Anansi Boys
by Neil Gaiman
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of Anansi Boys.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 6477)
Read in January, 2006
Sejak ayahnya meninggal dunia, kehidupan "Fat Charlie" Nancy (yg sebenarnya tidak gemuk), yang berjalan biasa-biasa saja (bahkan cenderung membosankan) banyak mengalami perubahan. Fat Charlie, yg semenjak kecilnya selalu merasa dipermalukan ayahnya yg berpembawaan ceria, flamboyan, dan sangat gemar menyanyi ini dihadapkan pada runtutan kejadian yang sama sekali baru baginya.
Pertama, ia menemukan bahwa ayahnya adalah Anansi, si dewa laba-laba pemintal cerita. Selanjutnya, Fat Charlie ...more
Pertama, ia menemukan bahwa ayahnya adalah Anansi, si dewa laba-laba pemintal cerita. Selanjutnya, Fat Charlie ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
my dad, fantasy/sf fans of color
Neil Gaiman's mastery isn't in his particular voice as an author so much as it is in his ability to create intricate, nearly epic plots from whatever myths he finds as he reads his way around the world (when he isn't breaking fast with Michael Chabon, that is). Two of the things I really loved about Anansi Boys I learned from the afterword: Gaiman consulted with Jamaican-born author Nalo Hopkinson about writing Caribbean dialogue authentically; also, essayist and blogger Pam Noles ( http://andweshallmarch.typepad... ) was ...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
I laughed out loud. While reading. In a Japanese rice bowl joint. Okay, so maybe it was more of a chortle, but it was definitely out loud. And more than just the once. Patrons quietly minding their own business while slogging through their Number Three Specials With Extra Tokyo Beef would be startled into wakefulness to see me - chopsticks in one hand, book in the other - as my grizzled maw broke forth with guffaws and irrepressible smiles.
Really, Anansi Boys may be the first thing I'...more
Really, Anansi Boys may be the first thing I'...more
Like this review?
yes
(5 people liked it)
2 comments
Read in February, 2006
When I started in on this book, I knew there were a few things I could expect from Neil Gaiman - insight, clever twists on literary assumptions, a good perspective on the nature of our reality. What I didn't expect was to spend most of the book laughing out loud and disturbing the people around me.
Seriously, there were some times when teachers in the rooms next to the staff room had to explain to students that no, Chris is not eavesdropping and laughing at you, he just has a really funny boo...more
Seriously, there were some times when teachers in the rooms next to the staff room had to explain to students that no, Chris is not eavesdropping and laughing at you, he just has a really funny boo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2007
Some people might prefer American Gods, with that epic tone, but I prefer Anansi Boys, and not just because it's entertaining and lighthearted, but because it seems to have been pulled off much more smoothly. Finally, Gaiman is writing about someone more like himself than Shadow was- a person who lives in England having adventures in America. Though Fat Charlie is American by origin, he's very British, and I guess that just made it easier for Gaiman because he took it and ran with ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
American Gods is one of the better books in the great books that is the plethora of books in my Neil Gaiman library. One of the minor players in the book of American Gods comes out as a player whose fingers reach all across the pages of Anansi Boys. The story deals with the events that happen during the course of a god's death and the fall out from those that have come from him. The one person at the center of this story is the unfortunate son of Anansi named Charles "Fat Charlie" Nanc...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods, is a god of story telling. And his new novel, Anansi's Boys, is a story about a god of story telling.
You've all heard me mention Neil Gaiman before. He's more popularly known as the writer of the spectacular Sandman series. He's made many forays into fiction. His children's story, Coraline, won awards. His novel, Good Omens, co-written with Terry Pratchett, is a cult favorite. And the previously mentioned novel, American Gods, is one of the most enjoyab...more
You've all heard me mention Neil Gaiman before. He's more popularly known as the writer of the spectacular Sandman series. He's made many forays into fiction. His children's story, Coraline, won awards. His novel, Good Omens, co-written with Terry Pratchett, is a cult favorite. And the previously mentioned novel, American Gods, is one of the most enjoyab...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in July, 2007
Even though I consistently enjoy him, I'm quite convinced that Gaiman is one of the most consistently overrated authors writing now. I somehow think that he may actually be a better essayist than storyteller, because he has very interesting ideas about the role of stories and myth, but, though he has hit a few narrative home runs (I think of The Game of You and Coraline in particular), most of his other works fall short for me storywise.
Maybe part of my problem with this book ...more
Maybe part of my problem with this book ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Really enjoyed the humor, cleverness, and atmosphere of this book.
Anansi Boys, as you might guess from the title, does for West African myths what American Gods does for Norse mythology - brings it into a modern context and makes the old gods of yore seem human and likable, if rather flawed and selfish. Anansi Boys is not, as is commonly believed the sequel to American Gods but because the book centers on a character that appears ...more
Anansi Boys, as you might guess from the title, does for West African myths what American Gods does for Norse mythology - brings it into a modern context and makes the old gods of yore seem human and likable, if rather flawed and selfish. Anansi Boys is not, as is commonly believed the sequel to American Gods but because the book centers on a character that appears ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Charlie Nancy is a rather typical American ex-pat living in Britain. He works, he sleeps, he eats, and he's in love and engaged to be married. His life is in Britain and he'd much rather keep it that way. Until he receives word from the States that his father has died and he should head back immediately for the funeral. It's during his time stateside that Charlie learns of his family's heritage... his father, for example, is a God, a bonafide deity. As is his brother, Spider; a brother Charlie n...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
this was a very enjoyable book. it's not the epic that gaiman has shown himself capable of, and is more predictable than not, but even the predictable bits are rewarding, and the story is honest to its characters, thorough, and altogether a very fun read. it's particularly enjoyable because gaiman clearly did his research. i can't speak so much on his knowledge of west indies culture, although i understand he got that right; what i noticed was him playing with racial traditions in literature, es...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
Sci-fi fans, Gaiman newbies
I'm not sure what I was expecting. I had quite a bit of knowledge about the Anansi stories going in (my dad, a college prof, was also a professional storyteller while I was growing up, and the Anasi stories were part of his routine) -- perhaps someone who was meeting Anansi for the first time via Gaiman would feel differently. Though multi-layered, it was light enough to feel deceptively simple, yet I felt as though it lacked... something.
Notes I made while reading (I read this for a Book C...more
Notes I made while reading (I read this for a Book C...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2005
recommends it for:
everyone, Wodehouse-fans
Anansi Boys is a quasi sequel to American Gods.
It serves as a quasi sequel as it takes a character from the world of the Gods and expands more on his concept and influence rather than on his character itself.
The novel is the story of the sons of Papa Anansi, the carribean trickster God.
Gaiman, like Ingmar Bergman and other master storytellers, seems to have latched on to the concept of working either with artists or with the very idea of a master storyteller.
...more
It serves as a quasi sequel as it takes a character from the world of the Gods and expands more on his concept and influence rather than on his character itself.
The novel is the story of the sons of Papa Anansi, the carribean trickster God.
Gaiman, like Ingmar Bergman and other master storytellers, seems to have latched on to the concept of working either with artists or with the very idea of a master storyteller.
...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
What a great read! I have enjoyed all of the books I have read by Gaiman but this one in particular, I found exceptional. His style reminds me a bit of Christopher Moore with his subtle tongue in cheek humor. This story is about a "God" who dies and unbeknownst to his son Charlie, leaves him a portion of his godly powers. Charlie is a plain man with a bland life and no aspirations. He is getting married to a equally bland and uninteresting woman. This is how he comes to find out his fa...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Strangely reminiscent of Christopher Moore's Blue Coyote, Neil Gayman's Anansi Boys is a travel through the devious world of native myth.
"Fat" Charlie Nancy, named so by his father (when his father named someone, it tended to stick), isn't fat at all and goes through life zombie-like: he has a job he hates, a fiancée he likes but is not sure he loves, a future mother-in-law who despises him, and a father who ruins his life when he dies in a Karaoke bar.
Upon the death of his fa...more
"Fat" Charlie Nancy, named so by his father (when his father named someone, it tended to stick), isn't fat at all and goes through life zombie-like: he has a job he hates, a fiancée he likes but is not sure he loves, a future mother-in-law who despises him, and a father who ruins his life when he dies in a Karaoke bar.
Upon the death of his fa...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
I always get a little apprehensive about reading books that are continuations of other books (or spinoffs, in this case), especially those books that I thoroughly enjoyed. They usually end up disappointing me; however, this book was an exception. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a good fantasy story, even if you haven't read American Gods first. If you have read and enjoyed American Gods, though, then this book is a must-read. Although it had a lot of similarities to th...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
This was a pleasant surprise. While I am a fan of Gaiman, the prior book to this that I'd read by him was American Gods which did not really tickle my fancy. However, this book was much better done than American Gods and contained an ending that seemed both fitting and satisfactory at the same time, unlike AG.
This is the story of a normal boy, from a normal place, with a normal job and a normal girlfriend. The only thing that is weird about him is his name, Fat Charlie, which was saddled on ...more
This is the story of a normal boy, from a normal place, with a normal job and a normal girlfriend. The only thing that is weird about him is his name, Fat Charlie, which was saddled on ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
First book I finished in 2008, and I did it in 2 days even though it has been sitting on my shelf all this while. The whole story reminded me way too much of Neverwhere, with the style, the mood, the kind of protagonist... all giving me the impression it was the same guy, different setting.
The story of Anansi the Spider/Trickster (or is he Trickster/Spider?) was hinted at back in American Gods, and this is not so much a continuation as it is a side story. Actually, it's more like a side SIDE ...more
The story of Anansi the Spider/Trickster (or is he Trickster/Spider?) was hinted at back in American Gods, and this is not so much a continuation as it is a side story. Actually, it's more like a side SIDE ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
I didn't realize when I started listening to this (as an audible.com audiobook) that it's sort of a follow-up to <EM>American Gods</EM>. It's not a sequel, but shares at least one character, I guess (I've never read <EM>American Gods</EM>), and the basic speculative universe--one where the gods of legends walk amongst mortals and go to karaoke and stuff. I don't have a lot to say about this book. Gaiman writes in a funny, engaging style that keeps you interested...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.83 (5397 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.82 (4761 ratings) number of reviews: 508popular shelves
other editions
quote
"It would have been hard for Fat Charlie to say exactly when the accumulation of birds on the wire mesh moved from interesting to terrifying. It was somewhere in the first hundred or so, anyway. And it was in the way they didn't coo, or caw, or trill, or song. They simply landed on the wire, and they watched him. "
more quotes »