Adjectiveless Post

Ms. Majerus's latest challenge is to have us write out next blog post without adjectives or with only single syllable words. Since this blog is devoted to book reviews, I figured it would be an interesting challenge to try to write a book review without any adjectives. So, bear with me, I apologize in advance for inevitable terrible quality and length of this blog post.

The book I have chosen to write about for this blog post is called American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This book tells the story about a man named Shadow who has spent part of his life in jail on a charge that he received for trying to protect his wife. He finally got out but learned that his wife had died in a car crash before his release. No words could describe his grief; he had loved...

All right, never mind. I give up. This is impossible. I've literally given myself a headache trying to write more than 4 sentences without adjectives.

Anyway, he discovers that his wife has died a week before his release and is so totally shocked that he doesn't know what to do. He returns home to attend his wife's funeral only to discover that she had been having an affair with his best friend for over three years. It's definitely a very bitter, sad moment. Gaiman does a fantastic job of capturing feelings and emotion in his words with just enough details so not to bore the reader but provide a vivid picture.

Shadow then meets this man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday and he offers to employ him as a full time driver/bodyguard. By the way, Shadow happens to be very tall and powerfully built but also relatively young. Shadow, realizing that he had nowhere to go, accepts. From this point on, Shadow has a very interesting series of adventures with Mr. Wednesday all throughout America. As can be assumed from the title of the book, Gaiman's novel is about the various myths, legends, and supposed "American Gods". The whole story builds up to a very vague climax concerning a brewing storm while Shadow and Wednesday attempt to get recruits. It's very interesting to see how deep Gaiman has delved into American history and mythology and I often found myself thinking "Ohhh, I remember reading something about that...". Trust me, if you like mythology, this is a cool book.

However, there are a few downsides. American Gods is not a very fast paced book. There are various action scenes but the majority of the book feels like a surreal walk through time narrated by Gaiman's extraordinary description skills. It felt like a movie was being painted in my head as I read this. Also, you know that thing when you learn about something and then immediately read it or see it the next day? Well, that happened with this book and the Botany of Desire. We had just finished the section about apples and I see John Chapman appear in this book along with the famous applejack.

Anyway, I like this book, but I don't think it's for everybody. If this were a movie, I would definitely rate this an R because of the sexual content so I wouldn't recommend this as a light read. Still, if you're looking for something slower but very thought provoking, I suggest American Gods as an interesting choice.