People believe, thought Shadow. It’s what people do. They believe, and then they do not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjuration. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe; and it is that rock solid belief, that makes things happen.
Yes, I know, there is no need for another sort-of-review of any of Neil Gaiman’s books because there are already thousands of highly qualified musings about his work out there. He is a prolific writer, has a wide, diverse, and also devout audience (of which Wonderguy is a proud member) and countless different platforms — a lot of them highly professional and influential — have already discussed his many works.
Still, thoughts are free and unicorns are a thing, so let me reflect on my personal adventure with Shadow, Wednesday, and all the other blokes who are setting the stage for a reading experience that was by far not as smooth as The Graveyard Book (my favourite Neil Gaiman book so far, though I have some more reading to do), but still gave me one of my favorite characters.
Fantasy and me — no love at first sight
First off, I have to confess that I do not “like” and therefore hardly read any fantasy novels. I never read the Harry Potter series or Lord of the Rings and I was surprised to find out that Philip Pullman was NOT in Independence Day.
Apart from an occasional Terry Pratchett, I am hardly Neil Gaiman’s target audience, which might be a reason why reading The Graveyard Book, with its comparably small cast and fictional world, was ‘easier’ and much more enjoyable to read than American Gods. Another reason might be that Wonderguy told me to read Gaiman’s Norse Mythology before American Gods to be well-prepared and — truth to be told — this sort of preparation pretty much killed my vibe.
I am all for some deeper insight into the backgrounds of stories and novels, but my enthusiasm has its limits and Norse Mythology exhausted these. Starting with all the peculiar names I never had a chance of remembering (for e.g. Gullinbursti the boar, Svadilfari the horse, or inanimate objects like a chain called Dromi), followed by the mind-boggling number of protagonists, I lost track of the stories most of the time and confused everyone with everything except for the main ‘characters’ Loki, Thor, and Odin.
[At the risk of sounding indifferent to fascinating historical knowledge: I’m an atheist, which in this context means that religious and mythological symbols and/or characters are interchangeable and mostly irrelevant to me; the Norse mythology may be far more colorful than many of today’s religious symbols, stories and myths, but to me, in the end it is just another ‘metaphysical instrument’ for explaining seemingly inexplicable events and experiences while at the same time using this power of illusory knowledge to control the people seeking help and guidance.]
Safe to say, by the time I actually started reading American Gods, I had already been pretty exhausted regarding the stories and adventures of Odin (aka Wednesday) and his various henchmen thanks to the enlightening ‘research reading.’
Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.
— American Gods
One of my favorite characters — Shadow
Nevertheless, the main character Shadow Moon kept me going. Through all the exhaustive dream sequences and fantastic elements, which would otherwise rather discourage me from continuing reading a book, I wanted to know what would happen to Shadow. Of course, I acknowledge and appreciate the immense research work Neil Gaiman must have accomplished for this novel — no one needs me, of all people, to state that Gaiman is a master of his craft.
I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you’re alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.
— American Gods
In addition, I loved the stories he tells in small subchapters throughout the novel about how the various gods and mythical creatures came to the US. They feature different voices and perspectives which introduce interesting and captivating insights into the creation, transformation, and sometimes even destruction of myths and ‘gods.’
Though the book dragged on at times — at least for someone who has read little fantasy until now — there were of course quite a few surprising twists and turns that made it an entertaining read, not only for the sake of finding out where Shadow’s path would lead him. Gaiman is a brilliant author and knows his way around language, which always makes him a great read, even when delving into a new or less familiar genre.
With Shadow, American Gods features a protagonist that seems familiar, even though I cannot thoroughly explain how and why; he reminds me of Bukowski’s Hank Chinaski, various protagonists in war literature (Joker in Gustav Hasford’s The Short-Timers, Walter James in Larry Brown’s Dirty Work, some of the guys in Tim O’Brien’s The Things they Carried and Paul Berlin in Going after Cacciato as well as Colby Buzzell in his Iraq War blook/memoir My War) and probably some others I can’t remember right now.
Shadow feels like the perfect companion on a road trip (yeah, I know, what a surprising remark considering parts of the book); he is the one I want to ask how to handle the ugly shit — even better; I want him to handle the ugly shit; in short, he is the big brother I always wanted.
‘You mustn’t be afraid of the dark.’
‘I’m not,’ said Shadow. ‘I’m afraid of the people in the dark.’
— American Gods
He is THE one invariable in the midst of an ugly and violently changing world — and I’m not referring to the sort of Ragnarok Gaiman describes in American Gods. Maybe Shadow is in some ways an all-American hero which makes him seem so familiar; maybe it’s something personal regarding ex-cons in literature, I don’t know. What I do know is that his character, his story, was the reason I finished the book.
Again, this is not a book review; I’m not well read in the fantasy genre and I feel a bit all over the place with this book in particular. However, it was a book — or rather, a reading journey when considering my foray into the world of norse mythology (and Norse Mythology) — that kept me thinking. Most of all, Shadow stuck with me… So rather than an attempt at writing a review, this might be a therapeutic reading journal entry about an occasionally overwhelming fantasy novel and its intriguing main character.
I will read more fantasy and will become more familiar with this genre. And one day, when I feel more relaxed about inexpressible names my ADHD fuzzybrain forgets the second it skims over them I will return to American Gods once more. And to Shadow.