Either this is a bad book, or it went over my head. I hesitate to concede defeat, but I will admit that the literary techniques I never quite grasped are ambiguity and rambling.
I was very excited to read American Gods. The premise is fantastic: Gods gain strength from human belief, therefore their power waxes and wanes with our worship. Thus the old gods - Norse, Greek, Native American - fight the new gods - Media, Drugs, Internet - for control of American minds.
It's neither adventure or fantasy novel, but rather a slow, meandering look at American society and human numbness. It has Cather in the Rye's gloomy atmosphere and The Stranger's simple, apathetic narration, yet whereas I adore the latter's portrayal of apathy, American Gods' is just confusing. I simply couldn't buy that the protagonist, Shadow, does not question any of the supernatural happenings about him. And by the time this is addressed several hundred pages into the novel, he's just lost his believably. Perhaps upon a second read, armed with the knowledge that the narrator is less interested in his story than the reader, I'll be able to appreciate it better. As is, I was frustrated with Shadow's ignorance, and consequently my own. I don't like ambiguity; please, give me the smallest hint as to where this story is headed.
I had no problem visualizing the present, the current scene, but seeing as the characters had either nonexistent or obscured motivations and the rules of this supernatural world were completely unclear, I could not visualize what would happen next. And I, as a reader, don't like that; there was no way to engage with this text. I had not guarantee that it wouldn't just introduce another random character, or motivation, or rule, or story line, so I had no way to analyze the story as I read.
That being said, Niel Gaiman's prose is undoubtedly good. Simple, efficient, with unassuming analogies and symbols which dawn on you thirty seconds after you read them. And his characterization and descriptions sparkle. Moreover, although I had to drag the themes kicking and screaming from pages of unrelated narration, they weren't half bad. One statement repeated over and over is that America is a bad place for gods - and I thought that was an interesting point. America is a place of flighty passions and fleeting belief; our society is so turbulent, so diverse, so entrepreneurial, that firm and lasting belief in one object cannot sustain itself. And also Gaiman addresses belief itself - that on one hand our belief recklessly makes ideas powerful, just as it strengthens gods, but on the other hand an apathetic life devoid of belief is worthless. But don't get too excited, these interesting themes go virtually unaddressed in the meat of the story.
In conclusion, to further illuminate the conundrum that is this book, I present my turbulent thought process as I read:
1. Oh, cool! I really like this main character named Shadow. A regular guy in jail. The epitome of normal, calm, somewhat apathetic. He keeps his head down, and longingly dreams of the day he can go back to his wife. I like his characterization and physical description. Good narration. Good foreshadowing.
2. Awww his wife has died. That's unfortunate. A strong connection was established in the first 20 pages - good job for making me care.
3. Ok, a mysterious stranger offers the heartbroken man a job as his bodyguard. I dig it.
4. Wait. wat. His wife is alive???? A zombie? And he gets kidnapped by a kid in a limo? And dreams about a buffalo-man-god who gives him -WHY are you not QUESTIONING THESE THINGS, SHADOW.
5. Ok, so they're going to a house to.....? Right, recruit other gods. Ok, that makes sense. Interesting look at some Russian pagan gods.
6. WAIT Shadow has the power to make it snow with his mind. The story makes no further comment.
7. Who are all these people?! Why is he working as an undertaker?! I thought he was hired as a bodyguard???! WHY ARE YOU NOT ASKING ANY QUESTIONS, SHADOW. Literally, the man's like, "Gods exist. That's chill."
8. Oh. ok. So Shadow moved to a new town and now we get 50 pages of him meeting the townspeople and fixing his house up and taking part in small-town banter. I'm sure glad this is relevant.
9. Remember kids, having gay sex with a taxicab driver jinni will turn you into a jinni as well. I would tell you more, but this plot point is literally never followed-up on.
10. Oh, Shadow's employer died. I sure wish I knew who he was and what he wanted and why he was so obsessed with Shadow and why Shadow's blindly obeying him and in general what everyone is doing in this book. Really, if I knew those things I might have cared.
11. Soooo...he's going to sacrifice himself for his employer because his dead wife told him that he was so apathetic he might as well be dead. Ok, now this is more like it. I smell the inkling of a theme. He's going to die to feel more alive.
12.Cool death narration. So he's dead now, yes?
12. WHAT. IS. HAPPENING. Why did that woman reach into his brain?! Wait, so he's in the Egyptian underworld!? But he didn't believe in the Egyptian gods! What do you mean 'they believed in him'?! That's NOT HOW THE RULES of this universe work stop changing them! AND EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING PLEASE WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHAT ARE THEIR POWERS AND HOW DOES THIS ALL WORK!
13. WAIT SO THAT ONE GOD HAS THE POWER TO RAISE PEOPLE FROM THE DEAD?! THE FUCK , THAT WOULD HAVE COME IN HANDY EARLIER.
13. *sob* So there's a spring of water that will de-zombify people because.....?
14. Oh, it was all a con.
15. Ok. Ok. I guess that made sense? Except for...literally everything? I'm really slow. This was probably very deep.
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