Book vs. Show: American Gods

Hey guys!
I’m currently catching up with last years big hits. This time I went through American Gods, both book and show. So let’s see whether it’s good!

 

The Plot:
Shadow Moon’s life sucks. He just got out of jail – because his wife died. As if that wasn’t enough, turns out she had been screwing his best friend.
Where could you possibly go from here? Well, an opportunity comes up for Shadow, he meets a weird old guy named Mr. Wednesday who claims to be the God Odin, in need for an assistant…

 

Book vs. Movie:
Let me begin with the novel. Written by Neil Gaiman and published in 2001, I am a bit late to catch up with this bestseller. However, it was 100 % worth the time I spent reading. American Gods is funny and smart. Gaiman does a great job integrating lots of information on history and different religions. You will learn many fascinating new aspects and I ended up researching lots of the stuff mentioned!
Furthermore, Gaiman does not simply come up with a list of religions, he marvelously puts all of it into a new frame thus transporting everything to the present day. You wouldn’t expect this to work out, but believe me, it’s damn close to perfect.
Moreover, the characters Neil Gaiman came up with are witty and have some of the best lines, you’ll be quoting constantly afterwards.
I basically devoured the book and was very excited to see how all of this would translate to the screen.
So let’s see what the showrunners did about all of this!
They definitely managed to surprise me. Usually some stuff gets lots and is left out when a book is turned into a show or a movie. In this case, they actually added another layer! Shadow’s dead wife Laura gets a real plotline in the show, whereas she is mostly just dead in the novel. At first I was irritated but she’s an intricate character and deserves some exploring, so I’m glad about this change. Largely the show sticks rather closely to the book although we still have some stuff left for season two.
What I would like to point out is first of all the brilliant casting. The characters aren’t what I had expected them to look like but they are perfect. Furthermore, the soundtrack is awesome. The music is paired with stunning visuals that’ll leave you longing for more.

Both the show and the book impressed me and are worth checking out. The novel has more than 700 pages, so in case you’re not up for that much reading, the show will serve you well too 😉

 

Did you read the book? Watch the show? Let me know in the comments what you think!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin‘, Tumblr, Goodreads, Letterboxd or Instagram!