Jasper Fforde
Three separate interviews in which Jasper Fforde discusses the Thursday Next series, his Nursery Crime novels and Shades of Grey, the first in a trilogy set in a future world recognizable as our own - but only just.
Abraham Verghese
An interview with Abraham Verghese about his life and writing and in particular about his extraordinary 2009 novel Cutting for Stone, set in 1960s and '70s Ethiopia and 1980s New York.
Martha A Sandweiss
An interview with Martha Sandweiss in which she discusses her book Passing Strange, a biography of Clarence King who lived a double life—as the celebrated white explorer, geologist, and writer Clarence King and as a black Pullman porter named James Todd, married to Ada with whom he had five children.
Amy Greene
Amy Greene talks about her first novel, Bloodroot, which brings her native Appalachia—and the faith and fury of its people—to rich and vivid life.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman: Questions, plus a reading group guide, with links to reviews, excerpt, author interview and author biography at BookBrowse.com.
American Gods
by
Neil Gaiman
Hardcover: Jun 2001,
480 pages.
Paperback: Apr 2002,
608 pages.
Caution! It is likely that the following questions will reveal, or at least allude to, key plot details. Therefore, if you haven’t yet read this book, but are planning on doing so, you may wish to proceed with caution to avoid spoiling your later enjoyment.
Where is Shadow at the beginning of American Gods? Where is he at
the end? Of the many characters he encounters along the way, which did you
find most memorable? What did you make of Shadow's obsession with coin tricks?
How did you interpret his determination to participate in the vigil for
Wednesday?
How does Laura die? Were you surprised by what happens at her funeral? How
does she come to Shadow's aid? What explains the phenomenon of her persistence
in the world of the living? How does Shadow release her from her state of
limbo?
How would you describe Wednesday? How does he interact with Shadow at the
start of the book? Did you find any of his grifter schemes especially
entertaining? What is his connection to Odin? By the end of American
Gods, what relationship between Wednesday and Shadow is revealed?
Who is Czernobog? How would you describe him? What is his relationship
with the three Zoryas? What did you make of this group? What role did they
play in Shadow's experiences?
"There are new gods growing in America ... gods of credit card and
freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods
of plastic and of beeper and of neon." How do you interpret this remark? Do
you think there's any element of truth to it?
How would you describe Shadow's sojourn in Lakeside, Wisconsin? How do
Hinzelmann, Chad Mulligan, Marge Olsen, and Missy Gunther treat their
mysterious new neighbor?
Who is Alison McGovern and how does Shadow come to know her? What clue
enables Shadow to determine her killer? What did you think of the outcome of
this mystery?
"Would you believe that all of the gods that people have ever imagined are
still with us today?" Shadow asks this question of Samantha Black Crow. Do you
find this premise compelling? Did any elements of the plot of American
Gods push this idea in interesting directions?
Copyright HarperCollins. Written permission is required
to reprint or reproduce material from HarperCollins Publishers Books.
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of HarperTorch.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
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