“NOTE: SPOILERS TO FOLLOWI wondered about the little things Shadow was able to do throughout the book. For example, when he is able to enter the mind of the cop, give the flowers to Sam without her seeing him, or making the coin disappear. Was all of this due to his "heritage"?”
“The picture is eruptive!”
“I see many people here who were disappointed in American Gods. And I can understand that to a certain extent, as I've read both the first edition and the author's preferred text. For those who haven't read it yet, I would suggest you pick up the author's preferred text version; the other one is quite lacking. It's a good book, and despite the larger than life characters it employs, very subtly written. The subtlety brings a different kind of beauty to it, though it may not be everyone's cup of tea. My advise : don't start reading it with any expectations, and most probably you'll like it.”
“This book was completely disappointing to me. I had heard so many great things about Neil Gaiman and I just don't see it. I see that he has excellent and creative ideas but he has horrible execution. This story had so much potential and he squandered it. The concept was interesting but the novel was vague, boring, and the only climax in it was in the three completely unnecessary love scenes.”
“I think that this is a very good pleasure time read. In fact, I think it is one of the best fantasy/sci fi books of the past three or four years. Having said that, I'm a bit disturbed that this seems to be rated as one of the top reads, without such qualifications, for Shelfari participants - most of whom, I suspect, are Anglo/American. The same seems to be true of Watchmen, which is, again, a good read. Here's my problem: Do you guys read purely for entertainment? If so, what do you do when you're trying to be serious? Do you rely purely on what is on TV or in your local newspaper or "what someone told me" for your view of reality outside your everyday lives? If so, there goes the civilization swirling down the comode ”
“Gotb this as a prsent but is it worth reading? ”
“Loved this one. Follow my thoughts, here (as they may seem a bit discombobulated):I think Gaiman is touching on the fact that since America is so "new", and did not possess any original gods itself, the people that came and brought the gods with them needed these said gods to help them begin anew. What happened was as America began its adolescent and teen years, so to speak, and began experiencing growing pains, the gods were no longer needed (thus contributing to the battle in the novel). I am not sure if this is stretching it, but I think Gaiman may be reflecting on America's sense of identity here: we come, we take what we need, we use, we throw away--much like how the gods are represented in the novel.Peter E, I like what you have to say about the decision making. You make a good point.”
“Another journey for those who understand Gaiman. A little more complex, don't recommend it for first time Gaiman readers.”
“For anyone who likes to talk about different mythology fo this this group,http://www.shelfari.com/groups/26139/about”
“Has anyone read both- the authors preferred text and other version? I've read preferred text and would like to know which is better and whether there are significant differences.”
