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American Gods

The Tenth Anniversary Edition - Author's Preferred Text

By Neil Gaiman, Neil Gaiman (Preface)

(597)

| Hardcover | 9780062059888

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Book Description

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 thContinue

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.

Critics

American gods

Dopo tre anni di galera, Shadow sta per tornare a casa. Sa già cosa lo aspetta, ci pensa giorno e notte da un casino di tempo: il sorriso di sua moglie Laura, e un nuovo lavoro nella palestra del suo migliore amico, Robbie. Stavolta Shadow starà lont ... (read full critics)

mangialibri published on Fri, 17 Feb 2012

American Gods

Neil Gaiman è un premiato scrittore, sceneggiatore e fumettista inglese - famoso per la serie illustrata di Sandman, per alcuni romanzi diventati serie TV o film di successo, come Nessun Dove, Stardust e Coraline e per la sceneggiatura de La leggenda ... (read full critics)

sololibri published on Thu, 16 Feb 2012

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39 Reviews

8 people find this helpful

I have to admit I was highly disappointed by this book, which is loved by so many of my friends.
The first 100 pages are quite good, and I was sure the story was about to begin, but then I struggled to get to page 242 and nothing had happened so far.
I was really tempted to give up. The ma ... (continue)

I have to admit I was highly disappointed by this book, which is loved by so many of my friends.
The first 100 pages are quite good, and I was sure the story was about to begin, but then I struggled to get to page 242 and nothing had happened so far.
I was really tempted to give up. The main character was unimpressive (okay, his name is Shadow, what can you expect?), and the plot simply was... well, impossible to see.
I asked myself more than once, what is the plot of this novel? and, more importantly, where is it? There were no traces of it in the too many pages I had read so far.
Shadow's interest in doing magic with coins made me yawn, and I finished the book trying to figure out if it was necessary to the story. My answer is no.
I think the book could have been a good 150 pages shorter, and I also think Gaiman simply took advantage of the reader's suspension of disbelief: there are many details that end up being unbelievable even in a book like this. Mixing up fantasy and reality is a very hard job, which JK Rowling does perfectly for instance, but I can't say Gaiman is as good ad his fellow citizen..
The whole part of Shadow and his lot riding the carousel simply didn't fit, it was comic rather than fantastic... I don't know, I think I won't read another Gaiman's novel in a while...

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Miss Piggott said on Sep 9, 2007 | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

Until the last chapters I didn't get to see how the puzzle exactly fit together(which was annoying), but in the end it all gets cleared, everything's turned upside down and the "big picture" is quite an amazing revelation..definitely worth the waiting!

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RubraAddicted said on Oct 14, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

I don't know.
I guess I missed out on the neilgaimanism.
Perhaps I should have started from "stardust" or "the sandman".
The story seemed interesting, reading it was not.
I have found it obvious, the narrative mode did not seduce me in the least and it gets worse towards the end. ... (continue)

I don't know.
I guess I missed out on the neilgaimanism.
Perhaps I should have started from "stardust" or "the sandman".
The story seemed interesting, reading it was not.
I have found it obvious, the narrative mode did not seduce me in the least and it gets worse towards the end.
Overall: a great disappointment.
Left it on a platform' seat at borough station for someone else to enjoy it.

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isabella said on Nov 6, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Tell him that we have fucking reprogrammed reality. Tell him that language is a virus and that religion is an operating system and that prayers are just so much fucking spam.
---------
What should I believe?
The voice came back to him from somewhere deep, beneath the world, in a bass rumble: Beli ... (continue)

Tell him that we have fucking reprogrammed reality. Tell him that language is a virus and that religion is an operating system and that prayers are just so much fucking spam.
---------
What should I believe?
The voice came back to him from somewhere deep, beneath the world, in a bass rumble: Believe Everything.
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No man, proclaimed Donne, is an Island, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other’s tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literally, remember, made into an island) from the tragedy of others, by our island nature, and by the repetitive shape and form of the stories. The shape does not change: there was a human being who was born, lived, and then, by some means or another, died. There. You may fill in the details from your own experience. As unoriginal as any other tale, as unique as any other life. Lives are snowflakes—forming patterns we have seen before, as like one another as peas in a pod (and have you ever looked at peas in a pod? I mean, really looked at them? There’s not a chance you’d mistake one for another, after a minute’s close inspection), but still unique.

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BansheeSmile said on May 16, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

American Gods has a Deep Meaning

I would appreciate it if i knew the Gods & Goddesses mentioned in the book. Thought Zeus will be featured but it would be good if he will show.
See my full review here: http://www.literateknolohitura.com/2012/02/book-review-…

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Joy Bagong-sibol said on Feb 13, 2012 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

This could be Zelazny

There is more than a little Roger Zelazny - themes and inspiration - in this book. The difference is that Gaiman goes where Zelazny never did - in the mythology of America. And where there isn't one, he makes one up. It's a good story from many points of view. No wonder NG won so many prizes with th ... (continue)

There is more than a little Roger Zelazny - themes and inspiration - in this book. The difference is that Gaiman goes where Zelazny never did - in the mythology of America. And where there isn't one, he makes one up. It's a good story from many points of view. No wonder NG won so many prizes with this novel.
My first Gaiman book. Very good indeed.

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KillingTime said on Feb 12, 2012 about the eBook edition | Add your feedback