If you want to catagorize American Gods in terms of genre, you'd probably say, like the Guardian reviewer, that it is a fantasy. No doubt this is true, but it has little in common with the kind of pop fantasy series like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter that mention of the genre generally brings to mind. In fact, it reminds me more of the often dark magical realism of the S. American writers like Garcia Marques or even Murakami. American Gods is Gaiman's multiple prize-winning effort to get under the skin of the American psyche by exploring its mythical underbelly. Part road-trip and part hallucination, the novel traces the journey of one "Shadow Moon", a noir type antihero caught up in a magical and harrowing battle between the old imported gods of the old country and "new" gods of materialistic modern America. To call the narrative bizarre would be an understatement, yet it is riveting and beautifully written.
For a review of the book from the Guardian, click here http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/19/american-gods-neil-gaiman-book-club
