Neil Gaiman's American Gods Part Deux

Hoo boy. This book is quite the doozy. I really find myself not knowing what the hell is going on half the time or where it is going. And that is usually the sign of a bad thing, but it actually works. The fractured, randomness of this book actually works in its favor.

It is one of the many ways it sucks you in and traps you in it's web of mythology, horror, and something I would like to call "Whatthefuckness."

This 200 page or so block that I have read so far is full of many memorable images like Shadow's smoking hot dead wife continuing to come back and help Shadow when he needs the help the most. She is like a zombie guardian angel and that idea in itself would make an interesting book or story. The rapid fire use of mythological gods and godesses is done in a way that if you just speed read through the thing you will miss out on tons of references. My favorite is the Osiris funeral parlor. Now that is really clever. Especially if you know the context behind it. I think Anubis showed up somewhere around here too. And according to this book you can get to the Nile river by following the Mississippi river. It's the same thing. There are so many moments like that in this book. Where the real world just does a freeze frame and this batshit insane fantasy world takes over. It never overstays it's welcome though. The fantasy elements of the book are well written, well executed and never dominate the entire the story. The fantasy elements of the book are in many ways just filler. The real story is the one connected to the real world.

Overall, in the block of time I have read so far, really not much has happened. If you took out the whole mythological gods aspect of this story it would be quite quaint, and normal if not boring. But because it takes such a realistic take of a fantasy element, reality and fantasy combine into a delectable combination.

One of my favorite segments is the one where Lucy comes to life on the television set and asks Shadow to join her, and help her in the TV land where she works. In this scene Lucy isn't really Lucille Ball, she is a recruiter for the new gods who want Shadow on their side, because they see something in him that maybe Mr. Wednsday doesn't or does already know. I kept thinking back to that scene in Willy Wonka and The Chocalate Factory where Mike gets shrunk and put inside the TV. The very idea of a television being a portal to another realm or dimension is quite appealing. and at the same time terrifying. I know I would be scared shitless if the Crypt Keeper started talking to me while I was watching a re run of Tales From The Crypt.

Overall, I like what I am seeing so far, but the randomness at points can be a little distracting and in my opinion unnecessary. I find myself losing interest in the book when it strays away from the main story to talk about these side stories that I hope at some point actually connect to the main story, because there is nothing I hate more than pointless shit. And if these stories which consist body swapping Djinn Cab Drivers, and Immigrant Gods coming to America end up being proven wastes of my time then safe to say I won't be reading this book again in the future. I just find these side stories distracting and they take away from the flow of the book and the story it is trying to tell. Plus, I find them incredibly boring for the most part. Hopefully the book eases back on the side stories and leaves the main story some room to breathe in future chapters.