leprechaun, and Horus who has spent so long as a hawk that it's driven him insane. My more recent delvings into fiction has also given me another, greater appreciation for Loki and the part he plays in the story. (Because of course he's in it... that bastard pops up everywhere.) Every time I read or listen to this book, I find something new - some detail I didn't catch the first time around and I can now appreciate with a smile.
Two little things continue to bug me about American Gods though. One: the Greek/Roman pantheon is almost completely absent. I think it gets the smallest, briefest of mentions, but otherwise isn't there at all. That sucks.
Two: This is a bit of a spoiler... but...
Loki pops up quite early on in the story as Shadow's former cell mate in prison. He goes by the name Low-Key. It takes Shadow forever to cotton on to this... and apparently it's meant to catch readers off guard too. It's glaringly obvious in the audio book in particular. Say "Low-Key" out loud and you'll see what I mean.
Part of me is deeply interested in the Loa and what they were up to during all this. Baron Samedi, Legba and Dambella have cameos (and the Baron has one of my favourite lines about a character who died, but was then seemingly brought back to life "Motherfuckers killed him. He died. I know death. Nobody goin' fool me about death.") but other than walking on, looking awesome, and then leaving, they don't do anything. A big part of the story is the fact that the gods need sacrifice, they need people to believe in them for them to exist, to remain healthy and strong. Last I checked, there were still plenty of people worshipping the Voodoo gods in the southern states. (And elsewhere.) I dunno... it just seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.
I would also be interested in how things would change if some more of it were written in the present day. Gaiman himself pointed out that America has changed a lot in the ten years since this book was written... if nothing else, I bet the spirit of the Internet would be even stronger than before, and Loki would be too, given how much he and Thor are in the popular media these days thanks to the MCU movies. Others have pointed out other American things that Gaiman neglected to add to this universe the book is set in. (Sports, for instance. Jesus gets a mention and a deleted scene, but it can't be denied that he could have had a bigger impact on the story.) Really, it's a huge playground that deserve greater expansion. gaiman is only one man, however. One can't expect him to think of everything. Really, I'm still mightily impressed with how much he did get in. It sure feels like America to me.
The audio book is not entirely read by Gaiman. He reads the "Coming to America" short bits. The rest is narrated and voice acted a little like a radio play. I really like the voice acting in it. All the voices seem a great match.
Anywho... so that's that. American Gods seems like one of those books you either love, or you hate. I just so happen to love it. I think it's going to be one of those I'll happily re-visit several times in the future.
Next I have the audio book for Gaiman's latest, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. We shall see how that goes.
(Also, HBO was going to do a series for American Gods, but that seems to have fallen through. A real pity, that.)
Random Quote:
(Shadow is lost in a frozen woodland. He's found a giant raven, assumed to be one of Odin's, who leads him back to a highway and tells him where to go so he can meet up with Wednesday again. While he's walking, Shadow makes an amusing request...)
Shadow: Hey, Huginn or Muninn, or whoever you are. Say 'Nevermore'.
Raven: Fuck you.
One final thing... (I might have posted this before, but oh well...) here is Neil Gaiman, Patton Oswaltt and Zela Williams (Robin Williams' daughter) reading an excerpt from the book. This is one of the funniest and sickest and most awesome things ever.
Last year, I fell in love with audio books - in particular Neil Gaiman's audio books - in particular particular, the ones read by him. During the heat wave we had in Adelaide last week, I kept thinking of the cold parts of American Gods - the chapters set in Lakeside, so I decided to listen to my copy of American Gods again.
This is my third time 'reading' it. (The first time, I read it, the other two times were the audio book.) I think it's safe to say that this is over-all my favourite Neil Gaiman book. I can see how it inspired the White Wolf Scion game. (Ya know... the one I ran for several years.) It remains relevant to my interests because I'm going to be running a Norse-only game soon. (And I am considering blogging about it in detail.)
Okay... summing up American Gods as if to someone who hasn't read it... It's about an ordinary person thrust into a magical world of modern fantasy. No, that's the plot for all Gaiman's books. Okay. Seriously.
The main character is a man named Shadow. The book starts off with him just about to get out of prison after being in for three years. All he can think about is how excited he is to see his wife again. Then he gets news that his wife has died and he gets let out a day early. On the plane home, he meets a mysterious man named Mr. Wednesday. Wednesday offers him a job. Things get... strange from there. Wednesday, as it turns out, is actually Odin. He recruits Shadow to be an errand boy/body guard while Wednesday is trying to recruit other old gods (Anansi, Czernobog, Kali, among others....) into a war against newer gods. (Personifications of the Internet and Media are major players.) Along the way, we run into Anubis, Thoth and Bast running a funeral home in Illinois, Thunderbirds, and a long, freezing winter in a very pretty northern town with a dark secret.
I find it a mark of a good book in that I can't decide who my favourite character is, because I have so many. Shadow in an interesting character to be sure, but I also really like Chad the small town cop, Easter, Thoth and the other Egyptians, and Anansi. My heart goes out to Mad Sweeney the tragic Leprechaun, and Horus who has spent so long as a hawk that it's driven him insane. My more recent delvings into fiction has also given me another, greater appreciation for Loki and the part he plays in the story. (Because of course he's in it... that bastard pops up everywhere.) Every time I read or listen to this book, I find something new - some detail I didn't catch the first time around and I can now appreciate with a smile.
Two little things continue to bug me about American Gods though. One: the Greek/Roman pantheon is almost completely absent. I think it gets the smallest, briefest of mentions, but otherwise isn't there at all. That sucks.
Two: This is a bit of a spoiler... but...
Loki pops up quite early on in the story as Shadow's former cell mate in prison. He goes by the name Low-Key. It takes Shadow forever to cotton on to this... and apparently it's meant to catch readers off guard too. It's glaringly obvious in the audio book in particular. Say "Low-Key" out loud and you'll see what I mean.
Part of me is deeply interested in the Loa and what they were up to during all this. Baron Samedi, Legba and Dambella have cameos (and the Baron has one of my favourite lines about a character who died, but was then seemingly brought back to life "Motherfuckers killed him. He died. I know death. Nobody goin' fool me about death.") but other than walking on, looking awesome, and then leaving, they don't do anything. A big part of the story is the fact that the gods need sacrifice, they need people to believe in them for them to exist, to remain healthy and strong. Last I checked, there were still plenty of people worshipping the Voodoo gods in the southern states. (And elsewhere.) I dunno... it just seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.
I would also be interested in how things would change if some more of it were written in the present day. Gaiman himself pointed out that America has changed a lot in the ten years since this book was written... if nothing else, I bet the spirit of the Internet would be even stronger than before, and Loki would be too, given how much he and Thor are in the popular media these days thanks to the MCU movies. Others have pointed out other American things that Gaiman neglected to add to this universe the book is set in. (Sports, for instance. Jesus gets a mention and a deleted scene, but it can't be denied that he could have had a bigger impact on the story.) Really, it's a huge playground that deserve greater expansion. gaiman is only one man, however. One can't expect him to think of everything. Really, I'm still mightily impressed with how much he did get in. It sure feels like America to me.
The audio book is not entirely read by Gaiman. He reads the "Coming to America" short bits. The rest is narrated and voice acted a little like a radio play. I really like the voice acting in it. All the voices seem a great match.
Anywho... so that's that. American Gods seems like one of those books you either love, or you hate. I just so happen to love it. I think it's going to be one of those I'll happily re-visit several times in the future.
Next I have the audio book for Gaiman's latest, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. We shall see how that goes.
(Also, HBO was going to do a series for American Gods, but that seems to have fallen through. A real pity, that.)
Random Quote:
(Shadow is lost in a frozen woodland. He's found a giant raven, assumed to be one of Odin's, who leads him back to a highway and tells him where to go so he can meet up with Wednesday again. While he's walking, Shadow makes an amusing request...)
Shadow: Hey, Huginn or Muninn, or whoever you are. Say 'Nevermore'.
Raven: Fuck you.
One final thing... (I might have posted this before, but oh well...) here is Neil Gaiman, Patton Oswaltt and Zela Williams (Robin Williams' daughter) reading an excerpt from the book. This is one of the funniest and sickest and most awesome things ever.
Click to view