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Loading... Anansi Boys (original 2005; edition 2006)by Neil Gaiman
Work InformationAnansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (2005)
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This has been around the house for years, I just picked it up and started reading a couple of days ago-- now finished. I really liked it-- the slow realization of what happened in their youth, the growth of both, the just desserts for their oppressors. ( ) I was a bit disappointed with this one. It was charming, like all the Gaiman books I've read, but it felt like it was missing a sort of narrative drive. Even American Gods, whose main character is nightmarishly passive, manages to make the story feel like it's evolving and substantial, but I felt like we were lollygagging here. I was expecting this book to be a lot like American Gods. I wanted to read more about Mr. Nancy's (character from American Gods) antics in the book but, it had absolutely nothing to do with that book. It was so much fun to check out the tv show after reading that book, I can only imagine how much fun it will be to watch Anansi Boys when it drops on Amazon prime in the coming few years. It is about Mr.Nancy's offspring and whatever craziness and zaniness they get up to after their meeting. Extremely funny at times and engaging once you get into it, which will most likely be the first 10 pages, it was for me. The two main characters are Fat "Charlie" Nancy and Spider, oh boy , does it go haywire right after their "chance" (haha) encounter. They get into all sorts of situations, as you can imagine, which helps the book move along at lightening speed and keeps you intrigued right till the very end. Anansi boys was completely different to American Gods. The two cannot be compared. I enjoyed both equally. It is a much much easier read than American Gods, thats for sure. It takes a little while to get into the book, but once you get into the meat of it, you just have to find out what happens to the main character "Fat Charlie." Charlie's life just changed for boringly normal and quiet to a whirlwind ride. Not only does his father, whom he wasn't all that close to, die, but he finds out that he also has a long lost brother! Enter all of the other main characters off on their own tangents and the story soon spins into a web that mirrors the character that the book is really about. Good reading, if a little slow to start.
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. AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Fiction.
HTML: 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:
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