American Gods: Author's Preferred Text (2001)

by Neil Gaiman

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: American Gods (1)

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Upon his release from prison, a widower accepts a job as a bodyguard and joins the battle between the gods of yore and the neoteric gods of present-day America.

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Showing 1-5 of 178 (next | show all)

I dont usually take 5 months to finish a book... it was good, part of why I paused is it was impractical to watch and read at the same time. But even though I liked it I could easily set it down and forget it. (

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wolfeyluvr | Nov 29, 2024 |

Shadow is soon to be released from prison after having served three years of his six-year sentence. At the beginning you do not know what he was sentenced for, but you get the impression that Shadow seems to regret what he has done and is happy to see his wife again. He is actually released a few days earlier than expected because his wife has died in a car accident. On his way home to find out what really happened to his wife and to make funeral arrangements, Shadow meets a mysterious man who calls himself Wednesday and offers him a job. Having nothing to lose, Shadow takes the job although he does not really know what it entails. This is the beginning of a road trip, where Shadow has to help convince the old gods that they have to join him in a war against the new gods who want to take their place. There is a lot happening on that road trip and Shadow learns a lot about people, himself and the United States of America.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods is a really entertaining read and I really breezed through it. 4 stars. (

)

OscarWilde87 | Aug 17, 2024 |

"The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies."

Reading this book, I felt a desperate struggle between the desire to completely annotate every page as I went along and to let go of myself and float down the river of Gaiman's prose. Given that the second desire won out, this is definitely a future reread.

Peculiar, occasionally cozy, dreadful, built in a world populated with stories. Meandering, in the best way. Very Wisconsin, very ancient.

"Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives."

(

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TellerOfStories | Aug 16, 2024 |

re-read for a project after many years. I have to admit that it struck me much better this time around. Originally I felt it was just a collage of mythology that he'd pulled together but couldn't use in Sandman, but clearly that was not true, at least not entirely. I do wish he'd written more about the nature of godhood and power and morality, although what he does say about gods is probably as close to the truth as we'll ever find. And as a native of Chattanooga, I'll probably need to make a run to Rock City. (

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dono421846 | Jul 14, 2024 |

Despite the title, or perhaps because of it, the 'gods' in this story are not truly American, nor are they truly gods, and they remain elusive, peripherally seen beings for the first half of the book. That's because the story is not their story. It's the story of an ex-convict named Shadow, a brooding, guilt-ridden man that we meet on the day of his parole. He meets a mysterious stranger and his life takes a series of odder and odder turns that he seems to take in stride.

He discovers that the mysterious stranger and the even more mysterious folk to which the stranger introduces him are all incarnations of the gods brought to the New World by various immigrants. Now trapped on this side of the ocean, living unrecognized on the edges of society, they are not as powerful as their Old World counterparts and their existence is increasingly threatened by the new gods of the modern age. They are ready to fight back and Shadow has been recruited as part of their plan.

It is a credit to Mr. Gaiman's authorly skills that he is able to tread the line of realism and fantasy so fascinatingly for almost 600 pages. He creates an entirely believable unbelievable world for the characters to inhabit and crafts a set of rich characters steeped in folklore, yet not requiring a graduate degree in mythology to decipher. It's a story. And it's well done. (

)

zot79 | Aug 20, 2023 |

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▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Gaiman, Neil	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Guidall, George	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Jones, Sarah	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
McKean, Dave	Illustrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

American Gods (1)

Is contained in

American Gods / Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Is an expanded version of

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Is expanded in

The Annotated American Gods by Neil Gaiman

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Canonical title

American Gods: Author's Preferred Text

Original title

American Gods

Alternative titles

American Gods: Author's Preferred Text

Original publication date

2001

People/Characters

Important places

Rock City, Tennessee, USA

House on the Rock, Spring Green, Wisconsin, USA

Florida, USA

Cairo, Illinois, USA

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

(show all 11 items)

Important events

Related movies

American Gods (2017)

Epigraph

One question that has always intrigued me is what happens to demonic beings when immigrants move from their homelands. Irish-Americans remember the fairies, Norwegian-Americans the nisser, Greek-Americans the vryókolas, but only in relation to events remembered in the Old Country. When I once asked why such demons were not seen in America, my informants giggled confusedly and said, "They're scared to pass the ocean, it's too far," pointing out that Christ and the apostles never came to America.

--Richard Dorson, "A Theory For American Folklore", American Folklore and the Historian

The boundaries of our country sir? Why sir, on the north we are bounded by the Aurora Borealis, on the east we are bounded by the rising sun, on the south we are bounded by the procession of the Equinoxes, and on the west by the Day of Judgement
-The American Joe Miller's Jest Book

They took her to the cemet'ry
In a big ol' cadillac
They took her to the cemet'ry
But they did not bring her back.
-old song

Dedication

For absent friends--Kathy Acker and Roger Zelazny, and all points between

First words

Shadow had done three years in prison.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

The first edition of this title was published in 2001. The 10th anniversary edition (published 2011) AND the Folio Society edition (published 2017) of the author's preferred text, are expanded editions. Please do not combine these expanded editions with the original.

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

Upon his release from prison, a widower accepts a job as a bodyguard and joins the battle between the gods of yore and the neoteric gods of present-day America.

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▾LibraryThing members' description

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 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.

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