American Gods
Jun. 4th, 2019 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfbiterNeil Gaiman - American Gods
(This is a repost from LJ. Yes, I know there is the TV series now but I have not seen any episodes.)
Shadow, a very small-scale criminal, is released from prison couple of days early when his wife dies in a car crash. On his way home he meets a strange man who calls himself Wednesday who recruits him as his aide. Wednesday is gathering support for a confrontation between the old gods - most of them from the Old Continent - and modern gods of television, highways and computers.
Accidentally Shadow bring his wife back to life as a sort-of-a zombie. Then he accompanies Wednesday when he tries to recruit other old gods to his cause. They spend a major part of the book driving and sightseeing in various places all around the USA before the expected confrontation. That includes the Mississippi where the pre-Columbian travellers brought the Egyptian gods.
The old gods live very modest lives in the outskirts of society; Old Slavic god is a retired butcher, Egyptian gods work as morticians, Babylonian goddess of love is a prostitute. For some reason the American Odin has become a conman; It does not even correspond to differences between US American and Icelandic Asatru, the modern worshipers of Viking gods.
The modern gods seem to exist without personal acknowledgement when the olds ones had active mythologies and personality. Maybe that's the reason why they are so (decidedly?) stereotypical. Still they are apparently going strong - even if the technology-geek god who represents either computers or Internet - not sure - seems to be an ignorant net-addict who does not even want to know.
Otherwise the metaphysics seems similar to that of the Sandman series - including the fact that when the gods die they still exist in some form, just like the Sandman reincarnated in the white form when the black one died.
And these gods are not the cute Disney or even Marvel versions - some of them reminisce in a nostalgic way about the times they were offered human sacrifices. And the new ones receive theirs as well - in the form of highway accidents, for example.
The book is a mixture of versions of all the mythologies Gaiman could think of. There are both the Slavic and Nordic triple goddesses and an African spider trickster meeting with Irish treasure-guardians. A Germanic sacrifice (with a brief visit from a Hindu god) leads to the Egyptian-style quest in the Underworld with the modern face-your-fears overtones and a rescue by an Amerindian spirit.
There is also couple of shorter sequences about people who came to America as African slaves (creating Woudon), transported indentured servants (bringing leprechauns) or traders hoping for a good deal (and meeting Arabic spirits).
Couple of details in the story also seem to imply that that Amerindian gods let the white people stamp out the influences of native Americans and they exist only in their grace.
(This is a repost from LJ. Yes, I know there is the TV series now but I have not seen any episodes.)
Shadow, a very small-scale criminal, is released from prison couple of days early when his wife dies in a car crash. On his way home he meets a strange man who calls himself Wednesday who recruits him as his aide. Wednesday is gathering support for a confrontation between the old gods - most of them from the Old Continent - and modern gods of television, highways and computers.
Accidentally Shadow bring his wife back to life as a sort-of-a zombie. Then he accompanies Wednesday when he tries to recruit other old gods to his cause. They spend a major part of the book driving and sightseeing in various places all around the USA before the expected confrontation. That includes the Mississippi where the pre-Columbian travellers brought the Egyptian gods.
The old gods live very modest lives in the outskirts of society; Old Slavic god is a retired butcher, Egyptian gods work as morticians, Babylonian goddess of love is a prostitute. For some reason the American Odin has become a conman; It does not even correspond to differences between US American and Icelandic Asatru, the modern worshipers of Viking gods.
The modern gods seem to exist without personal acknowledgement when the olds ones had active mythologies and personality. Maybe that's the reason why they are so (decidedly?) stereotypical. Still they are apparently going strong - even if the technology-geek god who represents either computers or Internet - not sure - seems to be an ignorant net-addict who does not even want to know.
Otherwise the metaphysics seems similar to that of the Sandman series - including the fact that when the gods die they still exist in some form, just like the Sandman reincarnated in the white form when the black one died.
And these gods are not the cute Disney or even Marvel versions - some of them reminisce in a nostalgic way about the times they were offered human sacrifices. And the new ones receive theirs as well - in the form of highway accidents, for example.
The book is a mixture of versions of all the mythologies Gaiman could think of. There are both the Slavic and Nordic triple goddesses and an African spider trickster meeting with Irish treasure-guardians. A Germanic sacrifice (with a brief visit from a Hindu god) leads to the Egyptian-style quest in the Underworld with the modern face-your-fears overtones and a rescue by an Amerindian spirit.
There is also couple of shorter sequences about people who came to America as African slaves (creating Woudon), transported indentured servants (bringing leprechauns) or traders hoping for a good deal (and meeting Arabic spirits).
Couple of details in the story also seem to imply that that Amerindian gods let the white people stamp out the influences of native Americans and they exist only in their grace.
