American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This is a bad land for Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a novel that is searching for the soul of America through Shadow, an quiet hero, who takes his encounters with all the ancient Gods he meets in stride and with good humor.

Gaiman's research is impressive, he recalls God's that have been all but forgotten: Odin, Eostre, Mama-Ji, Czernobog, Golem, Nancy, Ibis, and lots more. All these old Gods are pitted against the new Gods of the age, T.V., cars, airplanes, computers, the internet. All the God's want to same thing, they want people to believe in them, they want people to make sacrifices to them, and all of them know that in America, Gods come and go, people change where they place their faith quickly, leaving the God's neglected and on the brink of being forgotten.

Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you — even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition.
Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world.

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.


The novel causes us to question where we place our faith, and to what do we make our sacrifices? What gives us strength? What do we believe in? Whatever it is, that is our God. Is it money? People do say money is God in America, people sacrifice nearly everything to money: their time, their families, their values. Like all Gods you can never sacrifice enough to appease money, and truth be told, it can perform great miracles.

Maybe our God is our ego? The thing we always have to feed, to pamper, to sacrifice too. We put our faith in ourselves, in our struggles.

Zen Buddhism would hold that we must sacrifice our egos to be free, to the God of the world that is all sentient beings.

Or is our faith in science? Or our children? (yikes!) It is a good question to keep in mind as Americans: Where do I put my faith? You can also ask: What is the best God for me? What can I place my faith in that would give me the most strength and self-discipline to complete my challenges? To make me the best me I can be, for myself and society.

Buy American Gods: A Novel from Amazon.com