Buffalo heads

Do you think Gaiman was, in the end, trying to boost Shadow's perception that behind it all, behind the spiritual scene, that there was either a Native American motif or even just an idea that land was the ultimate god? Nature? I think of all the gods Shadow asked about bringing Laura back, and how they indicated there was this central figure/concept/experience he'd need to find the answer to that question.

Laura

Sympathies for Laura?

Did your version get into why she was behind the robbery that led to Shadow's imprisonment?

I thought her line about coming into a room and not knowing whether Shadow was there seemed to hurt him more than her betrayal before her death.

Wednesday

Sorry I dropped off here for a few days. How did you process Wednesday as a character? I found him loathesome, then excused him for being a god with petty origins, then processed how he treated people based on what he knew about them (the girl who had killed a pet). Oh, and he's Shadow's father and started the whole battle. A deep character.

Rock-solid belief

I thought this was the crux of the story. Page 536 in my inferior edition:

People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe. And then they will not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen.

Grand Central!

Mr. Ibis: "This country has been Grand Central for 10,000 years or more." It's much more diverse than I think America is portrayed in popular culture. 

I like how Gaiman overall used those historical "Coming to America" interludes to give the same perspective of a less whitewashed American history. 

Christianity

Gaiman didn't delve into Christianity almost at all — I think Shadow quoted from the Beatitudes, and that was it. Did you perceive this as an oversight or a chickening-out of one of America's largest godly influences, old and new? Or does Jesus go beyond a thoughtform?

Favorite gods

I enjoyed the history and personification of America's "old gods" as Shadow was tutored in or introduced to each. Were you inclined to any in particular? Anyone you'd like to meet?

Old gods, new gods

One of my expectations of "American Gods" — actually, the chief reason I chose it — was that the author would elaborate on his perception of the what the "new" gods were in American culture. I picked up technology and media, and television — how about Lucille and her tits? Was the balance between old gods and new gods sufficiently explored, though? I thought we had a lot of history and character development for one but not the other.

First impressions

Well, this was a dense read ... not a difficult one, just longer than I eyeballed. I hope it wasn't too unwieldy to wade through. My paperback version was a mere 588 pages, and I believe at least kc had the author's preferred text, which adds 12,000 words. An author on another blog post reports there isn't much change, plotwise, so I think discussion can be consistent, although I'm interested if you detect any differences.

In any case, I hope this wasn't too much "pop" and not enough "lit," as we usually go. What did you think, and would you read anything else by Neil Gaiman?

Next pick

"In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez