Anansi Boys
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads author!)
|
|
| published
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by J'Ai Lu
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| first published
| 2005 |
| binding
| Reliure inconnue |
| isbn
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2290352845
(isbn13: 9782290352847)
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| ebook |
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| date added
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04-27-08
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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
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 menemukan bahwa ia memiliki seorang saudara laki-laki, bernama Spider, yang tiba-tiba muncul dalam hidupnya. Spider datang tidak hanya utk bertemu dengan Fat Charlie, namun ternyata juga mengambil alih seluruh kehidupannya: tempat tinggal, pekerjaan, dan bahkan tunangannya.
Dalam usahanya mengusir Spider utk memperoleh kembali kehidupannya, Fat Charlie dihadapkan pada peristiwa2 aneh, yang secara perlahan2 juga mengubah tabiat dan bawaan dirinya. Ia menemukan kembali sisi yang hilang dari dirinya, yaitu sisi yg ia warisi dari mendiang ayahnya. Namun, dalam usahanya ini ternyata ada rahasia di balik rahasia, yg membuat Fat Charlie terpaksa membereskan kembali semuanya. Dan ini tidaklah mudah.
Dalam kisah ini, kita bisa merasakan bahwa tokoh2 yang sepertinya tak berkaitan satu sama lain, lambat laun akan saling bertaut dalam jejaring cerita. Titik2 tokoh berangsur bergerak pada alur menuju satu titik pertemuan, di mana semuanya terjadi. Tidak berhenti sampai situ, kejadian2 pun berlangsung pararel dari satu alur ke alur yg lain. Gaiman telah menyusun ceritanya sedemikian rupa, sehingga hampir dapat dipercaya bahwa Anansi sendiri yg telah menitipkan ceritanya pada Gaiman - seluruhnya saling bertautan dan menuju satu arah, persis sebuah jaring laba-laba.
Kisah bertemakan dewa-dewa dan semesta lain tidaklah asing bagi Gaiman, yg telah menghasilkan karya2 spt Sandman, Stardust dan American Gods, yg menampilkan berbagai jenis dan tingkatan dewa2 dan berbagai makhluk mitos.
Selain karena American Gods (AG) adalah karyanya yg terakhir sebelum Anansi Boys (AB), kedua novel ini terbandingkan berkat kemunculan tokoh Anansi di dalam keduanya (meskipun, tentu saja, Anansi memegang peran lebih penting dalam AB). Bila AG menyajikan cukup banyak gambaran kekerasan dan seksual vulgar, AB menampilkannya dengan lebih halus (atau, tak sebanyak pada AG). Meskipun sama2 melibatkan banyak sekali dewa dengan komplikasi dan selera humor mereka masing2, pada AB cerita terasa berjalan lebih ringan, lebih menghibur. Lebih personal dengan sentuhan cerita pertalian antar anggota keluarga.
Saya suka tampilan edisi Anansi Boys yg baru saya baca ini. Selain karena jenisnya soft cover, desain sampulnya sederhana namun berkesan misterius, anggun dan menarik (bandingkan dengan versi ini). Sebagai tambahan, pada buku ini terdapat Exclusive Extra Material:
Anansi Boys deleted scene (bonus teks, yg kurang pas utk dimasukkan dalam cerita, namun terlalu bagus utk dibuang),
Extracts from Neil Gaiman's notebook (nikmati kopian tulisan tangan Neil, dalam prosesnya merangkai kata2 utk novel ini),
An Interview with Neil Gaiman (cukup ringkas, namun menarik - terutama perihal hubungannya dengan anak2nya),
Reading-group Discussion Questions (bahan diskusi, tapi siapa ya yg membuat pertanyaan2 yg spt ujian essay ini?)...less
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
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 the first person to read any of Anansi Boys in any form. The second is related to the first, and is part of a legacy that white authors need to learn from and live by.
Pam Noles has written about her life growing up as a Black geek, loving genre fiction but not seeing see any characters of color in the genre world: See her essay "Shame" www.infinitematrix.net/faq/ess.... If you've read "Shame," you know that, when Noles was eleven, she picked up A Wizard of Earthsea and found that Ursula K. LeGuin, a white fantasy/sf author, had written characters of color into a fantasy world. Eleven-year-old Noles burst into tears on the living room couch because the books she liked to read finally had characters who looked like her. Noles wasn't the only one: LeGuin received letters from quite a few fans of color, telling her that she had made genre fiction more welcoming to them; that she had, in fact, made the first place in genre fiction where they felt welcome.
Kristin Hersh has said that, just because she's a straight white female, she would hate to think that she makes straight white female music for straight white female people. And white authors need to learn from that. For a white author to undertake writing characters of color is no minor task; the biggest danger seems to be one of perpetuating colonialism by stealing someone else's history; as if that alone weren't bad enough, writing professionally about that history necessarily means profiting from it. But exploitation and appropriation can be avoided by white writers doing their fucking homework and actively being conscious of their privilege. Gaiman consulted with Nalo Hopkinson about writing Caribbean dialogue (and, one presumes, paid her for the service). Even a cursory reading of Anansi Boys reveals that Gaiman read quite a bit about the West African Anansi stories. It's entirely possible for a white writer to build a story around characters of color and the stories that form a colonized culture without co-opting and colonizing the people and culture involved. Gaiman has done it with Anansi Boys. Gaiman may have been writing about the sons of a god, but he was also writing about human beings. Writing towards that human-ness is a necessary part of white writers making their work a welcoming place for people of color....less
Read in June, 2008
The book begins, as most things do, with a song--karaoke in fact. Bad karaoke of the kind only fun with large amounts of alcohol and friends (or blonde, buxom women) who sing just as bad as you do with just as much drunken enthusiasm.
When we left Mr. Nancy (nan-cee from A-nan-si--get it? Gaiman: You. Me. Mad Gab match.) in American Gods he was winding down with Shadow at a karaoke bar. With Anansi Boys, Mr. Nancy--now, I'm-not-hiding-my-Godness-Anansi, we learn, has...more
The book begins, as most things do, with a song--karaoke in fact. Bad karaoke of the kind only fun with large amounts of alcohol and friends (or blonde, buxom women) who sing just as bad as you do with just as much drunken enthusiasm.
When we left Mr. Nancy (nan-cee from A-nan-si--get it? Gaiman: You. Me. Mad Gab match.) in American Gods he was winding down with Shadow at a karaoke bar. With Anansi Boys, Mr. Nancy--now, I'm-not-hiding-my-Godness-Anansi, we learn, has 2 children, only one whose genetic inheritance included the god-factor, the other (Charlie) is quite normal. Charlie is so normal, he's grown up chubby and earned a nickname for it: Fat Charlie. There's none of this god-nonsense for Fat Charlie. No puff of smoke or wave your hand and fat-be-gone. Oh no. He, just like everyone else, had to work hard to get the fat off. It's the name that's stuck. He lives with the constant embarrassment of his father (Guess who came up with 'Fat Charlie'. Go on. Guess.) who loves to make bad jokes, loves having a good time (at the expense of others) and ultimately opens up one of the worst possible chapters of Charlie's life.
After Anansi's death, Charlie discovers he has a brother. In typical Gaiman fashion, Charlie summons Spider (the brother) into his English home by putting in a request with a spider outside his front door. Spider then proceeds to completely take over Charlie's life. He dates his fiancée, gets him fired, arrested, and further rouses the suspicions of an already wary mother-in-law-to-be. The first half of the novel is witty and entertaining, but when Charlie finally gets fed up he calls on the forces of Mrs. Dunwiddy, an old witch-woman from his childhood Florida-neighborhood home.
Here is where the Gaiman myth-factor comes in and the story takes a dark, sinister turn as Spider is punished for playing in the lives of mortals. Only, it's not just Spider that's in danger. Messing with the gods has unforeseen effects for Fat Charlie as well who hasn't been painstakingly careful with his verbal trade. In his mistake, the Bird Woman begins hunting both Fat Charlie and Spider. It's a battle of gods where, once again (since it's Gaiman we're talking about here) humans have the unfortunate consequence of being involved. But when have mortals ever been benignly involved in the torrential affairs of the gods? Like warring nobility or aristocracy, the plebs suffer the duration of a negligent ruling class.
Anansi Boys is a story of duality. It's Spider vs. Fat Charlie and Tiger vs. Anansi in a battle over the domination of the novel itself--whose story will win? Spider or Fat Charlie? Tiger or Anansi?
I also love the father-son relationship in this one than compared to American Gods. Probably because Gaiman took it further and allowed it to walk off into the sunset. But still a good read....less
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
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've read from Neil Gaiman that I liked. I never got into Sandman (though I'm told I should have persevered). I never finished American Gods (though I'm told I should have persevered). I never finished 1602 (despite guessing that I should have persevered).
Still, not only did I like it but I loved it. Enough that I gave my copy to someone else to read and purchased a second copy for another friend. And I'm certain they'll want to do similar things with the book.
Anansi Boys is at all times funny, adventurous, and charming. And several other over-used adjectives. In fact, Anansi Boys may be the prototype from which overused adjectives should have come - before they were overused. I'm not sure that Anansi Boys is great literature and I'm not sure that it isn't. What I am certain of beyond any shadow of doubtfulness is that Anansi Boys may be the most fun I have ever had reading a novel.
There may be others that I enjoyed more but my experience of this book was such that it pushed (if even momentarily) all other books from my mind. Someone on the back suggests that the book will make you love and be grateful for spiders. Critics and the things they say, huh? Well, I don't love spiders, but dang was this book good.
The end.
p.s. Anyone thinking of reading Blue like Jazz or Against Christianity or something by Karl Barth should definitely read this first. 'Cuz I mean what if you died after finishing the next book on your queue? It would be an all time tragedy to have wasted hours reading Donald Miller when there is something like Anansi Boys out there. Plus, it's just as spiritual....less
bookshelves:
fantasy,
gaiman,
top-shelf
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
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 book. I can only hope they believed them. Either way, I'm sure Anansi would be very happy to know it.
The book was, of course, wonderful. While by no means a sequel to American Gods, it inhabits the same universe. It follows the unfortunately nicknamed Fat Charlie, whose life has been ruined by his father's death across the Atlantic. Fat Charlie wasn't his real name, of course, only a nickname given to him by his father. But his father gave names that stuck like gum to the underside of a school desk, and no matter where he went, Charlie Nancy inevitably became Fat Charlie.
The reason for this phenomenon, of course, is that Fat Charlie's father is a god. He is Anansi, the Spider, a trickster god who managed to steal all the stories from Tiger back when humanity was young, and who managed to trick, deceive, swindle and humiliate nearly every other god there ever was. He was good at it, and nothing he wanted that he couldn't get.
Fat Charlie was, very probably, a disappointment. Where his father was debonair, Fat Charlie was a klutz. Where his father could command the respect of men and women, Fat Charlie was a doormat. Where his father was the embodiment of confidence, Fat Charlie was a crumbly mess. I suppose it's normal, really, being the child of a god, and not really his fault, even if he didn't know it until his father was dead.
He didn't know about his brother, either. And when Spider comes into the picture, everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. Think The Odd Couple, except that Oscar Madison has divine powers and absolutely no sense of consequence.
This is a funny, funny book that reminds me in places of Dave Barry, though that might be a side effect of the Florida settings. There's also a few footnote jokes, so I suspect that Neil has been hanging out with Terry Pratchett recently. Despite the laugh-out-loud general tone of the book, there's a lot of Meaning to be found as well - the meaning of story and song, of family, and why you should always be nice to spiders. And birds. Definitely be nice to birds....less
bookshelves:
fantasy,
humor,
novel
Read in May, 2008
One can catch snips of wit in any of Gaiman's books. Any good book must include some humor: an author might as futilely try to excise pain or desire from life as humor. Gaiman has never placed any such artificial limits on his work; indeed, the only limits on his books are those he, himself cannot overcome.
Previously, his humor was only an occasional element, but there was apparently something in the writing of this particular book which finally allowed him to unleash his sense of the comic ...more
One can catch snips of wit in any of Gaiman's books. Any good book must include some humor: an author might as futilely try to excise pain or desire from life as humor. Gaiman has never placed any such artificial limits on his work; indeed, the only limits on his books are those he, himself cannot overcome.
Previously, his humor was only an occasional element, but there was apparently something in the writing of this particular book which finally allowed him to unleash his sense of the comic as a whole entity. The text swims and bobs with the ridiculous, the unfortunate, and the clever.
After reading the book 'Good Omens', written by Gaiman and Prachett, I was told that without Prachett, it would have retained none of the humor. I now begin to wonder whether Prachett's only addition to that book was the predictable and banal snatches which so fill his discworld books. Indeed, this work of Gaiman's overshadows that earlier work in both degrees and shades of the insightful and entertaining.
The book also works as an amusing analysis of storytelling itself, so that anyone who studies the nature and classification of tales will find certain asides and references particularly amusing. It is rare these days that an author will write a piece of fiction which explores on a subtextual level a concept or idea fundamental to the work itself. I have come to wish that more authors could gain the audacity that Gaiman found here.
There is a degree to which this story matches Gaiman's usual monomythic progression from naive outsider to coy insider, which at the outset was my greatest difficulty with the work. The inevitability and redundancy of this trope makes me wish for Gaiman's more eccentric and perverse moments. However, I found in the clever and skilled text a story worth experiencing, and one which matches or exceeds Gaiman's other attempts in the modern fantasy genre.
The story is not as epic or dire as Gaiman's tend to be, and without that there is a loss of urgency in the story. This is not really a deficiency, however, as the playful humor could not cohabitate comfortably with an ever-steepening plot curve.
The work fits into Gaiman's usual mode, exploring the myths and psychologies that most interest him. It may lose some of his fans in that it is less dark and brooding, less hopeless, but this could hardly be counted a loss. Any reader who wants more of the same can re-read his old works. the rest of us may appreciate seeing a master storyteller exploring his form in a new and engaging way....less
What you need to understand is that this book is funny, which belabours the point a bit. It's not a comedy, not in the National Lampoon sense of the word, or even, necessarily, in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sense. Anansi Boys is many things beyond funny: it's frightening, it's heartbreaking, it's unabashedly joyful and alive, it's written in a prose style that dances a jig right off the page. But it's also disarmingly funny: funny in that unexpected ...more
What you need to understand is that this book is funny, which belabours the point a bit. It's not a comedy, not in the National Lampoon sense of the word, or even, necessarily, in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sense. Anansi Boys is many things beyond funny: it's frightening, it's heartbreaking, it's unabashedly joyful and alive, it's written in a prose style that dances a jig right off the page. But it's also disarmingly funny: funny in that unexpected way Virginia Woolf's Orlando, for example, can be funny. A wry line creeps in here, a ludicrous situation there, and the author winks, almost imperceptably, at the reader. When you pick up an epic tale with immortal changelings in, or folk gods for that matter, you're not necessarily after winks or belly laughs-- though considering that Anansi himself was the greatest joker of all the jokers, it's hard to work out what else, exactly, one might expect from a book with his name in the title.
Perhaps it's that I've tricked myself into expecting something different from Neil Gaiman. I've read too many of his more disturbing short stories, too many of Sandman's more violent installments. In a Neil Gaiman story, nothing is ever really all right. His characters straddle the place between light and darkness, often by choice, to protect the rest of us. That, perhaps, is what makes the humour of Anansi Boys so startling: it seems inappropriate, somehow, like a dirty old uncle laughing during the burial service, then tossing a squeaky rubber duck down the hole with his shovelful of dirt.
Like one of those relatives at a funeral who isn't the dirty old uncle, I didn't laugh when the novel was funny. I saw it, I knew it was funny-- gut-achingly funny-- but I didn't laugh. Instead I read on, gravely, worrying for poor Fat Charlie; somewhere along the line, during that first, stern reading, I missed the point. Fortunately this is one of those books that demands more than a single reading, one for the tale, another for the teller's voice. It's ultimately a story that straddles a grey place, one that's neither light nor dark, one that's ridiculously funny, yet isn't. That laughing uncle hovering over the reader's shoulder is the way in. Whomever he may be, Anansi or Gaiman himself, he sees what the rest of us don't, or won't: he straddles the dagerous places in between, in order that we might cross them ourselves....less
bookshelves:
fantasy,
fiction
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
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 it and everything was simply fantastic. It also feels a lot more like he's actually writing about the America I know.
In its way, this book is just as stunningly creative as American Gods-- the animal-people who represent the ancient African gods are excellent, especially, of course, Tiger. Just as creative are the characters, who are much easier to care for than any of the ones in Gods. They get into hopelessly awkward situations and seem so real that you can't help but be on their side. Even the villain is likable, in a nasty sort of way.
Finally, these modern-fantasy-splotched-in-alongside-the-real-world books are simply my favorite kind of fantasy novel. You can't get away with high fantasy anymore, really. The genre's been done to death over the last fifty years, and unless we want to tire it out completely, there are a bunch of authors who might want to give it a rest. Much more enjoyable, to me, are the fantasy novels that manage to be straight-up fantasy without having elves or castles or swords of any kind in them-- they're often ten times as creative, much fresher, and a lot more fun to read. Other books like this, from both youth and adult fiction, include Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones, the not-quite-fantasy-but-silly-enough-to-count Thursday Next and Jack Spratt novels by Jasper Fforde, and, on a slightly different note, the Terry Pratchett Discworld series, which takes every sentence and uses it to make fun of high fantasy and, more recently, of modern naily life. The Watch mini-series is particularly good at this.
At any rate, I simply liked Anansi Boys a lot more. It felt like a runner who'd had time to stretch their legs a bit and get into a rhythm....less
Read in June, 2008
This is the first Niel Gaiman novel that I've read, and I was not that impressed. This could be because I started reading this book with very high hopes. High hopes which were based on all the great things I had heard about the author from just about everyone.
I spent a lot of the novel wondering if Fat Charlie was black or white. I also wondered about the races of many of the other characters. It doesn't really make a difference what color they were but the author keeps dropping hints about ...more
This is the first Niel Gaiman novel that I've read, and I was not that impressed. This could be because I started reading this book with very high hopes. High hopes which were based on all the great things I had heard about the author from just about everyone.
I spent a lot of the novel wondering if Fat Charlie was black or white. I also wondered about the races of many of the other characters. It doesn't really make a difference what color they were but the author keeps dropping hints about races and never bothers to tell the reader. Not a nice thing to do! I'm now gonna lie away in bed, late at night, for the rest of my life wondering wondering about some of the character's races.
I used to hear Anansi stories as a child, my cousin used to tell me them. Can't remember a lot of them, but the Anansi in this book doesn't really remind me of the stories I used to hear.
One thing I don't understand how Fat Charlie was able to accept being dumped so easily. They were engaged for how long and then Rosie cheats, blames Charlie for it, and then Charlie just accepts it. She didn't even ask Fat Charlie if he knew that his brother was going around impersonating him, She just takes Spider's word for it. I don't even remember Fat Charlie calling Rosie to try an explain the situation either, he just moves on with his life overnight.
I expected this book to be funny! Seeing all the reviews on the cover of the book made me expect this book to be funny. The most humor I got from this book was when Fat Charlie makes a joke about Rosie's mother and the church. And, even then, it was only a slight chuckle.
I have one final thing to note, I thought this book had some pacing issues. There were points during the beginning of the book when I was extremely bored. It took me about a month and a half to read through this book, which is just sad because it's not a very long book. After about page 200 things picked up a bit and that's why I raised my final score from 1/5 to 2/5.
All in all, this book helped make time pass while I was at the GO Station waiting for the GO Trains to come. But this book definitely isn't something that makes you say "wow" when you're finished reading....less
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
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" Nancy who has never really been fat except for a small period of time in his youth. It seems that since his father is the trickster god of African culture and a storyteller, it is one of his abilties that if he names something. That name will stick with someone for quite some time. It turns out that Charlie is planning on getting married and his fiancee decides that they should in fact invite his family to their wedding which spurs him to the finding of his father who has not been in his life for quite some time. It turns out that his father is dead and on his way home his entire world is turned upside or at least the beginnings of chaos. Apparently he has a brother who he has never met, but apparently has the powers he never possessed. It turns that his father was a god, a very funny one at that. It turns out that he calls upon his brother to visit and when Spider comes into his world he disrupts the entire foundation of the life of his brother. In retrospect it may be for the greater good, but in a lot of ways it may be a lot more dangerous than anything either brother has ever
experienced.
Where American Gods is a dark comedy introducing th reader into the world of gods and legends working and living in gas stations alongside our everyday existence. Shadow is an introduction to this world moving and learning where death and shady dealings lurk around every corner. Fat Charlie is a comedic twist and turn of how this world can be funny and entertaining for a child born of the gods. Great book and ton of fun for all those who choose to venture into this world....less
bookshelves:
post-college
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
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 was reading it so close to Strange and Norell, a book that inserts magic into our world and taps into archetypes that keep it grounded the whole way through. The weakest aspect of <Anansi Boys</i> is the way it lapses into sloppy deus ex machina over and over.
Though, this flaw may also be reflective of just how high Gaiman was aiming with the book. It suggests that he is attempting in Anansi Boys to retell the trickster tale, to update it for today, and to endow it with significance for today. The thoughts that he expresses on the significance of these tales are why I make my original claim that he should be an essayist, because these thoughts are very provocative and intriguing. The only problem is that he fails to compensate for the shortcomings of the genre (unlike, for example, Chabon's retelling of the superhero story in Kavalier and Clay.)
As as story, the book does have some highlights. Some reviews compare the book to Douglas Adams' work, and I have to admit that some of the silliness and snideness is absolutely effective. There is also an amazing look at the beginning of time that would have made an excellent short story in and of itself. The book is a pretty easy, light read, and enjoyable as far as it goes, even if Gaiman did not quite hit the mark he was shooting for....less
Read in July, 2008
This is a follow-up, of sorts, to American Gods. It definitely takes place in a post-American Gods universe. The story is about the sons of Mr. Nancy from AG. Some of you might know him as Anansi.
Unlike American Gods, I could discern what was occurring at any given moment in this book, which makes the reading experience all the more enjoyable. That's just me though, you may be into not understanding stuff and, really, who am I to judge?
Fat Charlie Nancy has a pretty perfect life. He...more
This is a follow-up, of sorts, to American Gods. It definitely takes place in a post-American Gods universe. The story is about the sons of Mr. Nancy from AG. Some of you might know him as Anansi.
Unlike American Gods, I could discern what was occurring at any given moment in this book, which makes the reading experience all the more enjoyable. That's just me though, you may be into not understanding stuff and, really, who am I to judge?
Fat Charlie Nancy has a pretty perfect life. He's got a solid job, a nice flat and a kick ass fiancé. One could say Charlie Nancy's only problem is that his future mother-in-law hates his guts, but she's old. All that changes when Charlie discovered his father had died.
Charlie wasn't particularly close with his father. He wasn't even that upset that his dad was dead. That's not to say that Mr. Nancy was a bad father, per se. He certainly didn't beat Charlie or neglect him or anything like that. In fact, Charlie could've done with a little neglect. No, Charlie wasn't upset because it meant that Charlie would never again be embarrassed or humiliated by his father; something his father had a knack for.
While in America for the funeral, the people that knew Mr. Nancy best inform Charlie that he has a brother that he was separated from at a young age. They tell Charlie how to contact his brother if he should ever want to and send him on his way. Charlie is pretty sure they're all full of shit until Spider, his brother, shows up on his doorstep.
Hilarious life-ruining ensues.
Here's a brief list of things I learned from this book:
• Never let your brother who may or may not be a physical manifestation of your psyche that was ripped from you in childhood by way of magic ruin your life with his God-like powers.
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I acknowledge that I may have switched tense in this review as many as four times and frankly, I don't care....less
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
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 enjoyable books I've ever read. It was the story of battle between the old gods and the new ones. The new gods, the new American Gods, were tired of people still believing in the old gods, so they started killing them. Odin, along with all gods from all mythology and folklore (especially folklore) joined in this battle. But it was really a story of a regular man getting caught up in something so much bigger than he imagined.
Anansi's Boys is a sort of sequel. It doesn't really deal with the same plot or characters. It's a story of a boy and his father, that just happens to take place in the same reality as the previously mentioned story. This novel is about Anansi, the great spider who was a trickster god, not an evil god, but sometimes did bad things. He tricked and stole all the stories from the Tiger. So all stories became Anansi's and he could tell such a convincing story, he could story-tell his way through life. And he lived his life and when he finally died (at least for a little while) his estranged son soon discovers that he's not the loser he always thought he was, his father wasn't the embarrassing old fool that he thought, and a sudden appearance of the brother, who wasn't the loser.
Throw in a crooked investor, a murder, some ghosts, an engagement gone all wrong and a few song and dance numbers and we have ourselves a story.
Oh, and plenty of talking animals.
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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
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 Club):
-- the race of the characters was never overtly stated except for Daisy and Grahame Coats. It took me a while to realize that the majority of the characters were black/Caribbean. Not sure if matters to the story at all, but it was strange to have to visually reset about two thirds of the way through the book.
-- main females have flower names (Rosie, Daisy) or smell like flowers (the older ladies = violets, lavender)... any significance?
-- significance of other names: Coats (fur coat? tiger's pelt?), Livingstone (for a character that spends half the book as a ghost)
-- interesting that Gaiman is writing about writing: the power of the story/song
-- definite ties to MacBeth: (being misled by) witches, (lust for) power/ambition, betrayal of friends/family, paradoxes & pairs (similar yet not identical, illusory elements), blood & gore, (upset of) natural order (Anansi & Tiger), moral ambiguity
All in all, I didn't like the novel. I certainly admire Gaiman's ability to manipulate so many elements, location, puzzle pieces, etc. but overall it felt... unsubstantial, pretentious and a bit overblown....less
bookshelves:
fantasy
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
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 in that earlier book, they are set in the same universe. That is, however, where the similarities end. They are very different books written from very different perspectives about the inherent truths that make up the world. American Gods was, in my opinion, the more complex, intricate, and engrossing of the two novels. With American Gods you simply never knew what was going to happen next. Anansi Boys is written slightly more predictably, but is much less dark, slightly more likable, and employs humor more liberally.
In the beginning of the book I found myself struck by the similarity of the main character in Anansi Boys to the main character in another Gaiman book, Neverwhere both are awkward, unassertive men uncertain of their place in the world (or perhaps too certain of their own insignificance) and engaged to women who they love, but feel more controlled by than partnered with. Thankfully Anansi Boys takes this starting point and goes a completely different direction with it, so don't be put off by the ghost of a formula if you are a regular Gaiman reader.
Hardily recommend this book to Gaiman fans, those interested in African mythology, and those who like fantasy not set in New Zealand....less
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
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 never knew existed. And one night, in a bout of deranged curiosity, he calls out to his brother to come and meet him and unwittingly opens up a Pandora's Box of mayhem. And Charlie's life will never be the same.
It was really difficult knowing what to make of this book just from reading the brief jacket description. Something about a guy and his God of a father and the brother he never knew and all that. It's different, to say the least. But more than enough to pique my oddball sensibilities. Thank God Gaiman was able to make the book live up to and actually exceed my expectations. This is an absolutely hilarious book full of Monty Python-esque humor and some situations that initially may seem absurd, but are played out to comic perfection. Charlie is the perfect protagonist. Just a normal guy wanting to live life until one little thing happens that throws his petty existence into a complete downward spiral; he's the second coming of Arthur Dent. The best way to think of this book would be as a meld of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets A Fish Called Wanda. If you're a fan of those two, I don't see any way possible for you to not love this story as well....less
bookshelves:
2007
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
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, especially by white writers, and turning them on their heads. the cultural translation between england and the us is a bit odd at times, though, as in one instance where fat charlie, the main character and a black man, is talking with his scum of a boss, a white man---who either intentionally or unintentionally calls charlie, indirectly, a spade; no indication was given as to whether either character or gaiman himself was aware of the slur. it's definitely a worthwhile read just to see how gaiman deals with race, and a quick enough read that the brevity and simplicity of the story won't be a bother.
quote:
There is a theory that, in the whole world, there are only five hundred real people (the cast, as it were; all the rest of the people in the world, the theory suggests, are extras) and what is more, they all know each other. And it's true, or true as far as it goes. In reality the world is made of thousands upon thousands of groups of five hundred people, all of whom will spend their lives bumping into each other, trying to avoid each other, and discovering each other in the same unlikely teashop in Vancouver....less
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
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.
In his magnum opus Sandman, Dream/Oneiros/Morpheus/Sandman is the original storyteller and all stories come from him or his dreamscape. in Anansi Boys, By playing with the character of Anansi, Gaiman again has the master storyteller to work with.
The story revolves around the two sons of Anansi who first have to discover each other, then fight with each other and eventually reconcile in the aftermath of the death of their Father, Anansi.
Although most people have said that Anansi Boys is a much better read compared with American Gods as it deals with Amusing material and it comes off as something P.G. Wodehouse would write, the Anansi did not interest me as much as Gods because of both the easy to decipher plot and also...well... the lack of depth. It took me a whole three hours to read.
However, there is one way in which it is superior to Gods and that is in reading it out aloud. This was the first book in a year that my wife and I read out aloud to each other. it was light and it did not require much effort.
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bookshelves:
read-and-released,
read-in-2007
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
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 father has died. His bland bride insists he contact his estranged and thoroughly embarrassing father and invite him to the wedding. Upon doing so he hears of his recent death. After his fathers death Charlie meets his brother, whom he was never aware of having. Spider is the exact opposite of Charlie, he is exciting, outgoing, carefree and careless. He seems to have a undeniable allure for women and in general Spider tends to get what he wants. What he wants most is for his brother to liven up and join him in his party lifestyle. Charlie just wants Spider to go away but complications he had never foreseen arise when he finally does. This is fantasy at it's best. I don't read a lot of fantasy but I know quality writing, so while not all fantasy fans will necessarily agree with me, because I am sure there are more fantastical books in the genre, I would highly recommend this to fantasy fans and those new to but open minded enough to enjoy the magical.
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