American Gods
by Neil Gaiman
fantasy
copyright 2004
part re-read May 2022
rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else
I read this book years ago. I remember being disappointed: a well-known author writing such rubbish. I found it lying round the house and thought, maybe it's not as bad as I remember. Fat chance.
I read this book years ago. I remember being disappointed: a well-known author writing such rubbish. I found it lying round the house and thought, maybe it's not as bad as I remember. Fat chance.
The book, my copy, begins with an introduction by the author. He tells us that his book is terrific. He brags about all the awards that the book has won. Which just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its awards.
Science fiction and fantasy awards are given to books which are rubbish. This is because the judges want sf&f to be seen as "mainstream". Forget the challenge of what-if. Forget the excitement of fantastic adventure. Just try for nasty realism.
Yes, this book is nasty. The gods are the sort that should be excommunicated rather than worshipped. Power-mad, inhuman, insensitive. Nasty.
The human protagonist is -- in the few chapters that I suffered through on this reading -- he is nothing. Nothing interesting. A low-level loser. no-one I want to read about. There is no human interest.
And then -- from my memories of the time that I read the entire book -- the central theme is plagiarised.
In Small Gods, Terry Pratchett wrote about gods who gained power in proportion to the number of their believers. That was in 1992. More than a decade later, Gaiman steals the idea.
Yes, this book is readable. But it's rubbish.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
==="The measure of love is to love without measure" ... St Augustine
Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)
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