The novel American Gods had been on my radar for a long time; the synopsis seemed intriguing. But for some reason, I never got around to reading it. Then, out of the blue, the Americans started adapting it into a TV series, and the book began getting advertised everywhere again. Several acquaintances read it, my wife too… so I had no choice.
I read the novel fairly quickly but took a long time to gather my thoughts to write a detailed opinion. I rated it right away, but as to why—that required some reflection.
I generally liked the narrative style (I read it in Russian translation), and even the use of profanity wasn’t too bothersome.
I would divide the entire book into three parts:
- The story of the gods arriving in America.
- The daily life of the gods: how they live among us and what they do.
- The big showdown: essentially, the conflict.
The main character’s story only serves to support all of the above. And each of these parts feels distinct.
The gods’ arrival is placed in separate chapters-episodes. They are interesting, but sometimes feel out of sync with the main story, especially since not all the gods mentioned play a role later on.
The daily life of the gods is shown rather superficially, mostly focusing on a few of the old gods.
As for the actual showdown… in my opinion, it fizzled out. They built up the tension, but it didn’t really explode, so to speak.
There are probably many hidden references and meanings in the book, but that’s exactly what threw me off: beneath the layers of references and little episodes, the main storyline seemed to shrink and lose its impact.
I don’t regret reading the novel, but I expected more.
P.S. And as for the scene with the Ifrit, I didn’t get it at all, as I couldn’t find any confirmation of jinn-related orientation.
My rating: 3.5/5
