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[Discussion] American Gods Part 1-2 October 20-27
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I'm not sure what happened to the above post... I had it formatted to not include all the crap up top and had a little explanation from me, but...something went awry! Anyway, the discussion questions are just a bonus to look at, and anyone is welcome to comment at any time! My first thoughts are that American Gods has a different tone (at least at the outset) than Anansi Boys did. It is a little more serious, and Shadow finding out almost immediately that his wife died sets a more somber tone. Anansi Boys was more lighthearted, and while I didn't love it, I found it very witty and entertaining. I'm not sure if that's where American Gods will head, but since I usually prefer a more serious read, I'm hoping AG will stay this way. I'm enjoying our protagonist, Shadow, also. He seems to be a solid character, both physically and mentally. Determined and hard-working. I like him!
Anyone else started yet? Anyone who read in the past want to jump in?
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I usually use my iPad or iPhone, and they don't give me the edit option. :( but I don't really care a ton. Also, if I sit and have a discussion with myself, I'll be ok with that too!
Mod
One of the main complaints I hear about this book is how flat Shadow is, which part of me understands, but I still found him likeable even with his lack of a reaction to meeting all the Gods and after what his wife did.
Honestly, one of my favorite characters/Gods was the Buffalo Head Man. I was really hoping that he would be the introduction to a bunch of Native American Gods (thus the original "American Gods"), but even though that didn't turn out as expected he was a great addition and set a good tone for what was to come. I think he was also one of only a couple Gods that was neither apathetic nor completely selfish. I hope he has a bigger role in the sequel, whenever that happens.
What did everyone else think about the lack of Greek gods? I think it may be because traditionally they are the most widely recognised pre-Christian gods in Western society and perhaps Gaiman wanted to stay away from such "big" personalities. That being said, in the context of the book I found their absence a bit conspicuous and would have liked to have seen some kind of reference to them, even if they didn't play a direct part in the action
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Not only that, but Gaiman does seem to love using his usual cast. For example, Odin and Loki appear in his Sandman comics as well as some Egyptian God.
Something fun I heard at a poetry reading at the university I work at--The poet was from Ireland, and she said the question often comes up of why there are no leprechauns, etc. in the New World? Why didn't they come over from the Old World? And the answer is that they cannot swim or cross large bodies of water. Now, we see a leprechaun figure at the start of American Gods, but I like that idea nevertheless. Maybe some of the gods could not make the crossing with their followers. :)
I am going to extend the time for this, since I am not done with even the first part yet, and my Huckleberry, David, hasn't weighed in yet!
I started this book this summer, but I gave up around the end of part one. I still wasn't very interested in the plot, and I felt the story was dragging along so slowly that I couldn't keep my motivation. There's a disclaimer at the start of the book:
While the geography of the United States of America in this tale is not entirely imaginary—many of the landmarks in this book can be visited, paths can be followed, ways can be mapped—I have taken liberties. Fewer liberties than you might imagine, but liberties nonetheless.
I'm not sure what he means by "fewer liberties than you might imagine" but the characters drive through my city on the way to a nearby tourist attraction - the House on the Rock. It was really surreal, like he researched my city on a tourist website mapping out the route. It was not accurate at all.
But then with the house on the rock, the description is really strangely detailed. Like he visited and took notes on the names of each of the rooms (or again maybe looked it up). But he somehow completely misses the feeling of the place - which is strange because it fits the story perfectly.
Does anyone else live near places the characters travel through?
One of the things I love about Gaimon is that he writes a lot about the Midwest. I think he lives in Minneapolis, which is 2 hours away from me. So many books take place in NY or Cali or something, and it just makes me happy to see Wisconsin and Minnesota getting their dues (btw, Bloomberg came out today saying Minnesota is the least miserable state in the US haha) That is strange about the "off" descriptions, but I think I see what he's getting it. He will do the proper research but then do whatever the hell he wants with it, thank you very much! It's so sad how excited I get when I see my MN town mentioned in a book (or on Reddit). Like... No one really cares : P
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On a different note, it looks like the HBO version of American Gods is coming either this year or late next year!
Yay!!! I feel like HBO usually does a great job with adaptations. On a different note, are there any fans of The Book Thief here? The trailer was just released. I think it will be a tough one to capture.
Philip Blake wrote: "That makes me sad that he took more liberties than I thought, for some reason."I was having trouble relating to the characters or being able to suspend my disbelief for the story. Unfortunately I think the inaccuracies ruined any chance I had for that pretty early on. If he had done a better job there, that could have really grabbed me and made it more believable.
The House on the Rock is an intensely unsettling attraction. By the end of it you feel disorientated and dizzy and sick to your stomach. It's really creepy, claustrophobic, and run-down. The main house was built terribly so the roof leaks and everything smells like mold. Raccoons live in it. Its like Frank Lloyd Write on steroids - with dark, low ceilings, old carpeting, small windows, and 70's decor. The warehouses of collected Santa dolls and other crap are so disconnected and strange. Then add on to that the wobbly walkways high in the air, the off-key robotic music boxes in every room, the giant whale and carousels and you just want out by the end of it. Instead of describing any of this he lists the name of many rooms and compares it to Disney world and says it's a place of power. I was having trouble seeing any emotion or agency from the main characters. It was like they were apathetically along for this ride. It just made it worse when they didn't have any sort of reaction to the House on the Rock. I couldn't relate.
Danielle, that place sounds awful. I mean awful as in the unsettling creepiness that nightmares are made of. I am having trouble holding interest... I enjoy the book, but I am not finding what made it such a big literary accomplishment. I appreciate Gaimon's visions of gods being created by people-- being imagined into existence and then being stuck even when belief fades. I am perplexed and fascinated by religion, and I see gods just that way-- created by peoples' thoughts, wishes, and needs. I don't like, however, how mundane they are. I prefer a bit of magic and whimsy, and I am not getting quite enough. I mean, Wednesday is Odin, for the love of Pete! But he is so ordinary and uninteresting...
I am wondering if there is some guide to American Gods i can find online. I don't think I'm picking up all the references, and I don't get who a lot of the gods and goddesses are...
Bibliography
Letter to Reviewers
Press
American Gods Research
Audio Clip
American Gods Notebook
Reading Guide
Excerpt
US - Mass Market Paperback - $7.99
ISBN: 0380789035
Buy / Library Search
Available in:
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Unabridged CD
US - Hardback
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US - Paperback
Introduction
Shadow Moon spent three years in prison, keeping his head down, doing his time. All he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife, Laura, and to stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But just a few days before his release, he learns that Laura has been fatally injured in a car accident.
Anyone is welcome to join the discussion at anytime! We are hoping for a quick read, but with my schedule (finishing my Xena costume and 4 ninja turtle costumes this week...yeah), I might take a little longer! Here are some discussion questions from the Internet if we need them... And I don't know about some of those wingdings in there.
Discussion Questions
1. American Gods contains both the magical and the mundane, a fantastic world of divine beings and bizarre happenings and a world of prisons, rundown roadside attractions, and quaint small towns. How is Gaiman able to bring these worlds together in the novel? How does he manage to make their coexistence believable?
2. What is the cultural significance of the war between the gods of old and the “new gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon�? In what ways have Americans transferred their devotion from spiritual to material and technological gods? What are the consequences of such a shift?
3. Gaiman, who now lives in the U.S., is originally from England. How might his perspective as a relative outsider affect his view of America? In what ways can American Gods be read as a satire or critique of American life?
4. What makes Shadow such a compelling protagonist? What are his most appealing qualities? At what crucial points in the novel does he demonstrate courage, compassion, intelligence, a willingness to sacrifice himself? What does his relationship with Laura reveal about him? What is the significance of his obsession with coin tricks?
5. What role do dreams play in American Gods? What are some of Shadow’s more vivid and unusual dreams? Why does the Buffalo Man tell him in a dream to “believe everything�?
6. The narrator, discussing how we relate to the suffering of others, writes that “Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out thorough 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 and close the book, and we resume our lives.� What does American Gods reveal by letting readers see through the eyes of a collection of down-at-heel and nearly forgotten divinities? What vicarious deaths does it allow us to experience?
7. After shortchanging a waitress, Wednesday tells Shadow that the American people “don’t sacrifice rams or bulls to me. They don’t send me the souls of killers and slaves, gallows-hung and raven-picked. They made me. They forgot me. Now I take a little back from them. Isn’t that fair?� What are the implications of a god like Odin becoming, essentially, a con-man? What is the biggest con he tries to pull off in the novel?
8. What do the old gods need to stay alive and vital? What means do they use to get what they need? What is Gaiman suggesting about the nature of divinity, sacrifice, and devotion?
9. Late in the novel, the narrator says that “Religions are, by definition, metaphors…. Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world.� Would you agree with this assertion? What are the gods in American Gods metaphors for? What is the difference between a world view based on worship, sacrifice, and belief in the divine and a world view based on the accumulation of material wealth and comfort?
10. Who are some of the more colorful and vividly drawn secondary characters—human and divine—in the novel? What do they add to the overall impression of the book? How do they affect Shadow?
11. What does the novel imply about the reality of life in small-town America? What darker truth lies behind the pleasant idyll of Lakewood, Wisconsin?
12. At the end of the novel, Shadow thinks to himself: “People believe…. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen.� Would you agree that what people believe in are largely projections of their own needs and desires? In what ways does the novel itself confirm or refute this idea?