At first I thought it was a bit strange, the whole concept of ancient gods wandering about America seemed bizarre. The book though was well written, nicely done plot which twisted enough and it was enough to hook me in. The whole new gods vs. old gods impending battle made sense, but there were some minor things which didn't get fully explained* (or I'm just slow).
Without dumping too much of a spoiler, the ending was not too bad, but finished a bit flat. I could almost see what was going to happen with the whole "Mr. World and Odin" thing, but not quite.
Good book, a bit weird, but very readable. Makes you think a bit, which is how I like it.
*one bit which i couldn't understand was how the taxi driver god could have sex with a man and transfer his godness over...
I'm not sure what you mean about the end, but as far as the taxi driver, he didn't "transfer his godness" he just stole the guys identity so he could go back to the middle east, where he was "created". Just wanted to go home.
and I can't even remember what point I was trying to make about the ending. I guess I like to read books which make me feel depressed when they end, but this didn't.
oh, and one more thing. Is it that when people came to america they took their gods with them, but of course the same gods remained in the original country?
Hello. (yes, very cool, savvy intro..) Well, I'd like to join the Book Club, I do read a lot, but I'm always looking for new books to read! And my two suggestions are:
1) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides -- seriously, a really good book that won the Pulitzer prize. 2) To Live by Yu Hua -- I wrote this book. Um, no, actually, but we have the same name! It's not exactly mindblowing, but still really interesting.
I'm sorry if I can't participate as much because I live in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and it's really hard to get books here. Some of the titles I'll probably never be able to get.
Hello! I'd like to join. I've already read stranger in a strange land, LOTR trilogy plus the hobbit, Wuthering Heights, and jane eyre if anyone would like to talk about them.
I have a suggestion to add to the list. It's Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. More to come. :)
Hi All, I'd like to join as well. I've read a lot of the books on the recommended reading for the club, and I suggest Green Shadows, White Whale by Ray Bradbury, and the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (if you're into fantasy, or some obscure fantasy sub-genre).
I've read a fair bit of Norse mythology and totally didn't catch the Low Key thing. Am I the only one? I though that was beautiful.
If you like this urban fantasy tale kind of thing you might try some Charles DeLint. Also if you don't have time for a full length novel but want a taste of Gaiman you can check out Smoke and Mirrors which is a collection of short stories. There's also the somewhat difficult to find BBC minseries he wrote Neverwhere which you can find as a novel.
yeah, as soon as i realized who he was, it made a lot more sense and you could feel a turn in the plot, but i couldn't quite put my finger on it until a bit later with Mr. World.
I like it how it's written so you could pick the twist if you were paying attention, but ifyou didn't get it, it would reveal itself anyway. some books don't get that right.
I'd like to join your intrepid little band. I'd like to suggest:
Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard
The former can be a very long read, but is well worth it. Takes a good long look a religious fervor and its effect on family, among other things. The latter is a play about the oft-overlooked characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, from Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'm not sure if we're including plays in this group, but if we do, this should be considered. Anyway, i'd like to second the call for a Chuck Palahniuk book, though not necessarily Fight Club. And thanks to the originators of this thread.
Watched "Day of the Dead" last night - the Babylon 5 episode, I mean. Gaiman wrote the episode, and it deals with (along with carrying some plot threads for the whole series and an appearance by Penn and Teller) different folks being visited by people from their pasts. I'm trying to wrap my head around comparing the episode and American Gods. If anybody else has Bab 5 Season 5 handy, jump in...
