Neil Gaiman is one of the writers I admire most, at least of the ones who still have a pulse. The problem is: I haven’t actually read that much of him. The Sandman, granted, The Graveyard Book, and I’ve seen the tv-series Neverwhere and the movies Coraline and Stardust. I liked them all. Now, I’ve tried my first novel, American Gods. From what I gather it’s celebrated. I don’t get it.

It tells the story of Shadow, a man who is released from prison after the death of his wife, and finds himself in the service of Odin in a growing conflict between the old gods and the new. There are various other deities, some antropomorphic manifestations, some violence, some love, and then… the end.

Gaimans knowledge of mythologies from around the world, and his imaginary stitching together of them into a narrative whole is impressive…