[JHN]∎ Libro Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman 9780060515195 Books

Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman 9780060515195 Books

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Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman 9780060515195 Books

I sat on this book for over a year before actually getting around to reading it for two reasons. First, because I had just read another Gaiman book, Stardust, and found it a better than average but ultimately flawed read. The second reason was because I discovered that that the Anansi from the book was the same Anansi the Spider from African folklore and worried that the story would be just an homage to African mythology. Neither of my fears were justified. Anansi Boys succeeds in all the ways that Stardust fails. They both have that warm, campfire kind of storytelling but Anansi has a much more compelling, well paced story taking place in contemporary London with occasional trips to Florida. Anansi the spider does appear in the book but not in any way I would have imagined.

To summarize, the book is about a young man named Charles Nancy who has both parents die in quick succession. After his pops funeral Charles is informed that his old man was more than just an erratic father who seemed to get just a bit too much enjoyment out of playfully tormenting his son. He was in fact a God, specifically Anansi the spider. Charles is, not surprisingly, less than convinced particularly given the fact that he himself seems to lack any godlike abilities. He is also told that he has a brother who can be contacted by asking any household spider. Despite his understandable skepticism Charles does end up later whispering to a spider and soon enough his long lost and previous unremembered brother appears except unlike Charles he managed to inherit his father's godlike powers.

At the risk of obsessing over Stardust my biggest complaint was that many of the characters and story threads were essentially irrelevant to the core tale whereas Anansi is much tighter despite being longer in length. Anansi Boys seems like the perfect kind of book to be made into a film; in fact it almost seems as if Gaiman wrote this book specifically with an idea of it eventually being put onto celluloid. His style here reminds me quite a bit of the late great Douglas Adams who died way too young and produced way too little. Gaiman is a bit more restrained than Adams but he displays the same whimsical, breezy pacing in a slightly off kilter universe. Anansi Boys is easily one of the best fiction novels I have ever read and I look forward to reading more books by Gaiman.


Tags : Anansi Boys [Neil Gaiman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fat Charlie Nancy's normal life ended the moment his father dropped dead on a Florida karaoke stage. Charlie didn't know his dad was a god. And he never knew he had a brother. Now brother Spider's on his doorstep&#8212about to make Fat Charlie's life more interesting . . . and a lot more dangerous.,Neil Gaiman,Anansi Boys,HarperTorch,0060515198,General,Adventure fiction,Anansi (Legendary character),Brothers,Fantasy fiction,Fantasy fiction.,Fathers and sons,Humorous fiction,Literature & Fiction Genre Fiction,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction General,Fiction-General,General Adult,MASS MARKET,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),POPULAR ENGLISH FICTION,United States

Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman 9780060515195 Books Reviews

Akin to American Gods, Anansi Boys is another surreal tale of ordinary people faced with oddly extraordinary circumstances. Neil Gaiman develops the tension in this book in much the same way with American Gods, creating a dream-like environment for his characters in which the normal is just slightly off and the abnormal is surreal, bordering on disturbing. The protagonist and those supporting him are likable enough to root for them and the antagonists sufficiently villainous to despise but the collection of people do not fall into clear cut black-and-white camps, which gives this book the depth you expect from a good story. Overall it is a great read if you like surreal, dark fantasy. I only shorted it one star because American Gods was better and this story could reached that same level.
The Anansi Boys is like a modern day trip in and out of Never Land. Just when you believe you know where you're going the story changes shape. Give it a shot .
I love almost all of Neil Gaiman's work, and Anansi Boys ranks perhaps second only to American Gods in my personal list of favorite Gaiman books. It is far more humorous than most of his other writing, and the character of Mr. Nancy is a welcome crossover from the American Gods novel. If you have never read Gaiman, this is actually a good one to start with. Comedic, with a bit of suspense and even a twinge of horror thrown in the mix. The main character is a sort of pathetic Everyman named Fat Charlie. And his "cool" brother Spider is the brother many silently curse having in the family. I don't like rehashing the plot in a review, but suffice to say when Spider shows up at Fat Charlie's doorstep, his life takes a turn for the supernatural. Weaving African mythology in with modern city life, Anansi Boys worked its own special brand of magic on me. It made for a wonderful airplane read, and subsequent readings have proven no less entertaining. Don't expect deep and complex. This takes itself far less seriously than American Gods. Anansi Boys is spry and jaunty, reveling in making mischief - much like the patriarch of the Anansi Boys himself. And like most of Gaiman's work, there is something more sinister lurking in the shadows. If you are quick enough, you might catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye.If not, that's okay. It will eventually catch you.
Such an absolutely delightful tale this was. I fell in love with American Gods long after most of the book world had been telling me for years 'YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK.' And they were right, of course. I should listen more. When I found out Anansi Boys was along a similar vein, I was so excited! Because for me, it's very difficult to find books that are exactly like this, with characters so flawed and complex, who screw up a lot, but are also brave and find themselves through the course of a magical fairy tale. That is exactly my very favorite kind of book, and I never knew it was until I discovered this author. This one is much less dense than American Gods, but not in a bad way. Less characters and intertwining plots, but I found that to be an advantage, as I very much liked who lived among these pages. I think that's really the core of what I like so much; so much life is given to everyone and everything. An entire world is unwrapped for you to explore, some of it dark and violent (he always has that) but also beautiful and always highlighting the resilience of the human spirit. And that is such a nice thing to celebrate.

Sometimes I will go a long time without reading something like this, and I'll read several sub-par books in a row, and then I'll remember that there is magic in the book world and I run to it.

Sometimes you just don't know how much you need to read Neil Gaiman until you read Neil Gaiman. You probably need to, and this is an excellent choice.
I sat on this book for over a year before actually getting around to reading it for two reasons. First, because I had just read another Gaiman book, Stardust, and found it a better than average but ultimately flawed read. The second reason was because I discovered that that the Anansi from the book was the same Anansi the Spider from African folklore and worried that the story would be just an homage to African mythology. Neither of my fears were justified. Anansi Boys succeeds in all the ways that Stardust fails. They both have that warm, campfire kind of storytelling but Anansi has a much more compelling, well paced story taking place in contemporary London with occasional trips to Florida. Anansi the spider does appear in the book but not in any way I would have imagined.

To summarize, the book is about a young man named Charles Nancy who has both parents die in quick succession. After his pops funeral Charles is informed that his old man was more than just an erratic father who seemed to get just a bit too much enjoyment out of playfully tormenting his son. He was in fact a God, specifically Anansi the spider. Charles is, not surprisingly, less than convinced particularly given the fact that he himself seems to lack any godlike abilities. He is also told that he has a brother who can be contacted by asking any household spider. Despite his understandable skepticism Charles does end up later whispering to a spider and soon enough his long lost and previous unremembered brother appears except unlike Charles he managed to inherit his father's godlike powers.

At the risk of obsessing over Stardust my biggest complaint was that many of the characters and story threads were essentially irrelevant to the core tale whereas Anansi is much tighter despite being longer in length. Anansi Boys seems like the perfect kind of book to be made into a film; in fact it almost seems as if Gaiman wrote this book specifically with an idea of it eventually being put onto celluloid. His style here reminds me quite a bit of the late great Douglas Adams who died way too young and produced way too little. Gaiman is a bit more restrained than Adams but he displays the same whimsical, breezy pacing in a slightly off kilter universe. Anansi Boys is easily one of the best fiction novels I have ever read and I look forward to reading more books by Gaiman.