Book Report: Norse Mythology

49. Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology (2017) (1/25/19)

It's hard to know what to say about this rich, suspenseful, sometimes funny retelling of Norse myths, featuring the usual suspects, known now so well from blockbuster movies like Thor: Ragnarok—Odin, the one-eyed all-father; his son, the slightly dim but very powerful Thor, with his magic hammer, Mjollnir; the sly, tricky, not-to-be-trusted, even at times quite evil shapeshifter Loki, Thor's blood brother. But beyond these three, this book features a full cast of characters: gods, giants, dwarves; mighty serpents, wolves, eagles; and more—so many that I was glad for the thorough glossary at the end.

I never learned about the Norse myths in school, so these were new to me: how Odin lost an eye in exchange for wisdom at the well of Mimir, the guardian of memory; how Thor got his hammer in the first place; the provenance of the Gjallerhorn, owned by the watchman of the gods, which, when blown once, will signal the end of time, Ragnarok.

Well, wait: that's not entirely true. I mentioned Thor: Ragnarok above. That, if anywhere, is where I've learned what little I know about the Norse myths. And some of these gods show up in Gaiman's own American Gods as well. But . . . those sources are hardly definitive. I'm not sure Gaiman's stories here are exactly definitive either, but I do feel better educated now. (Carolyne Larrington's The Norse Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Heroes [2017] might be a more rigorous, if less entertaining, reference.)

The tone of the stories is mostly serious, though in dialogue—especially when Loki is involved—things lighten up. As here, where a test of skill, arranged by Loki and pitting three master-crafstman dwarves against two others, Brokk and Eitri, is being discussed:

"Let's make this personal, Loki. Eh?"
 "What do you have in mind?" asked Loki.
 "Your head," said Brokk. "If we win this contest, we get your head, Loki. There's lots of things going on in that head of yours, and I have no doubt that Eitri could make a wonderful device out of it. A thinking machine, perhaps. Or an inkwell."
 Loki kept smiling, but he scowled on the inside. The day had started out so well. Still, he simply had to ensure that Eitri and Brokk lost the contest; the gods would still get six wonderful things from the dwarfs, and Sif [Thor's wife] would get her golden hair [which Loki had stolen]. He could do that. He was Loki.
 "Of course," he said. "My head. No problem."

In the end, Brokk and Eitri win the contest, but Loki barely escapes with his head thanks to . . . one of his many ruses. "That was the thing about Loki. You resented him even when you were at your most grateful, and you were grateful to him even when you hated him the most."

I couldn't help but think of Tom Hiddleston when it came to Loki, and so the lengths of Loki's pure evil surprised, even distressed me. You just can't trust Hollywood.

The book begins with set-up: "The Players," "Before the Beginning and After," "Yggdrasil [the tree of wisdom] and the Nine Worlds," "Mimir's Head and Odin's Eye"—and then we get into storytelling, with scene and dialogue. Eleven such stories follow, ending with "Ragnarok: The Final Destiny of the Gods." Yet all is not over. As the last page of the book puts it, hopefully: "And the game begins anew." The playing pieces will just be different.

Here is a NYT article, "Neil Gaiman on His 'Norse Mythology,' in Which Odin Wants a Wall." In it he is asked why Norse mythology, why not Greek. He was attracted, he said, "partly by their flawed protagonists and satisfyingly dark worldview. 'Greek myths are full of sex and peacocks. There’s lots of sitting outside and falling in love with your own reflection. No one’s doing that in Norse mythology. You sit outside in the winter, you’re dead."

But still he has lots of fun with the situations, the landscape, the personalities, who indeed are all too human in many ways, with their petty jealousies and lapses of logic.

In scanning the web for information on this book, I learned that there is an audio version, narrated by Gaiman himself. I'm not really an audiobook listener, but that one: I might just have to seek it out for a repeat treat.

And finally, I can't resist: here's Tom Hiddleston on "life as Loki." Because Tom Hiddleston.