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| Anansi Boys: A Novel (Alex Awards (Awards)) | 
 enlarge | Author: Neil Gaiman
Publisher: Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $8.65
You Save: $18.30 (68%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  181 reviews
Sales Rank: 312218
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.6 x 1.3
ASIN: B000FIHZB4
Publication Date: September 20, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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
God is dead. Meet the kids. 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."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 176 more reviews...
 The web of our life is of a mingled yarn September 26, 2005
123 out of 134 found this review helpful
good and ill together. That line from Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well captures the essence of Neil Gaiman's latest creation, Anansi Boys.
Charlie Nancy is one of life's more passive characters. He is perpetually embarrassed by those around him. He grew up in Florida embarrassed by his father who had an eye for the ladies, never seemed to have a job, and who bestowed upon Charlie the nickname "Fat Charlie". It is a name that stuck to Charlie like glue and has followed him everywhere he goes, even to England where he now lives and works. More than anything else, Fat Charlie is embarrassed by himself. His life is an endless stream of self-conscious needless apologies for his life. As one would expect from a character like Charlie he is timid in front of his boss and can't seem to convince his fiance that there is nothing wrong with consummating their relationship prior to their marriage. The word perpetually frustrated comes to mind here.
As the story opens, Fat Charlie is back in Florida for the funeral of his father. Charlie no doubt hopes his dad's death, which occurred while singing a song in a Karaoke bar much to Charlie's embarrassment, will put an end to his own state of perpetual embarrassment. That is the closure Charlie seeks. But the old ladies who made up his Dad's circle of friends tell Fat Charlie that their father was something of a god, in fact a spider god. They also tell Fat Charlie he has a brother. Fat Charlie, of course, will have none of this nonsense and returns to England.
Of course, life is never so simple for any character drawn by Neil Gaiman. It turns out Fat Charlie does have a brother, Spider, who is everything Charlie is not. Spider is personable, charming, glib, and has the ability to charm the pants off just about anyone he desires. As the name Spider implies, Charlie is soon drawn into the parallel world inhabited by Spider a world of small gods and vengeful animals. Fat Charlie is introduced to a whole new universe of characters and his ability to distinguish between fact and fantasy grows increasingly thin.
Anansi Boys worked on two levels for me. First, I actually grew attached to the character of Fat Charlie. I was surprised that I developed such empathy for Fat Charlie. Generally, I do not find `passive' characters all that attractive, but, as the book wore on I felt myself rooting for him. Second, Anansi Boy is, at its heart a story about a dysfunctional (but very funny) family and explores how its members try to reach some accommodation with their past and their present relationships. This is not meant to imply that the book is weighed down with ponderous statements on the meaning of life or families; far from it. The great success of Gaiman's writing in my opinion is that he can handle a topic with both humor and sensitivity. The story does not bog down in `deep thoughts'. Gaiman spins his yarn and leaves it up to the reader to read between the laughs. I found the conclusion to be particularly well done.
Anansi Boys, like the spiders that form its conceptual heart, draws you inexorably into its web until you cannot get out. Fortunately, Gaiman has spun such a fine yarn that you don't mind being ensnared at all. This was a book worth reading.
Not quite Coyote Blue, but very close! September 26, 2005
39 out of 73 found this review helpful
If you enjoyed Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue, you should also
enjoy Anansi Boys. Both books are lighthearted and whimsical, and
both center on a trickster god--one of many gods: a spider god in
Gaiman, and a coyote god in Moore. Gaiman's American Gods is a
much darker novel. This is a milieu where humans and gods
interact--not an all-powerful God of the Bible, but less
powerful and more personal gods who you might go to lunch with,
or who might have you for lunch. In this milieu you might bump into
Hopi, Navajo, Norse, etc gods.
In Anansi Boys the hero, Fat Charlie Nancy, learns that his
father Anansi was the spider god, and that his brother (who he
never knew he had) inherited some of their father's powers.
As with Coyote Blue, this god enjoys a good joke, although
Coyote's tastes tended to be more prurient. In both novels,
hanging out with a god presents some problems, and this is what
makes both novels particularly enjoyable.
As with Coyote Blue, Anansi Boys is--to be blunt--a lot of fun.
As with Coyote Blue, after about 30-40 pages, you know that you
are going to hang onto the book and enjoy reading it again in
a year or so.
 Boys, boys! October 1, 2005
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
Neil Gaiman is best known for his witty, slightly wonky brand of dark fantasy. But he gets a bit lighter for "Anansi Boys," a sort of unconnected sequel to his hit "American Gods." You think your dad is embarrassing? Well, at least he's not a trickster god.
Fat Charlie's dad has always been weird -- brass bands for the terminally ill, nicknames that stick, and much more. But even away from his dad, Charlie isn't happy. Then he gets the news that his dad died during a karaoke song; when he goes to the funeral, an old neighbor tells him that Daddy was really Anansi the spider god. Even worse, Charlie finds out he has a brother.
Spider is everything Charlie isn't -- charming, debonair, witty, and magical. Soon he has not only taken over Fat Charlie's house, but his fiancee as well, distracting Fat Charlie from his boss's attempts to frame him. Determined to get rid of Spider, Fat Charlie enlists the Bird Woman's help -- but soon finds that his pact will only get them in deeper trouble with the ancient gods.
Trickerster gods -- Anansi, Loki, Kokopelli -- are always fun. And Gaiman makes the idea even more fun with "Anansi Boys." Sibling rivalry forms the backbone of the book, but it's also sprinkled with corporate intrigue, romance, and the old Anansi legends (which Gaiman inserts periodically). And of course -- lots and lots of humour.
With this lighter tone, Gaiman sounds a lot like his pal Terry Pratchett, right down to wry humor and comic timing. "There are three things, and three things only, that can lift the pain of mortality and ease the ravages of life. These things are wine, women and song." "Curry's nice too." Gaiman seems to be having a lot of fun in this book.
And nowhere is the fun more clear than in Spider and Fat Charlie. They're like yin and yang, one charming, conscienceless and godly, while the other is nervy, awkward and mundane. Spider's charm leaps out from the page, while Fat Charlie is sort of Gaiman's "Charlie Brown."
Everyone gets annoyed by their siblings and embarrassed by their dad, but the "Anansi Boys" have a life more complex than most. Lighter than most Neil Gaiman books, but hilarious, dark and imaginative.
Finding Two Different Parts Of Yourself Through Embarrassing Family ...And Gods September 11, 2006
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
With a serious tip of the hat to the Trickster God, Neil Gaiman taps into mythology once again with his excellent take on African lore in Anansi Boys.
For those who read and enjoyed the Hugo Award winning American Gods (also by Gaiman), you'll no doubt love the themes covered here.
Fat Charlie is the son of Mr. Charles Nancy, a true embarrassment to his only son. He hardly works, runs around singing lame songs, and mostly ignores Fat Charlie (he also gave "Fat" Charlie his embarrassing nickname). But then Fat Charlie's father has the "big one" on a karaoke stage and passes away. Fat Charlie, who lives and works (an embarrassing job, too) in London, must fly to Florida for the funeral. It is here that he learns much more about his father than he could ever have imagined. Mr. Nancy was a God, not just a man. He was the spider God of old known as Anansi, a God who stole all the old stories from Tiger and made them his own (done, of course, through trickery). Fat Charlie doesn't believe this at first, but as an old friend continues to discuss Charlie's father's Godhood, she also drops a bomb in his lap: Charlie isn't an only child. He has a brother named (strangely enough) Spider. She tells Fat Charlie that all he has to do to meet him is to talk to a spider and ask him to send Spider to him. And one stuporously drunk night, Charlie does just that. And much to his surprise, guess who shows up on his doorstep the next day?
As we work through Anansi Boys, we get to see all of the old African Gods come to life (from the Monkey God to ones that have gone extinct). We also get to see an awakening of Fat Charlie's spirit with the help of Spider and a few unusual plot twists. Most of these are hilarious takes on sibling rivalry and learning about your own inner God.
Fat Charlie winds his way through this world and the next, meeting up with all manner of strange beings and gaining a bit more understanding of who his father truly was and how "tricky" he could really be.
From Gods to ghosts, this is a riotously fun book to read. And something all Neil Gaiman fans will be happy to have in their collection.
 I really wanted to like this... September 29, 2005
11 out of 31 found this review helpful
Neil is my favorite author, so I read this twice to make sure I wasn't missing something the first time around. This book has none of the mystery+humor that makes his other books worth reading. The plot reads like it was conceived as it was written (or like a Dean Koonz novel, you pick which is worse).
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