American Gods

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Gaiman, Neil	4-week checkout	Due 04-27-2024
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Gaiman, Neil	4-week checkout	Due 05-02-2024

"Author's preferred text."
"With a special introduction by the author"--Dust jacket.
Includes author interview and reading group discussion questions.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A fictious yet serious look at Paganism submitted by Jen Chapin-Smith on August 23, 2012, 4:52pm A fascinating tale about the Old Gods directly connecting, communicating and affecting the life of one modern-day man. It is fiction, but it provides much food for thought about sprituality and takes modern Paganism seriously.

Neil Gaiman's novel posits that all the gods-- Pagan, Abrahamic, etc.--are indeed real, but that our belief in them affects how powerful they are.

Genius submitted by burnsh on July 19, 2013, 11:09am This is my favorite book of all time. Neil Gaiman impresses once again with this incredible work of art. The story is completely engrossing and extremely intricate. You never know what is going to come next and will never want to put it down. It is clear how much time, research, effort and love went into this book. The depiction of gods and deities from across several cultures is very interesting and adds lots of varying perspective.

Another great book submitted by asopijw65 on August 26, 2016, 1:14pm Another great book by Neil Gaiman. Dives into modern views on religion, culture, and belief. Definitely worth the read. Will also be made into a TV series soon! Looking forward to it!

couldn't finish submitted by 21621031390949 on August 25, 2017, 7:39pm Eeek. Reading previous great reviews, I'm wondering what I missed. I just couldn't get into this book of fantasy.

Great read!! submitted by Heidi Miles on June 21, 2018, 5:48pm This is a great book!!

Another winner from NG submitted by jessNU on July 27, 2018, 11:50pm Wonderful, brilliant book. I also recommend the TV show by the same name.

American Gods submitted by lstorc on August 6, 2018, 4:22am The first time I read it, I was totally engrossed. I still am upon rereading it.

Meh submitted by majean on August 16, 2018, 2:58pm I have not read the author's preferred text, so perhaps doing so would improve my opinion. I am a big Gaiman fan, but this book just didn't do it for me. It felt disjointed and dull, and Shadow was an unrealized character with little depth. It is also distinctly lacking in female characters when compared to the plethora of men. Everyone kept telling me what a unique an mind-blowing idea gods created in/by our modern world was, but I read it years ago in Harlan Ellison's "Deathbird Stories," so this was a been there, done that plot device for me. It would not surprise me at all if Gaiman was influenced by Ellison in creating "American Gods."

Clever submitted by gxtan on August 17, 2018, 12:10pm A modern-day fantasy mythological tale. Incorporates characters from various mythologies, and has a Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide flavor to it.

Good submitted by zmclaugh on July 25, 2019, 8:27am A good idea and interesting plot with a rather forgettable main character.

So Imaginative submitted by saturn on August 17, 2020, 6:16pm This book really plays to Gaiman's strengths. I really loved the reimagining of old gods for the new world.

Meh submitted by jacks404 on July 27, 2021, 7:47pm Glad I read it though since it comes up on lots of classic fantasy lists.

All the pantheons meet in America submitted by KatieD on August 17, 2021, 3:14pm The premise of this book is that when people travel, they bring their gods with them. Thus there are practically all the pantheons of the world in America, but these deities are different from their original counterparts; they are distinctly American. One man encounters a deity and gets wrapped up in a brewing war between the old gods of America and the new gods. I thought it was very imaginative and very ambitious. It is very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will add that, unlike much of Gaiman's other work, this is very much an adult book with some descriptions of adult themes and violence.

Excellent read submitted by gf94 on June 17, 2022, 10:05pm Excellent read by Neil Gaiman that examines the world of old and new “gods” in the 21st century.

American gods submitted by lopezhin on July 24, 2022, 6:28pm I picked this up after getting it recommended to me since I loved hitchhiker guide to a galaxy!

I enjoyed the exploration of gods (across cultures!). And the exposition and how they came to this world was truly enlightening. I wished the pacing was a little better, it felt really slow and then fast towards the end. Really great twists!

Least favorite of the author submitted by 16macleod_ian on June 21, 2023, 7:30pm Neil Gaiman's books tend to be witty and silly and a little adult. This one is less amusing and more focused on heavy symbolism and reference to various mythos. I found this to be the least enjoyable to read of all of the novels I have read of his.

A favorite submitted by trina05 on August 8, 2023, 11:06pm I thoroughly enjoyed this book