brendamn's reviews
362 reviews

Somehow American Gods is a book that is both dense and incredibly easy to fly through at the same time. It does an incredible job freeing mythology from its archaic and dated feeling while tying it in seamlessly with today's culture. What an incredibly satisfying ending as well, was surprised how much I liked this novel.

I still did enjoy it, I really did. It was just so... Boring. I did like the character building with Estraven, that was a highlight. The overarching plot between the Ekumen, Karhide, and Orogoryen presented an interesting dichotomy but somehow still felt overly simple. For me, maybe needed one more layer of complexity or just more pages devoted to fleshing it out.

There was,of course, Le Guin's insights on gender here and there, distilled down together that would make for an excellent essay. Maybe there is one out there I ought to look for.

Seriously, once the long trek began I just wanted the book over with. There were some nice moments and interesting developments between Genly and Estraven, but wish it was presently differently.

I am sure no one is more frustrated than Tom O'Neill that a project so intensively researched with countless interviews conducted and documents scoured ultimately ends somewhere that is a bit unsatisfying. What he has uncovered is astounding, and he succeeds in proving that the popular understanding of Manson Murders is inadequate.

The problem for me though, is how much of what he has revealed is viable and how much is just noise? Most of it truly is suspicious, and without question there is a lot being covered up. Though with there being so much we do not know, I feel like there are a lot of places where it truly is just speculation and coincidence.

Just because things don't quite add up in one place is not proof enough that it is due to the intent to deceive or obscure the truth. With some of the people he interviews, I do think sometimes they truly just did not know enough to give him the answers he was looking for. Sometimes the connection just isn't there, no matter how attractive it is to think that there is deception at play.

He is very self-aware in conceding how conspiratorial his leads and investigates sounds, and a lot of what he uncovers truly isn't just unfounded conspiracy. He does produce real results. All the same, I do think he uncovers a number of convincing theories that feel to hold deeper implications, but ultimately do not.

There is so much we still do not know, and maybe never will. But thanks to Tom O'Neill, we now know a hell of a lot more.