As I read American Gods, I kept having this feeling... this seems *so* familiar... what does this remind me of?!? finally I could put my finger on it. David Brin!
David Brin has a book out called The River of Time, which is a collection of short stories. one is called The Loom of Thessaly, and features the three Fates of Greek/Roman mythology in a modern world. one story, I forget the name of it, runs with the unlikely conspiracy theory that the Nazis ran the death camps just to conjure up the gods of the past (via massive sacrifice of people and blood). they were apparently successful, and the Allied forces then had to fight not only Hitler but also Thor and the whole lot. well we did get Loki on our side. he's always the wildcard, isn't he? ;)
quite obviously, that is not the plot of American Gods! however, the premise (of mythology meets the modern world) is very similar, and--- it's been a while since I read the River of time, but I think still--- it's similar on more levels. maybe the style. Neil Gaiman is a talented writer.
some books I stop and stare at the pages for a moment, and read a particular sentence over and over, mouthing it in my head, and it's because I have to go look up words like cinereous and heterodyning (um, yeah, that would be from Grass!). some books, I stop and stare at the pages for a moment, and read a particular sentence over and over, mouthing it in my head, and it's because the writing is so... spot on. the words just resonate in a certain way... the sentence is not a scrabbling of marks on the page anymore; it's a spell. (spelling out the letters on the page, same root word as casting a spell). I found myself doing that several times with American Gods.
I enjoyed this book. it had some very nice twists and surprises (that actually surprised me a bit) in it. and I will probably read it again, and when I do, I expect that I will realize things I didn't realize this time, so I expect to enjoy it the second and maybe third time around. course there are things in the book that I could do without, but I am the human nerve ending. I'm the one who, as a child, when my mom asked why I couldn't sleep, replied, "The stars are making too much noise." and really, the parts I could do without, they are the most human parts of all.
I enjoyed the subtle (sometimes not-so-subtle) mythology in American Gods. despite what one might have thought about the Big Fish/Life of Pi post (god myspace is so slow), I do love made-up or embellished stories. ---why else would I read so many novels? (I think that truth is just as rewarding and more mysterious, though.)--- I do have a soft spot for myths. primarily myths that are told as myths, and don't try to be something else, kernel of truth in them or no. myths are their own kind of story, their own kind of power. they are to be valued for what they are. --- (as truth is to be valued for what it is, and really, you should consider them separately... course we could get started about What is truth? and that would lead us to phenomenology etc but I'll save Merleau-Ponty for later.)[/tangent]
there are many ideas presented in the book, each to which I could dedicate a full post discussing. (perhaps later?) one of them (the most basic) is not unlike the premise of The Never Ending Story ;) people call things into being by believing in them, and loss of that belief means the loss of those conjured things (heroes, gods, etc) diminish and finally disappear. although American Gods goes further with the idea:
"People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do . They believe. And then they will not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe; and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen."
[page 536]
Gaiman manages to weave discussion and revelation of many aspects of human history and human nature (page 322 is one of my faves) into his story, without missing a beat. none of me, blinking, wondering what just happened here. and yet his story goes from being very real, to very surreal, and somewhere in between, and back around again... deftly.
I give it a 4.
Mike Ainsel, My Ainsel = http://www.white-works.com/ainsel.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment