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[itsnotmymind]

WHY DID NO ONE INFORM ME THAT THE LOG RIDE THAT USED TO BE AT THE MALL OF AMERICA IS MENTIONED IN AMERICAN GODS??????

Anyone I have ever spoken to who has read that book is on notice.

Comments

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Is that a kids ride? I've read the book, but I'm not from America and never been to The Mall so I did not recognize it. Have you been on the ride?

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

You should have magically known it was significant to me and informed me the first time we ever spoke. You have failed.

In the middle of the Mall of America is a big indoors amusement park. It used to be Snoopy-themed, but now it has some other theme. It was Peanuts in my day. The log ride was (is? I don't even know if it's still there) a water ride. You go down this waterway in the dark and see a statue of Paul Bunyan and possibly other stuff...I forget. Then you come into the light and got down this roller-coaster like drop into the water and make a big splash. It's all ages, I think. I used to go on it as a kid. One of the more daring rides I went on (I'm not sure I ever did the roller coaster. Maybe once or twice?).

Weirdly, my happiest memory of the ride was a time I didn't go on it. I was there with a group of girls, don't remember who. My friends? My sister's friends? They all went on the ride, but I decided not to. The entry way to the ride, going into darkness, had a barred window made of fake wood. I sat on the window edge, and you could see the drop through the bars, and every time someone went down it (screaming, of course), you would feel the spray. I remember sitting there and feeling the spray and being very happy. I wasn't even little or anything - I think I might have been a teenager, even. But that made me happy.

Did you like the book? Haven't finished it yet, but so far it seems almost like an adult version of Alice in Wonderland.

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

*headpalm* Darn it!

Cool though. It reminds me of a similar ride over here I went on several times. Those happy memories really stay with us don't they <3

I did! I enjoyed it very much - especially how it ends. You'll have to let me know what you thought!

I like your description LOL It's definitely full of mystery and lots of crazy "people." :D

LOVE the idea of the old gods from the old country trying to survive in a place gradually being overrun by new gods. The idea is similar to Hammer of the Gods (gods trying to work together to fight a threat) and A Very Supernatural Christmas and other eps where gods are "assimilating." :D

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

I did notice the similarities between this book and Hammer of the Gods. Intentional, I assume? I actually have been wondering where the figures of Christian legend are in this book.

So far it doesn't seem to have the offensiveness of that SPN episode, though. Where you have Kali describe the offensiveness of western perspectives getting privilege ("Westerners, I swear. The sheer arrogance. You think you're the only ones on earth? You pillage and you butcher in your God's name. But you're not the only religion, and he's not the only God. And now you think you can just rip the planet apart? You're wrong. There are billions of us. An we were here first. If anyone gets to end this world, it's me.")...only to have Lucifer be more powerful than all these gods for no given reason and the only reason Kali survives is because two (white, western, male) mortals help to rescue her.

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

It could have been part of the literature referenced although I can't say for certain. hugemind recommended it to me when I was doing a review of Hammer Of The Gods. The Christian God is left out of it completely as far as I remember. It is interesting that Lucifer was made stronger than the other gods in Hammer of The Gods. It makes me wonder who actually created these gods - because they were created, just as they were created in the American Gods by the people who believed in them. If the gods of the Supernatural universe were created by human believers, like a Tulpa, then it would make sense that Lucifer, who was created by the God who created the universe to be one of the strongest archangels would be stronger than them.

By the way, I wrote a little post on this book where I've put the major spoilers under a cut here. You'll find that the people who commented (and had read the book) recommended I read Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman as well. I did and I enjoyed it very much. If you enjoy this book, you might enjoy Good Omens too.