Anansi Boys
April 8th 2007 12:10
Happy Easter everyone I hope you had a good time with many loved ones.
Neil Gaiman, I have said it many times, is an absolute freak of nature. He writes with brilliance (his technique is almost perfect), humour (laugh out loud style) and a warped sense of imagination (he is very Chesterton like in that area, in fact, he quoted Chesterton when asked about his influences).
Anansi Boys is a tale of two brothers, both are sons of Anansi (it helps to have read American Gods), the Spider God. Anansi is a trickster, a prankster on a mythological scale. Many of the stories that we have today are based on him. Brer Rabbit and the tarbaby for example. He can sing like a bird, run like a cheetah, fight like a tiger and outwit any man or beast that seeks to get the better of him. He's a rogue, though his son Charlie is by no means a chip off the old block.
Until he dies.
Charlies life not only 360's but inverts and flips upon his meeting with his brother Spider. Spider is everything that Charlie is not, cool, confident, powerful and irresponsible. Charlie is pretty much an accountant. After Charlie discovers Spider taking over his life, not all things in the family tree remain in a happy state...........
To be honest, I didn't think this was the best effort put forward by Mr Gaiman. Possibly, because he didn't leave the book with a cliff hanger ending, he actually ended it. Which I think put me off my rhythm. Also, it lacked the sinister charm of both American Gods and Neverwhere. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and will more than likely be heading back to it very soon (the character of Anansi alone makes the book worth reading) but I have to be honest. Not as good as his other stuff. I do still however, admire the amount of research that he puts into his books. That alone makes him worth reading. There is little better than to read not just an author who is very good with words (Dostoyevsky and Pasternak are two of my favourite word-smiths) and good with interesting ideas (Chesterton by a MILE) but to read someone with both of these that ALSO does the necessary homework (like Pratchett, that man is a machine) is like a big shot of happy juice inserted right into the pleasure area of the brain.
JZ
Neil Gaiman, I have said it many times, is an absolute freak of nature. He writes with brilliance (his technique is almost perfect), humour (laugh out loud style) and a warped sense of imagination (he is very Chesterton like in that area, in fact, he quoted Chesterton when asked about his influences).
Anansi Boys is a tale of two brothers, both are sons of Anansi (it helps to have read American Gods), the Spider God. Anansi is a trickster, a prankster on a mythological scale. Many of the stories that we have today are based on him. Brer Rabbit and the tarbaby for example. He can sing like a bird, run like a cheetah, fight like a tiger and outwit any man or beast that seeks to get the better of him. He's a rogue, though his son Charlie is by no means a chip off the old block.
Until he dies.
Charlies life not only 360's but inverts and flips upon his meeting with his brother Spider. Spider is everything that Charlie is not, cool, confident, powerful and irresponsible. Charlie is pretty much an accountant. After Charlie discovers Spider taking over his life, not all things in the family tree remain in a happy state...........
To be honest, I didn't think this was the best effort put forward by Mr Gaiman. Possibly, because he didn't leave the book with a cliff hanger ending, he actually ended it. Which I think put me off my rhythm. Also, it lacked the sinister charm of both American Gods and Neverwhere. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and will more than likely be heading back to it very soon (the character of Anansi alone makes the book worth reading) but I have to be honest. Not as good as his other stuff. I do still however, admire the amount of research that he puts into his books. That alone makes him worth reading. There is little better than to read not just an author who is very good with words (Dostoyevsky and Pasternak are two of my favourite word-smiths) and good with interesting ideas (Chesterton by a MILE) but to read someone with both of these that ALSO does the necessary homework (like Pratchett, that man is a machine) is like a big shot of happy juice inserted right into the pleasure area of the brain.
JZ
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Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
HAPPY EASTER BROTHER X
ok so what books do I start out with on Chesterton????
be well buddy
ash
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Good question.....
Try The Man Who Was Thursday and The Ball And The Cross, those are good fiction works.
If you want to know more about him personally read Orthodoxy. It is about why he became a christian.
Be well sister,
JZ
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
JZ
Comment by Billy M
Comment by Mike Crowl
Webitz
Work Report
Anansi Boys seemed to have more warmth, and less cynicism. American Gods is very dark by comparison, and has an immense amount of violence - and even some sections which seemed unnecessarily over the top in the sexual content area. There's a lot of ugliness in American Gods, whereas Anansi Boys seems like a comedy by comparison.
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Yeah, I'd noticed that Anansi Boys was lacking in all the edges that I had found in both American Gods and Neverwhere.
I would have to say I didn't like some of the graphic content of American Gods but it was a good stage setter for Anansi Boys.
I'm hoping that he writes some more about the Neverwhere characters/world. They seemed to have a lot of story to them.
JZ
Comment by Mike Crowl
Webitz
Work Report