Product Description

After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the time until his release ticks away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But the storm is about to break... Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Gaiman's epic new novel sees him on the road to the heart of America.

Includes extra material exclusive to Headline Review's edition

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #851 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

Independent
‘This is a fantastic novel...runs as precisely as clockwork, but reads as smoothly as silk or warm chocolate’

Peter Straub
‘Poignancy, terror, nobility, magic, sacrifice, wisdom, mystery, heartbreak, and a hard-earned sense of resolution... Masterful storytelling’

Stephen King
‘Gaiman is, simply put, a treasure-house of story, and we are lucky to have him’

Customer Reviews

Confusing Exciting Gripping Fabulous!
I read a lot. I make a 50 min journey every morning to work, and the same back every day. So I read a lot. And since I've started reading this, I count myself fortunate that I get off at the last stop otherwise I'd have been late to work everyday for the last week! I just realise it's time to get off when the carriage empties!
I like the characters, I'm loving the story line (tho I've not finished it yet, so no spoilers here!), the dialogues are excellent, witty, sharp and yes in a crazy crazy way, believable...
So many sci-fi / fantasy books have fantastic story lines but such bad bad writing (dialogues in particular often make me cringe), that when I read one which actually can go on my litterature shelf it's just a relief!
The Gaiman books I've read so far are complex and confusing but in a good way: don't you just hate it when you've guessed the end before you're even half way through? The numerous characters are never the less real and solid; you get the feeling that these are characters who might be on the sidelines here, but could easily be central in a different story (like Mr Nancy here).
The plot here is no exception: Shadow is told his wife has died (I'm ashamed to say I laughed out loud when I found out how, gnii!) just on the day of his release from prison, and finds himself swept up by Mr Wednesday's crazy, seemingly nonsensical world, where old gods and new gods fight for America... Gaiman's humour is dark, grinding and very very sharp: I love it (and it's so un-pc: yay!)
I intend to savour the few chapters I have left to read slowly...

Perfect
Ambitious, learned, witty, grotesque, moving and beautifully written, this book - thriller, love story, detective novel, religious meditation and exploration of myth and legend - aims so high I wasn't sure, reading it, that he was going to pull it off. But he does. If there's a better book out there, I haven't read it yet.

Incredibly crap (may I use this word here?)
I bought this book because I liked Gaiman's style (or ideas) as they were exposed in some comic books and movies based on his work.
But this is the first novel of him that I have read and, certainly, I chose the wrong one.
This book won several prestigious prizes, including the Hugo, and that's what made me feel upset and scared enough to produce my feedback here.
Upset because I deducted the quality of the book by trusting the prizes mentioned on the cover (poor fool); scared because I wonder how changed is the literary world from the time when the Hugo was assigned to the work of Heinlein or Dick, to name a few.
Conclusion: American Gods is a chaotic mistery (or result) of our times.
For the guy who had the guts to criticize it as much as I did: I am not so sure that we belong to a minority.
Tagline: easy to forget.