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.

(Amazon.com review)

This is one of the Cliff's wishlists top 100 books! (#36 today.) Promised to Lottiotta.

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Shipped May 9/08

Happily received! Now somehow I've managed to get myself two copies - which is great, because now I can send one away and keep one for myself! :) Thank you very much, GateGypsy.

Loved this book, even though I found its pace quite slow. There was such a deep and intriguing thread that kept me turning the pages; the premise that all the gods old and new are living among us. I was so impressed by the author's ability to drop seemingly unrelated scenes into his book, which he then tied together into a scintillating climax. A very unusual and thought-provoking read.

Huzzah! Thanks very much! :) xxx

I am very excited to finally be starting this. It's been on my TBR shelf for more than 2 years and in 3 houses, and I've been forcing myself to read books in order to get them moving again. After much strictness, I'm about to start, and I'm really proud of how I'm getting these books moving! Thank you all for being so patient. :)

I just finished this last night. I love the way all the threads are drawn together at the end, and I felt like I'd have strange dreams when I fell asleep. It's still spinning in my head now.

Thanks so much for sending this to me. I'm going to find someone else to send this to, and I'm also going to try to find a copy to keep.

Posted second class as a Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness. :) Travel safe, book! And I hope you enjoy it, future reader(s).

Received today with many thanks from Lottiotta! I look forward to reading it and will do a JE as soon as the book is finished.
Again, thank you so much Lottiotta!