Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Anansi Boys
Book Review: An enjoyable story
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an interesting novel that Gaiman has produced. It is a story of gods based on African parables. The protagonist is an Anansi Boy. The Anansi is a spider trickster god of whom all stories are about. Fat Charlie, the main character, finds out that his father is dead and that he has a brother he has never met. Fat Charlie is about as boring a person their ever was. His brother on the other hand is a god who drums up rock star status where ever he goes.
Fat Charlies brother comes to live with him for a short time in London and destroys Charlies life. Charlie decides to try and rid his brother from his life and this is where the story takes focus.
Gaiman, when he is writing well, is one of the more interesting authors out there. His stories have many asides. By this I mean that his narratives go off on tangents, you will find many stories within stories. This really pulls the tale along in an amusing fashion.
One thing that I have against this book, is the overall plot. It feels kind of strained and is a little unclear. Sort of like Gaimans earlier "Fairy". Its kind of hard to describe exactly what is wrong here, because all the components are in order for a first rate book. But I have to say that I was finding this a little long in the tooth by the end. The story gets a little weary. Gaiman seems to have hurried to finish the story where as he seems to have really enjoyed writing the first half.
All in all, this is a decent tale. Not great. If you like Gaiman, I think that you will enjoy this one.
Book Review: Anansi Boys
Summary: 3 Stars
Have you ever not cared when a family member died? If so you can't have feelings far off from "fat" Charlie. When his dad, a man who never showed him love, dies, he is pulled into a magical world. Author Neil Gaiman brings us into the world of "fat" Charlie and his brother Spider. The Anasia Boys is a thrilling page turner that is always changing.
"Fat" Charlie, with a name given to him by his father, lived a normal life in New England. He has a good job and a lovely Fiancée, what else could he want? When his dad dies he find something that he wished he'd never found, His brother Spider. Spider is the total opposite of him with "movie star good looks", a singing voice that could calm anyone and a cocky charm all the girls fall for. He also finds out his father was a god, the god of theft who can change anyone's mind with a blink of an eye. It's up to Charlie to uncover the truth and save his brother from the evil bird lady and tiger. But it's hard to stay on track when your brother is taking over your life, job, and all of the people he loves.
Anasia Boys is for teens and up, since the book can get confusing at some points when switching between characters. The genre of this book is fantasy with some mystery. Its fantasy because there are god-like people who they find in a world with magical powers. The mystery comes in when someone is murdered and Daisy, a British cop, goes out on a limb to find the killer. It is definitely not for comedy lovers. I recommend this book for people that have read other books by Neil Gaiman.
Some of the things I liked about Anasia Boys was the plot. The plot was very different from any other Author, with the characters only seconds away from death it's a page turner that twists your mind. Some of the weaknesses are that he doesn't describe the characters visually. You never truly know what the characters look like, but you have to guess how they look by how they act. He also could have described the setting more, other then a basic outline and saying where they were. Lastly it could have been explained more why certain things happened, like why Rosie's mom was in the hospital dying. Not all of it made sense at times. If you liked Coraline, also by Neil Gaiman, then you will like this book. They are similar because they both have a plot that is like no other. They both are twisted and take the reader to two different, crazy, worlds.
Book Review: Anansi Boys
Summary: 1 Stars
ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman
Review by Nickolas Cook
For those familiar with Gaiman's past work, like me, you've probably come to appreciate his intelligent humor, story telling élan, and philosophical bent on the human condition. With "Anansi Boys" he again proves all of those qualities and more.
'Fat' Charlie Nancy is the disgruntled son of the forgotten African god, Anansi (we met him in Gaiman's masterpiece to date, "American Gods"), a mischievous spider deity, who stole all of the stories of creation from Tiger, the dark and violent god of blood and death. 'Fat' Charlie receives news that his father has passed away and rushes from England to Florida to find his father was no mere human. And as if that's not bad enough to ruin his day, he also discovers he's got a lost brother called Spider. Given the incantation to draw his brother to him by a trio of old hags, much like MacBeth's cackling witches, he gets more than he bargained for when his impishly suave brother appears and begins to steal his life, his career, and his fiancé right out from under him.
Gaiman does mythology like no other author, dragging us from one world to the next in search of honor and love, making the cosmic drama of gods more human. But what he does even better is examine familial love and commitment to a calling higher than one's self. For 'Fat' Charlie soon finds that he can't ignore his heritage anymore than he can his brother. He is part of the pantheon, whether he fancies it or not, and, after a bargain made in angry frustration, must battle to save his bloodline from eternal death.
Gaiman's prose is top notch, fast paced, edited to the essentials, with enough descriptive passages to make the story blossom in full, but not enough to stifle the pace. There are some rather out of place scenes with the spirit of a murdered woman that tend to dishevel the almost perfect fairytale quality of the story, but given that all's well that end's well, it can be forgiven.
"Anansi Boys" doesn't have anywhere near the broad canvas feel of "American Gods" and the extraordinary "Neverwhere", but fits nicely along side his "Stardust". It's a fun read, full of humor and great characters, but his fans may miss that mythical cosmic sense provided by some of his other fiction.
--Nickolas Cook
Book Review: Anansi Boys is a whole lot of fun, a departure for Gaiman
Summary: 4 Stars
I like to call the kind of fantasy that Gaiman writes "archetypal fantasy." As opposed to many excellent writers in this genre, Gaiman doesn't create his own fantasy universe, nor does he overlay a wholly new fantastic structure onto our current universe. Instead, he takes our world and our oldest legends and weaves them together into a seamless whole. In Gaiman's worlds, you have Spider fighting an eternal fight against Tiger. You have Odin seeking to regain some of his old strength against the new gods of Technology and Entertainment. In reading Gaiman's work, I often feel as though I am somehow being incorporated into the larger pantheon of Storytelling as it has existed since the time of per-historical cave-painting. In his work, the gods first created by the earliest stories (or, perhaps, first recognized by the earliest stories) still exist, still walk among us, and still shape us and our experience of the world. It's hard to put a finger on it, but I find that this resonates deeply for me, and turns what many might consider to be light fiction (it is fantasy, after all) into a richer experience.
Gaiman has said that he owes much to Harlan Ellison, and you can see his influence. Ellison's Deathbird Stories isn't as explicit about its gods as Anansi Boys is (and American Gods was far more clear about who its gods are than AB), instead filling these roles with unnamed chthonic forces. If nothing else, Ellison's world is certainly far darker. They both, however, posit that the world in which we live has more to it than meets the eye. That there are dark and powerful forces at work that we knowingly or unknowingly tap into for our strength, inspiration, and at times darkness. That we in turn are tapped into and as a whole provide, though our actions and our worship, the life force that these gods need to exist.
While American Gods is a relatively serious (in tone) exploration of this, Anansi Boys is a much more lighthearted approach. In short, Charles Nancy (Fat Charlie) is a young Londoner who has always been embarrassed by his father, and to the world, appears somewhat weak, with a soft underbelly. He allows himself to be pushed around, and for the most part, tries to simply get by and live under the radar. He probably has more in common with many of us than we would like to admit. In Florida for his father's funeral, he learns that his father is actually the god Anansi, and that he has a brother named Spider. When he gets home, he lightheartedly summons his brother by talking to a spider, as he was instructed by an old Caribbean family friend. When Spider turns up, Fat Charlie finds his life turned upside down. His virgin fiancée sleeps with Spider, he is thrown in prison, and finds himself not only out of a job, but framed by his crook boss. Spider, of course, won't leave. He likes being in (taking over) Charlie's life. Needing help, Charlie flies back to Florida, and with the aid of a witch who used to live in his old neighborhood, is transported to the place at the beginning of the world, where he seeks assistance in removing his brother from his life. It would be easy to say that while there, he made a deal with the devil, but in Gaiman's world, there isn't so much a devil as there are many gods with conflicting desires and natures. Charlie's deal is with the Bird Woman.
Of course, the whole thing backfires, and in the end draws Spider and Charlie closer together. It should surprise no one that Charlie finds within himself deep reserves of strength and miracle (not magic - Charlie is the son of a god) that he uses to undo the mess he's made, forge himself a new life and identity, and in the end, really, because this is what 90% of fiction seems to be about on one level or another, grow into a man. I probably enjoy Gaiman's work (this book included) too much to really write any sort of objective review or opinion. Simply put, this book is very satisfying, and very funny. It's hard to explain in a review or essay why something is funny, but take for example the following situation. Charlie and Spider are being pursued by Bird Woman, and Spider wants to know what's going on. Charlie begins to tell his story, and in the end concludes:
"She offered to make you go away. And, um. Well, I took her up on it."
"That," said Spider, with a movie-star smile, "was really stupid."
"I didn't tell her to hurt you."
"What did you think she was going to do to get rid of me? Write me a stiff letter?"
"I don't know. I didn't think. I was upset."
"Great. Well, if she has her way, you'll be upset, and I'll be dead. You could have simply asked me to leave, you know."
"I did!"
"Er. What did I say?"
"That you liked it in my house and you weren't going anywhere."
Like much good British humor, it's not so much laugh out loud humor, but rather a general tone that pervades the entirety of the book. It makes you smile, and it makes you sympathetic to the characters. In the end though, although I'd recommend it to anyone, Anansi Boys is not as good as American Gods, and is one of Gaiman's weaker works. There's too much cliché. I think he knows it, and maybe it's a part of a larger joke missed by yours truly. I can't get over the schlubby character in the wrong relationship who stumbles on true love, partial deity, and lifelong satisfaction and happiness. It's fun, but it's not powerful in the same way as Gaiman's other works.
Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
I was first introduced to Neil Gaiman in the book "Good Omens" which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett. I loved the book and was immediately intrigued by this author. However, though I loved the story of the second Gaiman novel I read, "American Gods," I was slightly turned off by the mean-spirited nature of the book.
Anansi Boys is a return to the lighter side of Gaiman that I first read in "Good Omens." The story is brilliant and funny, even when things get dark. I would definatley recommend this book to fans of Gaiman as it is one of the better books I have read lately.
On a small side not, my one issue with the book, an issue that reflects solely on me rather than the author, was my lack of knowledge regarding African mythology. While I wouldn't like to see the book changed, it would be great to see similar stories in the future that feature more well-known mythological characters (yes, "American Gods" is a pantheon of myth, but I am talking about stories in the light-hearted vein of "Anansi Boys").