Week 8 - American Gods

This week I read the extended/special edition version of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman had an introduction note at the beginning of the book about how it was much more lengthy and meandering in its original intended form before it went through the editor and was trimmed down. This special edition of the book has the parts that were cut out.  

I am not sure which of the parts I have read so far didn't make it into the original publication, but I definitely think that the way the book wanders from one place to another makes it more enjoyable to read (especially in a world-building sense) and adds to the book's feeling of atmosphere. At one point Shadow says that it feels like he's entered a world that has a logic of its own, and exploring separate little supernatural communities throughout the book really gets this feeling across, like by learning more about how the world operates we come to accept the American Gods world as a realistic one instead of a supernatural one. I really enjoyed the way that Gaiman deals with this kind of magical realism through fusion of modern America with old gods, and the way he kept the workings of this world vague and hidden.