By Sowon Jessica Moon

“Despite the misery and the utter skin-crawling horror of incarceration, he was breathing relief.” This was the mere beginning of a man’s journey in a novel in a category of its own: American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Shadow, a lofty, brawny man, is released from prison after doing time. He leaves the prison looking forward to seeing his beautiful wife Laura again, and continuing his coin tricks, only to find the world he had known had changed radically. His wife Laura passed on tragically in a car accident along with his long time friend Robbie. Shadow was without a job and far worse, without Laura.

Then, a perplexing yet shrewd hustler named Wednesday, who leaves much to question and offers empty answers, finds Shadow and offers him a job. After a couple drinks and some persuasion, Shadow befalls upon the position as Wednesday’s body guard. Shadow soon finds his circumstances as Wednesday’s protector to be more than he has bargained for, realizing that Wednesday’s convoluted schemes are far more calamitous than he had previously conceived. Shadow had walked out of the prison finding nothing to live for and nothing to lose, yet as the novel unfolds, he finds he has accepted himself into an unfamiliar world which he does not know, yet consequently not a world he had invented. Alongside Wednesday, Shadow embarks upon a journey encountering peculiar men and women who know more about him than he himself does. He discovers life is undoubtedly full of twists and turns, as secrets of his past linger and unfurl. All the while, beneath the surface of daily life, beneath the layers of what is accepted without question, a battle of insurmountable proportion is waking. Humanity is at stake, the world frail, ready crumble beneath the feet of an elaborate, grandiose scheme. How much can Shadow accept before he breaks? That, unfortunately, is not for him to stop and question. The fate of the world itself is in the hands of himself and Wednesday, and time is running out.

Not once during the novel did I feel compelled to close this book; Gaiman achieves unparalleled success in keeping the reader at their feet with endless surprises throughout that only make the reader more fervent to know how it ends. The relationship developed between the reader and Shadow strengthens as the reader finds he is more than a convict out of prison. This assists the reader to feel as though they are right there with Shadow, watching him unearth the truth, as the reader himself discovers truths not previously noticed. Gaiman’s use of detail proves essential as the novel develops; his perception on contemporary society is truly individualistic and in several ways, bears truth upon present existence. While the world feeds on novels of romance, of mystery and of the unreal, American Gods wraps itself in the concerns of today, the concerns in which society takes no time to ponder upon, in a surreal yet logical manner. Gaiman teaches readers that life is more than it appears, that we possess more will to persist than we believe. American Gods is a book of waking, a book with fact and fiction, a book of suspense and heartache. It is undoubtedly, in a category of its own.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a dramatic story about a man who leaves prison and reenters the real world. (Image courtesy bn.com)