2008-01-30
Neil Gaiman - American Gods
First of all the "Gods" here, in its plural form, refers not to the one in religions which believe in only one almightly, these gods here refer to various myths such as Odin of the Norse, Czernoborg etc.
Well, this book is surely a long and complicated one, but I enjoyed every single page of it.
It was gripping with all its twists in the plot, and the various gods introduced, either as real characters inolved with Shadow, or in the narrative about the past, had been absolutely interesting. I remembered the one about the twins from Africa, sad lives they led separated as slaves in America, it was heart wrenching. The very erotic chapter on the succubus-like Queen of Sheba was erm, a little explicit.
So anyway, all the old gods had no place in America, a new land of immigrants. And with modernization, new gods emerged, like Media (who speaks with a prim and proper tone with suitable accents on keywords), Internet (a young boy with dark glasses on perpetually and rides around on a limo) and others. It was funny with the Media woman tried to seduce Shadow from the TV, and he switched it off.
There sparked off the war of the gods, which actually was really not just as simple as there was yet another betrayal. Sad eh?
I think the theme of betrayal was the one that was most prominent in the whole novel. Shadow was first betrayed by his wife Laura, who had an affair with his best friend while he was in jail. Then the betrayal by Mr Wednesday and Loki by engineering the entire war of the Gods. And the betrayal of Shadow by girl Sam who turned out to be a lesbian.
All in all, it has been a greatly satisfying read.
Every hour wounds. The last one kills.
The Arab slavers had destroyed the last of the great kingdoms of East Africa, while the West African nations had destroyed each other
Alumni band prac is getting more rowdy and crowded nowadays. And my job-hunting seems futile. :( Bah.
9:18 a.m.
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Gong xi gong xi - 2008-02-09
Happy Molar Lunar New Year - 2008-02-06
Monthly assessment - Jan 2008 - 2008-01-31
