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Loading... Anansi Boys (2005)by Neil Gaiman
  
Best Fantasy Novels (101) Best Urban Fantasy (45) » 41 more Magic Realism (40) Top Five Books of 2013 (175) Page Turners (32) Comfort Reads (68) Books with Twins (2) Top Five Books of 2014 (684) Top Five Books of 2021 (248) To Read (12) Books Read in 2015 (643) Books Read in 2016 (3,485) Books Read in 2013 (1,072) One Book, Many Authors (311) Books Read in 2005 (19) SHOULD Read Books! (38) Books on my Kindle (54) Books Read in 2006 (230) Books tagged favorites (288) Protagonists - Men (10) Speculative Fiction (18) Books Read in 2014 (2,135) Fiction For Men (139) Unread books (877) Biggest Disappointments (551) No current Talk conversations about this book.  CaseyAdamsStark | Apr 20, 2023 |  Upon his father's death Fat Charlie Nancy learns he has a brother and following the seemingly nonsensical advice of an old friend of his parents asks a spider to tell his brother to get in touch. And the brother, Spider does. And Fat Charlie's life gets very much more interesting than he likes. (  ) quondame | Apr 2, 2023 | 317  freixas | Mar 31, 2023 | Liked it even more than American Gods (  ) bspar | Jan 1, 2023 | Anansi Boys is not a sequel but I would recommend you read American Gods before you read it, just to get a good feel on Anansi. Its title is also slightly inaccurate. I wouldn't call Fat Charlie and Spider boys; they're grown men. This book was not as shocking or horrifying, more of a caper, and it actually reminded me more than once of a Terry Prachett book. It unsettled me less than AG did, but I'm not sure whether that's a good thing. For the most part it was, but there was less of that feeling one gets in the presence of things divine/not human. ( ) Mialro | Dec 15, 2022 |
 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.
When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, 20 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. Because 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. And all of a sudden, things start getting very interesting for Fat Charlie. Exciting, scary, and deeply funny, Anansi Boys is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth, a wild adventure, as Neil Gaiman shows us where gods come from, and how to survive your family. No library descriptions found. 
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.93)
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Wikipedia in English (2)
5
Characters are delightfully quirky, but a little bit lacking in depth. Even so, there is enough there to empathize with the main character. His brother Spider is a dangerous kind of charmer, but he learns things, and offsetting him against Charlie is a dynamic that works.
Okay, I'm done. Read it if you're looking for something light and fun... Well, there are some terrible things that happen in it, but overall light and fun. (