This is yet another book that has me feeling a bit ambiguous now that I'm finished with it because I didn't exactly enjoy it as much as I'd expected, but there were definitely aspects of it that I liked and that made the novel worthwhile. For one thing, it took me over 150 pages before I got anywhere near oriented about the events taking place and thus could start becoming interested in what was happening. I was seriously so confused at the start when Shadow met Wednesday on the plane, but I believe it may very well have been Gaiman's intention for the reader to be as bewildered as Shadow himself initially is after he discovers his wife has died and that he's about to leave prison a tad earlier than expected. I can appreciate that because I think it's never a bad thing if a writer can evoke the same feelings and/or responses in the reader that his/her characters are enduring. That mirror effect is intriguing and not easy to produce, I'm sure. Anyway, once I grew familiar with the characters and grasped what was happening to Shadow, I found myself caring about the tribulations the character endured and became immersed in what was agonies and trials he'd face next. I also enjoyed the premise of old and new gods facing off against each other, the old gods being figures from immigrant folklore, and the new ones being incarnations of modern technology, such as television and the Internet. The book compelled me to examine what it is that we Americans hold dear nowadays, and I have to say that I felt guilty for being so attached to things like clothes and the myriad TV shows I watch. I can well imagine how an old god might harbor resentment towards those that have forsaken their ethnic and/or religious roots in place for glitzy false idols, but I also know how difficult it would be to shake off the new gods that surround us today. I certainly wasn't expecting Gaiman to raise questions about what and how people worship, but he did exactly that, and he achieved that in a startlingly grim, but compelling, manner. I thought I'd walk away from the novel feeling gloomy and dejected, but it left me hopeful, really. Hopeful for what, I'm not entirely sure, but I think there may be a future reading more Neil Gaiman stories waiting for me! When all's said and done, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a more slowly-paced and thought-provoking read.