Thursday 24 July 2014

Anansi Boys – Neil Gaiman



Charles “Fat Charlie” Nancy is an unremarkable Londoner whose staid boring world is thrown into complete uproar by the death of his mostly absent father who it turns out wasn’t a vivacious retiree in Florida but the physical incarnation of the West African Spider God Anansi. Still reeling from this Fat Charlie’s previously unknown brother then turns up at his door, seduces Charlies fiancé and implicates him in a embezzlement scam that could have fatal consequences for them all. Charlie is then forced into a quest to prove his innocence and save them all from Anansi’s oldest and most vicious enemy.


Neil Gaiman wrote the book on magical realism, actually he’s written several of them including Neverwhere, American Gods and the Sandman graphic novels. And like those in Anasi Boys he weaves myth and folk stories throughout the narrative which give it a real depth. The Stories showing Anansi’s sense of humour are great and in general I found this one of the funniest of his books. There is a sense of playfulness with the reader being tempered by a much darker side that seems to lurk threateningly in the background always ready to pounce.

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