"American Gods, 10 Years Later- As Haunting and Influential as Ever"
American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition
By: Neil Gaiman
Genres: Fantasy
Posted: August 18, 2011
AMERICAN GODS rifles through the American atlas, stopping off in small Wisconsin towns, in Chicago, Indiana, Kansas, Vegas, and others. It tumbles down roads that have no signs and roads that have far too many signs for attractions like "Rock City" and the "House on the Rock". It's a peculiar sort of fantasy novel, one that is often more "fantastic" than "fantasy." In a way, it's a small town story or perhaps many small town stories that have been shackled to something much bigger and greater, a something that seems as if it has been around, in those same small towns, since the very beginning. Too vague? It's a difficult book to describe, one of those rare books whose mood has more effect on the reader's consciousness than the actual plot.
Gaiman states in his introduction that people tend to either love AMERICAN GODS with great extravagance or virulently hate it with a frequently-voiced passion. It's a strange sort of book- one that reads almost as a metaphor that never quite fully materializes. It is not a book for sunny days (much like Gaiman's other works in that respect) but one whose reading feels almost like grief or emptiness for the bulk of the pages. There is a peace and a splendor to some chapters and an empty sort of anger in the reading of others. It seems virtually impossible to predict whether a given reader will love or hate the work- I can only say with certainty that it continues to capture the imagination long after the final page.
Book Summary
First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic—an intellectual and artistic benchmark from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. Now discover the mystery and magic of American Gods in this tenth anniversary edition. Newly updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text, this commemorative volume is a true celebration of a modern masterpiece by the one, the only, Neil Gaiman.
A storm is coming . . .
Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.
But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow’s best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.
Life as Wednesday’s bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined—it is a job that takes him on a dark and strange road trip and introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. Along the way Shadow will learn that the past never dies; that everyone, including his beloved Laura, harbors secrets; and that dreams, totems, legends, and myths are more real than we know. Ultimately, he will discover that beneath the placid surface of everyday life a storm is brewing—an epic war for the very soul of America— and that he is standing squarely in its path.
Relevant and prescient, American Gods has been lauded for its brilliant synthesis of “mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose” (Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World) and as a modern phantasmagoria that “distills the essence of America” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is, quite simply, an outstanding work of literary imagination that will endure for generations.
American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition
by: Neil Gaiman
HarperCollins
July 1, 2011
On Sale: June 21, 2011
Featuring:
560 pages
ISBN: 0062059882
EAN: 9780062059888
Hardcover