American Gods

Why I Picked It Up ##

Bookclub! Last month bookclub read a sad book. So this month the theme was "a book that was turned into an easy-going movie", so we read Stardust, and later we're apparently going to watch the movie together.

## What I Liked About It ##

Simply a varietally correct fairy tale. Quick read. Tristan remained pretty insufferable right up till the end. His change of heart was swift and abrupt, but like I've said elsewhere, love doesn't really have to make sense in fairy tales. It just happens.

I really liked the stormlords as tertiary characters, and the witches too. Pleased with how everybody's stories came to a conclusion at the end.

## What I Didn't Like About It ##

Can't really think of anything. I guess the women in the story don't have much agency. Except for the witches. Witches do whatever the hell …

The inaugural One Book One Twitter selection. It was selected over classic titles like Fahrenheit 451 because, I suspect, that Ray Bradbury doesn't have 1.5 million loyal twitter followers.

In any case, it was a quick read and a fun one. I had a fun time guessing who all the god characters were supposed to be.

I really had to persevere through a slow and rambling part towards the middle when Shadow, the main character, was struggling with purpose and self-identity. By the time he started on his Path to Awakening I was damn ready for it.

One of the underlying concepts of the novel, which I enjoyed, is that gods in America are either old, outdated, and enfeebled; or else they are new and cutting edge but are constantly being replaced by next year's model. And so America, it is often said, is just not a good place for …