Paperback, 608 pages
Chinese language
Published March 31, 2017 by 北京联合出版公司, 读客文化.
你崇拜什么，你就是什么。
奥丁、洛奇、安纳西……古老的神明们其实一直居住在美国，以人的姿态生活在我们身边，但他们失去了人类的信仰，变得衰弱。
高科技、汽车、媒体……新一代的神从这些事物中诞生，凭借人类的依赖和信仰而越发强大。
美国这片 土地上，新神与旧神的纷争不断升级。为了夺回人们的信仰，北欧主神奥丁穿越整个美国去联合旧神，与新神决一死战。一场众神之战即将爆发。
◆十周年作者修订版！
◆6项世界幻想文学大奖大满贯！囊括雨果奖、星云奖、轨迹奖、斯托克奖、SFX奖、格芬奖！
◆修订15075处，增加12000字全新内容！
◆同名美剧正在席卷全球，作者亲自担纲编剧！
◆《纽约时报》畅销榜冠军作品，全球发行近200个版本，粉丝遍布全世界！
◆斯蒂芬•金：尼尔•盖曼是故事的宝库，拥有他是我们的幸运。
◆你崇拜什么，你就是什么。
媒体推荐：
尼尔•盖曼是故事的宝库，拥有他是我们的幸运……他的创作力之丰沃与作品整体的水准之高，既神奇又吓人。——惊悚大师 斯蒂芬•金
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尼尔•盖曼是英国之宝，现在他也同样成为了美国之宝。——科幻大师 威廉•吉布森
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《美国众神》近乎奇迹……尼尔•盖曼用令人无比信服的方式，讲述了一个令人难以置信的故事。——奇幻作家 乔纳森•卡罗尔
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这是一个神吃神的世界。——奇幻作家 特里•普拉切特
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尼尔•盖曼把死去的神灵、死去的金钱和死去的感情暴露在我们眼前。这部小说为我们展开了一幅从人类创生至今的地图。——奇幻作家 斯蒂芬•埃里克森
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《美国众神》向世界重新宣告了幻想文学的重要性。它黑暗而有趣，并且滋养着我们的灵魂。——迈克尔•查邦
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只要你思考过世界何以成为今天这样，就一定会被《美国众神》的魅力俘获。——《今日美国》
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尼尔•盖曼总是用灵巧的手，为我们编织神话。——《纽约时报》
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悬疑、讽刺、恐怖、浪漫，还有诗意，《美国众神》拥有这一切，让读者无法释卷。——《华盛顿邮报》
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令你沉吟、欢乐、不安、振奋、惊恐、愉悦的迷人故事，有时还会以古怪的方式让这些情绪一齐迸发。喜爱盖曼作品的人，会满意地发现，这是一部由熟悉的故事大师所创造的传奇。第一次接触他的读者，则会惊讶于他的优异。——《圣路易斯邮报快讯》
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说尼尔•盖曼是个作家，犹如说达芬奇懂一点儿艺术。——《明尼阿波里斯明星论坛报》
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盖曼创造了一部独特、充满文学性又非常易读的小说。千万别错过。——《洛基山新闻》
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文学界的摇滚巨星……尼尔•盖曼总能在那些该死的地方发现魔法。——《迈阿密新时报》
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让读者一口气读下去、无法放弃的作品。——《华盛顿邮报》
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机锋叠出，幽默风趣，间以惊悚，而且移步换景，不断发展，始终紧紧抓住读者的心……这是一部强有力的小说，一方面使读者不忍释卷，另一方面又迫使他们不断停下来，惊叹一声：“哇！”——《今日美国》
I read the 10th anniversary edition, which is longer than the original. It seemed a little slow at times and I think the original edition might be better.
Hugely entertaining book, full of weirdness and references - not only the gods themselves but I could see enough subtle little literary allusions to realise there must be many more there. Also some that I suspect may just be looking too hard, but oh well - they didn't detract anything from the book....
I love the broad ambition of this story, the multiple levels it runs on, and the ease with which Gaiman can switch between those levels. It suffers a little from trying to pack too much in. By the end I was a bit tired of new characters being introduced without development, and wishing a few of the subplots had been explored better. It's both telling and a good move that when Gaiman wrote a ~sequel (Anansi Boys) he picked up one of the second-tier characters from American Gods, fleshed him out beautifully, and told a much more …
Hugely entertaining book, full of weirdness and references - not only the gods themselves but I could see enough subtle little literary allusions to realise there must be many more there. Also some that I suspect may just be looking too hard, but oh well - they didn't detract anything from the book....
I love the broad ambition of this story, the multiple levels it runs on, and the ease with which Gaiman can switch between those levels. It suffers a little from trying to pack too much in. By the end I was a bit tired of new characters being introduced without development, and wishing a few of the subplots had been explored better. It's both telling and a good move that when Gaiman wrote a ~sequel (Anansi Boys) he picked up one of the second-tier characters from American Gods, fleshed him out beautifully, and told a much more focussed story with him. Anansi Boys ends up being a stronger book as a result.
A few references I'm wondering about:
About halfway through part one, there seemed to be a subtle allusion to Eliot's Journey Of The Magi. I'm not sure if it's either intended or real, but read or listen to the poem: www.poetryarchive.org/poem/journey-magi - it seems to fit, eh?
One thing I was left not understanding at the end was why Wednesday needed Shadow. It seemed that he could have orchestrated the whole con at less risk without Shadow involved, which was the one thing I found unsatisfying about the otherwise very clever ending. I read somewhere that Monarch Of The Glen explains more about who Shadow is, so I'm looking forward to reading that.
The two-man con idea feels like a wonderfully biting allegory about US politics. If so, then Gaiman was pretty prescient - it's a thing that has become much more obvious since.
The two-man con and its motivations also feels like an allegory about the "Clash of Civilizations" nonsense that has potential to be so self-fulfilling. I'm pretty sure this on my mind because I happen to have read the book in a week when anti-Muslim attacks in the US are more prominent in the news than usual, but I wonder if it wasn't also an intended message, given that the book was first published in 2001. But then... that crap didn't get much airtime until 9/11, and this book must have mostly been written before that.
And finally, I really want to learn more about Sammy Black Crow. I was expecting her to be more significant in the end.
Hugely entertaining book, full of weirdness and references - not only the gods themselves but I could see enough subtle little literary allusions to realise there must be many more there. Also some that I suspect may just be looking too hard, but oh well - they didn't detract anything from the book....
I love the broad ambition of this story, the multiple levels it runs on, and the ease with which Gaiman can switch between those levels. It suffers a little from trying to pack too much in. By the end I was a bit tired of new characters being introduced without development, and wishing a few of the subplots had been explored better. It's both telling and a good move that when Gaiman wrote a ~sequel (Anansi Boys) he picked up one of the second-tier characters from American Gods, fleshed him out beautifully, and told a much more …
Hugely entertaining book, full of weirdness and references - not only the gods themselves but I could see enough subtle little literary allusions to realise there must be many more there. Also some that I suspect may just be looking too hard, but oh well - they didn't detract anything from the book....
I love the broad ambition of this story, the multiple levels it runs on, and the ease with which Gaiman can switch between those levels. It suffers a little from trying to pack too much in. By the end I was a bit tired of new characters being introduced without development, and wishing a few of the subplots had been explored better. It's both telling and a good move that when Gaiman wrote a ~sequel (Anansi Boys) he picked up one of the second-tier characters from American Gods, fleshed him out beautifully, and told a much more focussed story with him. Anansi Boys ends up being a stronger book as a result.
A few references I'm wondering about:
About halfway through part one, there seemed to be a subtle allusion to Eliot's Journey Of The Magi. I'm not sure if it's either intended or real, but read or listen to the poem: www.poetryarchive.org/poem/journey-magi - it seems to fit, eh?
One thing I was left not understanding at the end was why Wednesday needed Shadow. It seemed that he could have orchestrated the whole con at less risk without Shadow involved, which was the one thing I found unsatisfying about the otherwise very clever ending. I read somewhere that Monarch Of The Glen explains more about who Shadow is, so I'm looking forward to reading that.
The two-man con idea feels like a wonderfully biting allegory about US politics. If so, then Gaiman was pretty prescient - it's a thing that has become much more obvious since.
The two-man con and its motivations also feels like an allegory about the "Clash of Civilizations" nonsense that has potential to be so self-fulfilling. I'm pretty sure this on my mind because I happen to have read the book in a week when anti-Muslim attacks in the US are more prominent in the news than usual, but I wonder if it wasn't also an intended message, given that the book was first published in 2001. But then... that crap didn't get much airtime until 9/11, and this book must have mostly been written before that.
And finally, I really want to learn more about Sammy Black Crow. I was expecting her to be more significant in the end.
This was a very interesting concept and a pretty good book. It's not among my favorites, but I can't quite point to anything that was particularly disappointing. Maybe I just felt a bit disconnected with the story having never lived or traveled through middle America.
Overall though, it's a good book and good read.
