Norse Mythology
- villacara2
- Aug 28, 2017
- 3 min read
Book: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Genre: fiction, mythology
Rating: eight out of ten tall little book stacks 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 ◼️ ◼️
To preface, I am a long standing fan of Marvel comics (the real ones, not just the movies). Not all of them, mind you, but a very large percentage of them, including Thor. Which accounts for part of why I wanted to read this book. I was intrigued by the lore that inspired the Thor of the Marvel universe and I was curious to see how much the comics drew from the original mythology. I also just love mythology, although my knowledge base for it is limited. That being said, this book is a great introduction into the world of Norse mythology.
I listened to this book on audiotape, which I would recommend for a number of reasons.
1: It takes the guesswork out of trying to pronounce real old Scandinavian words that have more consonants than Trump has scandals. I mean I listened to all 6 and a half hours of that book and I still can’t read the name of Thor’s hammer and pronounce it correctly. Mjolnir comes out of my mouth sounding like “mew-mew.”
2: This is a book of folk stories that were originally communicated through oral storytelling, so listening to them (rather than reading them) calls back to that experience.
3: Neil Gaiman does a really good job reading the book. He adds the appropriate amount of drama and different voices for all the characters without it being schtick-y.
4: Seriously. Pronunciation. Yggdrasil. Wrestle with that baby on your own.
Plus it makes for a great commute listen because each chapter is its own self-contained story, so you don’t have to try to remember where you are all the time and what was going on before.
I don’t think there is much for me to summarize about the book in general, considering it’s title really says it all. It’s a collection of several mythological stories that revolve around the trials and tribulations of the gods of Asgard (aka Thor, Loki, Odin All Father, and the bunch). I will say, it was a surprisingly humorous retelling especially considering the gruesome nature of most of the stories (lots of eyeballs in places they should not be). The thing I loved most about this book is Gaiman’s approach to Loki. In most contemporary adaptations/understandings of the infamous trickster, Loki is portrayed as evil in his cunning, but Gaiman gives us a refreshing take in which Loki’s cunning is equally as heroic as it is devilish. He creates much more depth around the character because he doesn’t express Loki as purely bad, more like mischievous with an occasional disregard for others. Gaiman really breaks from the platitudes that made up my understanding of the Asgardian world. Thor isn’t the classic good-doing hero, but instead a kind of a muscle-head dummy who occasionally has been caught crossdressing; Odin isn’t the righteous, justice-seeking ruler, instead he’s kind of a jerk who has been known to weasel out of his promises and responsibilities. That, in total appeals to me. I like imperfection in my characters and I like the loyalty Gaiman had to the original folk stories. He wasn’t pressured to conform to contemporary ideas of heroes and villains.
All this being said, you have to be okay with the book lacking some cohesion and a conclusive trajectory. If you approach the book as its meant to be read, a book of short stories, and don’t expect an in depth tale of Thor growing up and facing the challenges of being a young god, then you will be pleased. It’s not a complete retelling of the development of the Norse world of gods; it’s a selection of a few myths that contributed to the many that make up the tapestry of the Norse oral tradition. Also if you decide to go the audiobook route and you’re a visual learner like me, be fully prepared to not be able to follow any family tree, because those gods are wily bunches with many spouses and even more children that sometimes turn out to be animals.
And in case the whole Bifrost, Rainbow Bridge, the-whole-universe-is-a-tree thing confused the ever living crap out of you like it did me, don't worry Norse Mythology clears this up.
In total, this book was pretty much a slam dunk. Or a Mjolnir slam?
To purchase this book, here is the link to it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Norse-Mythology/dp/B01M1DYSHD
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