I'm not saying I'm behind on book reviews, but Emily and I listened to American Gods while driving to and from Missouri—in 2016. So, I am saying I’m behind on book reviews.
Not that Neil Gaiman needs any help from me, especially with American Gods on its way to becoming a TV series. (Wait, the show's first season is over; I'm behind on posting blogs, too.) Better that than a movie—I can’t imagine how they’d fit this story into a two hour or so time frame.
Main character Shadow is released from prison early, on the news that his wife has been killed in an accident. He’s flying home for the funeral when Mr. Wednesday appears next to him during a violent storm, and offers him a job. What’s the job, and how does Wednesday know so much about Shadow? That’s just the beginning of the mystery, and as close to normal as this book ever gets.
The grieving Shadow just wants to be left alone, but soon finds himself in a war pitting old gods against new gods as he wanders across the American Midwest, meeting every sort of odd character, human and otherwise. And that’s about as close as I can come to describing this mind-twisting novel in ten thousand words or less.
Although I like listening to podcasts and audio non-fiction, I haven’t had good experiences with fiction on audiobook. That changed with American Gods, which is narrated (performed?) by George Guidall. At least, my version was; I've since learned that there's at least on other audio version. Thanks to Guidall I can’t imagine Wednesday being played by anyone but Anthony Hopkins (well, I can now), but he does a great job with all the voices, as well as Gaiman’s wonderful narration.
This audio addition of American Gods is, I assume, unabridged, and so seemed to take forever. That’s a compliment. It was like an endless bowl of ice cream that you never get tired of. In fact, this novel is the reason why I usually give books I really like a four out of five rating. That way there’s room when the occasional perfect reading—well, listening—experience arrives. This is it: Five out of five.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Low-Price-MP3/dp/0062314297
(By the way, the series is just as mind blowing. Instead of trying to shove all this story and characters into one movie, there's actually room to expand it a bit. I couldn't imagine how they could turn American Gods into a TV series either, but they did it, and it's a work of surreal genius.)
Comments
My father sells drugs in street corners,
My mother makes bootlegger gin,
My sister makes love for ten dollars,
My God how the money rolls in.
chorus
Rolls in rolls in my God how the money rolls in rolls in,
rolls in, rolls in, my god how the money rolls in
[2 verses skipped]
My Granddad sells condoms to sailors,
he punctures the ends with a pin,
my Grandma does quickie abortions,
my God how the money rolls in.
chorus
I had read the old lines from the Edda, "Nine days, hung I on the World-Tree, a sacrifice to myself of myself . . ." but I never really understood them before reading this book.
Wait ... audio books don't have dust jackets.
Honestly, you're right, but I'm not a professional book reviewer--I just write what interests me. So what I should really do is just change the title ... say, "Book blurb review". I could review blurbs! Much less time consuming.
The three novellas I know of are Monarch of the Glen which can easily be confused with a schmaltzy UK television series of the same name, Black Dog and The Anansi Boys but I think there are more.
We do have a copy of Anansi Boys, which I haven't gotten to yet--but I never thought of it as a novella! It's pretty thick.
My wife and I have a rule that we never start watching a new show unless one we're already watching gets canceled; it's the only way we can handle the time crunch. We only make an exception if it's something we're both really excited about, and last season that was American Gods. We'd probably make an exception for Game of Thrones, too, but we don't get HBO; we only got Starz because it was a bargain with our cable hookup.
I guess the lesson to be learned from that is that you don't have to hook up a new cable channel to read a book.
I remember when cable first came to my hometown, wondering why anyone would ever need three dozen channels. Now the problem is deciding which service to sign up for. Starz, for the two shows you want to see? The new CBS channel, just to see Star Trek: Discovery? Hulu? Amazon? Being poor is an advantage, here--you have to pick and choose, and that gives you more time away from the screen.