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American Gods was touted as the make or break book for Neil
Gaiman, overlooking the fact that someone as talented as he is
doesn't need a break, and made it quite a while ago.
The story, if that's the right word, kicks off with Shadow, the
hero, doing time, waiting to get out and back to his life. And then
things start going wrong. Or, if you want to be picky, wronger. I
thought at one point that this was a variant of the fascination
with the Norse gods which I have come to know and love in the works
of Tom Holt, and was almost ready with a neat though facile
categorisation of English fantasy authors with a set of characters
who can be resuscitated indefinitely; what's the point of being a
god if you can't raise yourself from the dead? A method, if you
like, of achieving closure without finality.
But I don't think that it's like that. I could dutifully assert,
in reviewer default-mode, that the book continues to spring
surprises all the way through, and that I really didn't know
whether anyone was going to get out of there alive, and so on, and
it would be perfectly true, but this isn't a default mode book.
It's compelling and aggravating and you ought to read it.
[Stevie complained about getting the book late]. So, deprived of
the interview, for those of you who want to know more about Gaiman
and the book there is his own American Gods Journal at: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp
One last note; some of you may have seen a blurb from Norman
Mailer praising Gaiman's Sandman series, and may therefore be,
perfectly reasonably, totally averse to ever picking up anything at
all written by Gaiman. Ignore Mailer and read Gaiman's stuff. Trust
me; you won't regret it.
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