American Gods by
Neil Gaiman, 635 pages
American Gods is
quite the interesting and award winning book. For the most part it follows the
life of a recently released convict named Shadow who receives a proposition
from a man calling himself Wednesday. What at first seemed like a simple
bodyguard/assistant role soon spirals out of control and leaves Shadow fighting
for his life.
What I liked best about American
Gods is the blending of mythology into everyday life. There are the old
gods, ones that have always been here and ones that were bought to this country
with immigration, and the new gods, like internet, tv, etc. The gods get their
powers from how many people believe and follow them. So in a world that is embracing
all that technology has to offer, the old gods find themselves slowly drifting away.
The plausibility of this scenario, assuming that the gods do exist, resonates
with me. The assumption that media, television and internet are considered
“gods” at first seemed unlikely, but as the story goes on, I came to believe
it. If all that is needed for “worship” is our attention, then what else do we
spend more time working with or sitting in front of?
I highly recommend this book to everyone, as it really makes
you think about what might from some perspective be modern “mythology”.
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