Anansi Boys, is a spin-off novel of Neil Gaiman's American gods. Published in 2005, this novel won both Lotus award and British Fantasy society award. Compared to American gods, Anansi boys is a shorter and a lighter novel. This is a book that contains elements of fantasy, mythology, fairy tale and comedy.
Synopsis:
This novel takes place in the same world as the world in American gods. Anansi, is a trickster/spider, a dominant mythological character in West African and Caribbean folktales.
Anansi (Mr. Nancy from American gods), is a god of Western African origin who arrived in America with the immigrants. The story follows Anansi's son, "fat Charlie". Who is perpetually embarrassed of his father because of his father's attitude and carefree lifestyle.
Fat Charlie lives in England, works in a job he doesn't like because he has a bad boos, and is not very adventurous. He was planning a wedding with his fiancee Rosie, and his difficult future mother in law. His future wife insisted fat Charlie to invite Anasi to their wedding. When trying to contact his father, fat Charlie found out that his father had died in an embarrassing manner at a karaoke bar. Fat Charlie travelled to Florida from London to attend his father's funeral, and met up with his father's neighbors and old family friend, Mrs Higgler, who informed fat Charlie that his father was the incarnation of the West African spider God, Anansi. Furthermore, Mrs. Higgler also informed fat Charlie that he has a long lost brother, a man named "Spider", who inherited most of Anansi's magical powers. Mrs Higgler told fat Charlie that to summon his brother, all he had to do is to ask any spider to pass on the message that he wishes to see him.
Fat Charlie dismissed all of those information as ridiculous fantasies. Until one night, he drunkenly told a spider that he would like to see his long lost brother. The next day, a mysterious man shows up at fat Charlie's doorway and introduced himself as fat Charlie's long lost brother "Spider". This re-union marked the beginning of a series of eventful adventures for the two brothers.
My thoughts of the book:
Unlike "American gods", "Anansi Boys" is a much lighter novel, and it is also alot more funnier and humorous. In the story, fat Charlie represents the kind of man who is shy, reserved, less adventurous with a sense of low self confidence. Most of Charlie's personality can be attributed to his feeling of embarrassed towards his father, with further explanation later in the novel.
This is a story about breaking out of normal life patterns, making riskier decisions, and overcoming brute forces with cunning and intelligence. While Anasi Boys has less philosophical depth compared with American gods, but this book is also funnier, light-hearted, and has less sexual/violent contents. The story is very readable, and the pace is lightning fast.
While Anansi Boys isn't as thought provoking as American gods, but Neil Gaiman has written a book with one of the most intriguing opening lines in modern literature:
"It begins, as most things begin, with a song".
My favorite quote of the book is this one:
"Each person who ever was or is or will be has a song. It isn't a song that anybody else wrote. It has its own melody, it has its own words. Very few people get to sing their song. Most of us fear that we cannot do it justice with our voices, or that our words are too foolish or too honest, or too odd. So people live their song instead.”
Without spoiling too much of the story, the main plot is somewhat revolved around "songs". What does this mean? Well, read the book yourself and find out.
Rating:4.5/5
Conclusion:
While Anansi Boys is not as deep (philosophically) as American gods, but this book is funny, lighter, enjoyable, less sexual/violent contents, and extremely well written. The character development is great. I enjoyed this book and thought it was a great read, highly recommended for readers of any taste (fantasy, mythology, fairy tale and comedy).
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