American Gods

This book comes up all of the time. It seems, each time I happen upon a list of must read books, or suggested reading based on the greatest novels of whatever era/demographic/genre, I am met with Gaiman's American Gods. Let me say this, the plot was convoluted via symbolic depth. The sub-plots did jive with the story's main arch. The characters were dynamic in an odd, abstract, contemporary way. In fact, I found everything about this book to be abstract. Perhaps this is a classic case of something having been built up beyond its abilities to deliver. All-in-all, I would not recommend this to most people. That being said, there will likely be scores of university literature, creative writing, and theory based classes with this book at the heart of a great number of thesis statements. That, I believe, is justified. The artisanship of the craft, the meaning, buried beneath meaning, buried beneath plot and character certainly exists. Simply, I gave this book two stars because I found myself appreciating the work, while begging myself to finish so I could move on.