My Neil Gaiman fascination started years ago, when I picked up Anansi Boys on a whim and read it over the course of a lazy weekend. It gave me a chance to become accustomed to Gaiman's sprawling prose, sometimes vague references, and a tendency to leave a reader in the dark for a while. That's the thing about Neil - he often leaves you stumbling somewhat blindly after him. It takes a lot of trust to read his work. But in the end he always comes back to take you by the hand, if you're patient.
I started American Gods with a sort of reverent excitement, and I think knowing what to expect helped me through the confusing parts of the book. Everything clicked for me, and I was able to lose myself and completely enjoy the novel. As a main character, Shadow is everything that makes up an epic hero - forced to deal with strange events thrust upon him, big and strong, separate from his peers. Unusually sound of mind and conscience. And the plot - American Gods is so great in its commentary on not just America, but people in general. The reader is shown America as an overflowing melting pot, where beliefs brought over from so many foreign lands are lost in this new age of speed and media - where the Internet is the new all-knowing source, where the television is the new altar where hours are spent kneeling, where high-speed car crashes are the new form of sacrifice. People are as fickle as they are desperate to add meaning to life. Where does that leave the old, forgotten gods, stranded in a country that is no good for them anymore, with no new generations to learn of their power and might, and no places for them to call holy? The premise itself was so compelling that I couldn't put the book down for the week that I spent reading it, slowly, in order to enjoy every aspect of it.
A few days after finishing the novel, I can't stop thinking about it. There's a good feeling one gets after reading a very fine novel, which is both bittersweet and unfortunate to let go of. As someone who has read little outside of school-required reading for what feels like the longest time, American Gods was a refreshing and exhilarating jump back into literature. Writing at times seems so easy, but when confronted with a work of fiction like American Gods, the truth behind the sheer amount of effort put behind writing a good book is apparent. It amounts to more than imagination - there is real research there, and intelligence; the ability to bring together multiple threads of plot and the personalities of a wide array of characters. To be able to tie everything together so expertly is a trait I greatly admire in Gaiman, one that cements him in my mind as one of the greatest storytellers of our time.
