Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Anansi Boys
Book Review: A wonderful, charming and funny book.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first Neil Gaiman book I have read and he definitely did not disappoint. Charlie Nancy, the main character. is lovably inept and heart rendingly human. When his brother, Spider, comes to visit, things really get crazy, and Charlie has to figure out a way to get rid of him. Gaiman's sense of humor is spot dead on. There were portions of this book where I laughed out loud. (In particular, when he was in a cab lost in London. I won't give any more away. But you will howl with laughter.) If you are into fantasy, you have to give this delightful novel a read.Book Review: ANANSI BOYS
Summary: 4 Stars
ANANSI BOYS
Neil Gaiman has created a wonderful tale about Gods. One may begin to think that this will become a staple of Mr. Gaimans writing when considering his previous book `American Gods'. Anansi Boys is not to be mistaken for the much darker novel previously mentioned. This book is light, witty and tame in comparison.
The guest who wouldn't leave, the mischievous brother who causes what else; mischief, the embarrassing but lovable father, the nosey cruel neighbor, these real life situations add to color this story. I found myself nodding and smiling at poor Fat Charlie's dilemma.
The crux of the story is the story. Anansi the spider God stole all the stories from tiger and made them his own. Tiger wants the stories back and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal.
This is truly a terrific tale.
4 1/2 STAR RATING.
Book Review: All Stories Are Anansi Stories
Summary: 5 Stars
Let's get the easy part out of the way first: YES, I liked it. I enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.
I'm talking about Neil Gaiman's latest, Anansi Boys.
Pre-press and plenty of interviews should have everyone understanding that this is not a sequel to Gaiman's American Gods, despite the fact that Mr. Nancy (aka the Trickster Spider God Anansi) appears in the much thicker, more serious novel. (If you want a sequel to AG, seek out the Legends II anthology and read the novella "Monarch of the Glen," which finds Shadow, the hero of AG, wandering Scotland. It's a fun read.)
Anansi Boys's tagline is "God is dead. Meet the kids." Which tells you little about the plot, although it gives you a good sense of the tone of the book.
Here's the plot synopsis, for those that need such things in a review: Fat Charlie Nancy has been estranged from his dapper, devil-may-care father since early childhood. Mr. Nancy embarrasses Fat Charlie, you see. The ultimate embarrassment comes when Mr. Nancy dies in a case of "karaoke interruptus," taking off the shirt of a buxom blond as he tumbles from the stage. In short order, Charlie finds out not only that his father was far more than human, he also discovers the existence of a long-lost brother. Much hilarity ensues.
Gaiman works his usual charm here, far more whimsically than his work on AG -- in fact, this book is probably more in line with Stardust or Good Omens than with AG or Neverwhere.
I found myself sympathising with Fat Charlie. Haven't we all been embarrassed by our fathers at some point? Even when some of those moments are not intentionally embarrassing, it is the role of sons to be embarrassed by their fathers. I felt the deep confusion and angst of Charlie's fiancee Rose, caught up in events she doesn't realize are spiralling out of control around her. And I found myself growing to like Spider(the aforementioned brother) despite his best efforts to remain unlikeable. Even the supporting characters are well-drawn and come across as people you'd meet in real life -- the magic and myth are incidental to the fact that these are people you know even while being central to the point and plot of the book.
The book takes more sharp turns and sudden shifts than a plane caught in turbulence. It's not quite a roller-coaster ride, but if it were it would certainly inspire a certain level of motion-sickness. As the tone shifts, so does the narratorial voice; one minute you're hearing fairly proper English in Gaiman's voice, then you're deep in Carribean patois with perhaps the bass rumble of Geoffrey Holder playing Storyteller. Rather than distracting, the change in vocabulary and voice helps the reader move from light comedy to romantic yearning to slapstick to cliffhanger drama seemlessly.
People ask me all the time what kind of material Gaiman writes, and I always have a hard time answering. It's not horror, it's not fantasy, it's not fairy tale and it's not magical realism. It's a realm where all of these collide. Someone needs to coin a term for it if they haven't already.
"All stories are Anansi stories," Gaiman says. And reading this, you can believe that's true.
Book Review: Amazing the whole way through...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read many a Gaiman book in my day and this might be his best. You will not be able to stop turning pages.
Even though I won't question genius...I could have dealt with a darker second half.
Overall, really enjoyed this one.
Imagination like no other.
Book Review: American Gods revisited
Summary: 3 Stars
It's a special kind of disappointment when your favorite author puts out a lack-luster book. And that's just who Neil Gaiman is - my favorite author.
An enormous fan of both his comics and books, Gaiman has never ceased to amaze me in his fantastic ideas, engaging storytelling, and masterful reconstruction of familiar lore and legend. Like many Gaiman fans, I eagerly anticipate his books months before their release. Tragically, Anansi Boys was a let down for me.
Gaiman's previous novel was American Gods - a story with a fascinating concept and wonderful cast of characters to fill out its book jacket. For me, Anansi Boys felt like I was treading the familiar ground of American Gods without finding anything new. Granted, this story had a smaller scope and hinged on fewer characters, but it was still old gods living in modern days with a little more quirk and less horror.
Anansi Boys is not a bad book, but I found American Gods more memorable between the two. From a different author, I might have been more charmed with it but I anticipate more with Neil Gaiman.