American Gods

I dont seem to be having much luck with large famous books lately. A few weeks back I ploughed through Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" and despite the recommendations of friends, I ultimately found it boring and over-long -- it was the Author's Preferred Text which presumably is like the Director's Cut and therefore more of a Fans Only thing. Again, like Cryptonomicon, I notice former fans retrospectively savaging Gaiman, but I probably wouldnt have been motivated to read said reviews beforehand, its more afterwards and feeling dis-satisfied that I went in search of validation:-)

Crytponomicon

Only thirteen years after publication, I finally got around to reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which at 911 or so pages it is quite a marathon, and while I enjoyed it I have to say that his archness did get on my nerves eventually and the whole thing of the multiple plots all starting far before the place where the stories actually started was very trying. I just came across a review online of his latest which seems to indicate that these flaws have finally been rumbled by some of his former fans. Very entertaining for long stretches yes, very inventive yes and very nerdy in a way that I found encouraged me to crack open an old college mathematics text to see if I could re-connect with some of the arcane algebra mentioned in the text.
A lot of confusion though -- so many characters and ideas that its hard not to get them confused, and there seem to be a lot places to get confused. When is the implicit narrator narrating? Who is the person proferring the evolutionary bad-ass theory? Is it Randy or Grandfather Lawrence, or the implicit narrator (Neal Stephenson)
Is Bobby Shaftoe meant to be insane, or are his sufferings being presented in an ironic and (heartlessly) black humorous manner?
And why does the book go on for so long and then wind up in about thirty pages?