American Gods makes me think that contemporary myth is about
more than just the story. That a whole undertaking of message and metaphor exists
within the pages of the story. Of course, morals and metaphor have had an
existence in story for ages, but American Gods made me think deeper. This book
isn’t about the characters, The Old Gods or The New, it’s about what the
existence of those characters is doing to us. The premise of the novel, that
gods walk the earth and the more worshipers they have, the more powerful they
become, reflects on religion in our world. The more followers a religion has,
the more powerful it is. And then comes the idea the the Old Gods (religion, of
sort) are what we allow to define our present view on the world; what we should
and shouldn’t do, what is allowed, what isn’t. And that the new Gods have been
allowed to take our awareness (technology, television, money).
Aside from all of that, American Gods was just a good read,
crossing everything from romance to murder mystery (bunch of strange sex, but whatever).
One of my favorite quotes was simple and really not deep at all, but resonated
with me:
‘What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a
bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows
it’s not foolin’ a soul.”
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