American Gods: Roman [Taschenbuch]

Selten ist ein Roman mit so viel Vorschusslorbeeren an den Start gegangen: American Gods wird als Meisterwerk eines neuen Stephen King gefeiert, als Schaffenszenit eines Autors, der mit seiner Sandman-Comicserie ein ganzes Genre neu definiert hat. Dabei hat sich Neil Gaiman mit seinen beiden ersten Romanen nicht eben mit Ruhm bekleckert. Niemalsland ist eine nur mäßig inspirierte Umsetzung einer BBC-Fernsehserie und Sternwanderer eine fantasievolle Hommage an Hope Mirrlees' Klassiker Flucht ins Feenland.

American Gods spielt da schon in einer anderen Liga. Hauptfigur ist Shadow, eine eher zwiespältige Gestalt, die nach einer dreijährigen Gefängnisstrafe in die Freiheit entlassen wird, nur um sich mit dem Tod seiner Frau und seines besten Freundes konfrontiert zu sehen, die ein Verhältnis miteinander hatten. Notgedrungen nimmt er einen Job bei einem merkwürdigen alten Mann an, der sich "Wednesday" nennt. Wednesday entpuppt sich als Inkarnation des nordischen Gottes Odin und ist nur einer von zahlreichen übermächtigen Wesen, denen Shadow auf seiner Reise durch das Herz von Amerika begegnet.

Im Laufe des Romans stellt sich heraus, dass der nordamerikanische Kontinent nicht nur die Heimat von Menschen aus der ganzen Welt geworden ist, sondern auch von Güttern aus den unterschiedlichsten Mythologien und Religionen. Wie schon bei Sandman zaubert Neil Gaiman mit großer Virtuosität Figuren und Geschichten aus allen Kontinenten aufs Tableau und lässt seine Leser eine ihnen bekannte Welt mit völlig neuen Augen sehen.

American Gods überzeugt von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite -- liebevoll gezeichnete Protagonisten, eine spannende und vielschichtige Handlung, unaufdringliche Kritik am Selbstbild der USA und ihrer Bewohner. Allerdings ist der Roman auch eindeutig das Werk eines Briten, der einen Blick auf die ehemalige Kolonie wirft, die sich längst zur Weltmacht aufgeschwungen hat. Entsprechend sind die Vergleiche mit Stephen King und anderen US-Bestsellerautoren zwar schmeichelhaft, aber unangemessen.

An der deutschen Ausgabe wiederum stört nicht nur die reißerische Aufmachung, sondern vor allem die Entscheidung von Verlag und Übersetzer, Titel und Namen im Original stehen zu lassen, eine Unsitte, die aus Filmsynchronisierungen nur allzu bekannt ist. Nichtsdestotrotz: American Gods erfüllt die hohen Erwartungen und dürfte bald zu jener kleinen Zahl fantastischer Romane gehören, die als Messlatte für das ganze Genre gelten. --Felix Darwin -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

Within just a few pages of Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, he commandingly reveals that he is at his considerable best with this disturbing and dark journey into the hidden soul of America. Gaiman, one of the most talented and imaginative writers at work today, achieved nigh-legendary status with his comic Sandman, which took the genre to heights that even the equally talented Alan Moore had not attained; Gaiman's subsequent career as a novelist has displayed the same glittering inventiveness and exquisite use of language.

Gaiman's protagonist Shadow has patiently done his time in prison. But as the moment of his release approaches, he begins to sense that some unnamed disaster is lying in wait for him. As he makes his way home, he encounters the mysterious Mr Wednesday, who appears to be both a refugee from a distant country at war and the King of America. And perhaps even a god. As Shadow and Mr Wednesday begin a bizarre odyssey across the United States, solving murders is only one of their accomplishments. With an epic storm of supernatural origin brewing, one questions whether they will be destroyed before Shadow pays the price for grim mistakes in his past.

The use of language here is impeccable, and it is wedded to a surreal narrative that brings out the most quirky and unsettling aspects of Gaiman's imagination. Forget Gaiman the Guru: just enjoy Gaiman the consummate writer:

He opened his mouth to catch the rain as it fell, moistening his cracked lips and his dry tongue, wetting the ropes that bound him to the trunk of the tree. There was a flash of lightning so bright it fell like a blow to his eyes, transforming the world into an intense panorama of image and after-image. The wind tugged at Shadow, trying to pull him from the tree, flaying him, cutting to the bone. Shadow knew in his soul that the real storm had truly begun...

--Barry Forshaw -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.

Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.

Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .

Shadow, a strong, silent, Steven Seagal type, has kept his head down while doing time for creaming the guys who ran off with his share of a heist. He is about to be released, ticket home in hand, thanks to his lovely wife; then his departure is pushed up a few days--unhappily, so that he can attend her funeral. Weather forces his flight down in St. Louis, and he winds up on a short hop seated next to a mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who informs him that his once and, he had hoped, future boss is also dead. Would he like to work for Wednesday, instead? The guy is too creepy by half but, as it happens, hard to refuse. And after Shadow meets some of Wednesday's equally creepy friends, becomes an accomplice to a clever bank robbery, and gets coldcocked and kidnapped by black-clad heavies, he acquires a certain job loyalty, if only to find out what he has signed on for--an upcoming battle between the old gods of America's many immigrants' original cultures and the new gods of global, homogenizing consumerism. The old gods are trying to live peaceably enough in retirement, which is the predicament Wednesday (i.e., Wotan, or Odin) must overcome to rally them. After two sterling fantasies, the dark Neverwhere (1997) and the lighter, utterly charming Stardust (1999), Gaiman comes a cropper in a tale that is just too busy and, oddly for him, unengaging. His large fandom may make it a success, but many of them, even, will find it a chore to get through. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .

In his latest novel, Gaiman (Neverwhere) explores the vast and bloody landscape of myths and legends where the gods of yore and the neoteric gods of now conflict in modern-day America. The antihero, a man of unusually acute intellect through whose eyes we witness the behind-the-scenes dynamics of human religion and faith, is a convict called Shadow. He is flung into the midst of a supernatural fray of gods such as Odin, Anansi, Loki One-Eye, Thor, and a multitude of other ancient divinities as they struggle for survival in an America beset by trends, fads, and constant upheaval an environment not good for gods. They are joined in this struggle by such contemporary deities as the geek-boy god Internet and the goddess Media. There's a nice plot twist in the end, and the fascinating subject matter and impressive mythic scope are handled creatively and expertly. Gaiman is an exemplary short story writer, but his ventures into novels are also compellingly imaginative. Highly recommended for all libraries. Ann Kim, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .

"Er packt den Leser, reißt einen im Wahnsinnstempo durch eine unglaublich genial komponierte Geschichte, mehr geht nicht!" (Bild am Sonntag )

»Ein sehr unterhaltsamer Mix aus Thriller, Fantasy und Roadmovie.« (Der Spiegel )

»Mit American Gods dringt Neil Gaiman in die Dimension von Stephen King vor.« (New York Post )

After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the time until his release ticks away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America... -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .

"Er packt den Leser, reißt einen im Wahnsinnstempo durch eine unglaublich genial komponierte Geschichte, mehr geht nicht!"
Bild am Sonntag

»Ein sehr unterhaltsamer Mix aus Thriller, Fantasy und Roadmovie.«
Der Spiegel

»Mit American Gods dringt Neil Gaiman in die Dimension von Stephen King vor.«
New York Post

Der Engländer Neil Gaiman, 1960 geboren, arbeitete zunächst in London als Journalist und wurde durch seine Comic-Serie Der Sandmann bekannt. Neben den Romanen Niemalsland und Der Sternwanderer schrieb er zusammen mit Terry Pratchett Ein gutes Omen und verfasste über seinen Kollegen und Freund Douglas Adams die Biographie Keine Panik!. Er lebt seit einigen Jahren in den USA.