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Loading... Anansi Boysby Neil Gaiman
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Though it's set more or less in the same universe as American Gods, I don't think you need to read that one first to enjoy this one. It's the story of Charles Nancy, who discovers his recently deceased father is actually the spider god Anansi, and he has a brother he never knew. The story is fairly light as these things go, with some very funny bits and the general tomfoolery you can expect from any Gaiman book. I enjoyed it, but I would only recommend it to someone who already enjoys Gaiman. Not the best book to get introduced to his work with, but a decent read all the same. (  ) melydia | Oct 28, 2009 |  I enjoyed this book a lot--not quite as much as American Gods, but the plot runs in much the same way--twists and turns, and a satisfying ending. ( ) ascgrrl | Oct 21, 2009 | So, I keep hearing Neil Gaiman's name lately. Everywhere I go it's Sandman this or Coraline that and I wanted to see what the hub-bub was about. This was the only used Gaiman book at the store (always a good sign, means people want to keep his books instead of selling them) so I got it, read it and I really wasn't impressed. It was an okay book and I was moderately entertained but it's not the magical super-awesome writing I was expecting. In this book Gaiman doesn't live up to his hype. I'll try American Gods and see if I like that better. From what I understand that's his best. (  ) WNW3 | Sep 30, 2009 | Typically, I am one to wait a few years between readings of the same book. Not so with this: as soon as I finished it, I dived back into the beginning and re-read the whole first half, eager to increase my understanding and appreciation of the work. It withstood the test: masterfully constructed, "Anansy Boys" is littered with apparently innocuous images, clues, snippets that, re-read in the light of the ending, make you go "aaaaaaaaaah yes I get it now". For exactly the same reason, some people have called it "predictable"; and maybe it is, plot-line wise, but no matter: it's beautifully written, filled with characters you really feel for (in both good and bad ways), contains quite a few funny moments, not to mention that - for once - it is good to see people get what they deserve. (  )1  BookJumper | Sep 30, 2009 | I think I should have given this time to simmer. I don't mean the whole book; I mean the pieces. I picked up the 384 page book at 7pm Sunday night - the start of the Bears game, which I am really not interested in but the hubby likes it - because I was feeling guilty after my Sunday Salon post where I realized I had not read a book in 11 days. Instead of reading for an hour or so, I finished the entire book, closing up around 10:45. Now, my thoughts on this book are a jumbled mess, but hopefully writing this review will help! Anansi Boys shares a character with American Gods: Mr. Nancy. First off, I loved American Gods. As I said in my review, "American Gods is an oddly non-philosophical story regarding a paradigm shift. What I mean is that the plot is a plot, not a theoretical monologue about the significance or the importance of the action, but a story that readers can philosophize about or not as they see fit. There is deep meaning and an almost but not quite subtle reflection on contemporary theology, but at its foundation, American Gods is a good story." I did not get this from Anansi Boys; it was almost the opposite. I liked, but was not overly fascinated with, the plotline (two unsimilar brothers and a complex father-son(s) relationship) or the characters (original and interesting but lacking depth). What I was fascinated with was the philosophy. Anansi Boys, more than anything else to me, is a discussion of the importance of stories to humans. One of the primary threads throughout the novel is the conflict between Tiger and Anansi. Originally the stories told by humans were Tiger's, and "back then the tales were dark and evil, and filled with pain, and none of them ended happily". Then Anansi comes along and he steals the stories from Tiger through tricks and wit. When Tiger's stories were being told, humans lived just to survive, but with Anansi's humans began to think, to be more than instinct. I find the idea of stories directing human thought and behavior fascinating. I teach literature and film, which are primarily aimed at understanding how ideologies are communicated through print and visual media - in other words, how stories shape humanity. Along with the philosophy of the book, I also loved the language, which to me was very Douglas Adams-esque. ( ) EclecticEccentric | Sep 18, 2009 | 
 Gaiman kutoo tapansa mukaan sujuvan ja houkuttelevan kertomuksen, joka ammentaa tarinoiden ja myyttien maailmasta. Sujuvan lukukokemuksen viimeistelee onnistunut suomennos. Gaimaniin mieltyneille Hämähäkkijumala on puolipakollinen kirjahyllyn täyte ja kevytfantasiaa hakeville ihan yhtä hyvä tutustumiskirja kuin mikä tahansa varhaisempi romaani. Vaikka kirjan juoni ei juuri yllätäkään, Gaiman esittelee tarinankertojan lahjaansa: kykyä tehdä mahdottomasta todenmakuista.  And Charlie, who has become a successful singer and fathered a son, has come to terms with the powers and responsibilities of ''a boy who was half a god," having learned what Gaiman knows better, and communicates more forcefully, than any other contemporary writer: Stories and poems, songs and myths, represent us, sustain and complete us, and survive us, while also ensuring that all that's best in us survives with them. The focus on Anansi and tricksters, I think, goes a long way towards explaining the tone of this novel. It really feels more like some of the established "funny" sci-fi/fantasy authors (like Gaiman's Good Omens co-author Terry Pratchett) than "classic" Neil.  The problem in "Anansi Boys" is the type of fantasy Gaiman has chosen. The tales of Anansi outwitting his foes leave you feeling you've eaten something heavy and sugary. There's an Uncle Remus folksiness to the stories that sends the airy blitheness of the farce plummeting down to earth. There is also, I regret to say, the warm hand of instruction lying uneasily on this tale. Charlie works through his ineffectualness and his family issues to find happiness, contentment and - ugh - acceptance. It leaves you with the uncomfortable feeling that for Gaiman, farce by itself would simply have been too frivolous, that he feels the need to impart a lesson. Anansi Boys contains a couple of traditional-style Anansi fables, and the book itself takes a similar ambling but wry, pointed tone; like any good Anansi story, it's about cleverness, appetite, and comeuppance, and it's funny in a smart, inclusive way. And like any good Gaiman book, it's about the places where the normal world and a fantastic one intersect, and all the insightful things they have to say about each other.
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 006051518X, Hardcover)One of fiction's most audaciously original talents, Neil Gaiman now gives us a mythology for a modern age -- complete with dark prophecy, family dysfunction, mystical deceptions, and killer birds. Not to mention a lime. Anansi Boys When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed -- before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life. Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun ... just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie. Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself. Returning to the territory he so brilliantly explored in his masterful New York Times bestseller, American Gods, the incomparable Neil Gaiman offers up a work of dazzling ingenuity, a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying, exhilarating, and fiercely funny -- a true wonder of a novel that confirms Stephen King's glowing assessment of the author as "a treasure-house of story, and we are lucky to have him." (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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