Neil Gaiman’s American Gods can leave you feeling a
little woozy after diving in for a three-day binge. Before you invest yourself
in this text for days on end there are a few things you
should prepare yourself for:
1)
Rethink
your decision if you plan on binge reading this text. This is the sort of book
that is like a really, really hot
bath. You’re not going to plop into the tub willy-nilly are you? Of course not!
You have to gently ease yourself in. This way when Gaiman’s fictional America
gets all topsy-turvy you’ll have had time to adjust and get to know the
characters.
2)
Avoid
any unnecessary attachments. While I don’t want to spoil anything for you, I
should warn you that about 90% of the characters are complex, meaning that you
need to seriously question everyone’s (and I mean everyone’s) motives. Bingeing can rob you of the necessary time to
question and think critically about a character’s actions, but if you don’t the
text can leave you feeling a little… well, betrayed.
3)
If
you are unfamiliar with Nordic/African/Indian/Greek/Native American/Egyptian/Other
mythology, save some time to do a little googling. Gaiman is a master of using
allusion and pun, but if you aren’t up to date on mythology you can feel like
you’re being left out of an inside joke. And let’s face it; no one wants to
be the only kid that doesn’t get why he’s laughing.
So if you’ve
read this and still feel like you just HAVE to commit your every waking hour to American Gods, go for it. In my
personal opinion this book would be better appreciated, and more fun to read,
if it were taken slowly like a calm stroll in the park. But I’m not your
mother, so if you binge dive into this world buckle up for one of the more
fascinating long cons in the book world.
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