Having served three years in prison for aggravated assault, Shadow gets out of jail a few days early when his wife dies. On his way home to the funeral, he meets a man named Wednesday, who enlists Shadow's services as bodyguard, gopher, and servant.
This is no small task, considering that Wednesday is Oden, the All-Father, a god whose had quite enough of being forgotten. Oden is a con and an egomanic whose own quest addresses a question raised early in the book: Why is it immigrants to the US so easily left behind the gods of their homeland when they arrived? What is the connection between belief and place?
These questions lead to the questions of what we call god, what we believe, and how we live what we believe as Gaiman's characters cross America in this and the underworld as well as the cultures that define and redefine it every minute of our days.
In the end beliefs consume us if we let them.
In the end, if we don't, welcome to our world.
Gaiman had me with Shadow every inch of he way. Brilliant characterization, a fantastic and wholly believable plot, and prose that countless other Kindle readers (like me) found worth highlighting and sharing come together to tell the story of America. In the end what is ordinary is extraordinarily beautiful. Because it is.
9 Comments
sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to think anymore.
Thing are not as easy as one thinks anymore. I feel when people come into a new country becoming cosmopolitan is the key.
Nice. Interesting to me, a first generation Puerto Rican. I know I have forgotten, perhaps never really knew, the gods of my grandparents.
ReplyDeleteThis one is going on my book list for the week! Sounds fantastic! I've been meaning to ask you if your enjoy your Kindle? I've always been one with a need to feel a book in my hands etc. but I'm getting more and more intrigued with them! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
sounds like you really enjoyed the book...
ReplyDeleteI'm really intrigued by this author. Great review (I like them short and sweet!)
ReplyDeletethank you ... noted.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book to pick up in the near future. . .
ReplyDeleteNice review. I read this book myself w few years ago.
ReplyDeleteNeil is a personal favorite and if his characterizations are superb, I guess it's because he is also a comic book genius. If you loved this book, I suggest you also read "Neverwhere" which I consider to be his opus as well as "The Graveyard Book"
ReplyDeleteThanks for being here.