In the beginning all the stories were about Tiger, the big
cat. They were fierce stories about rending and tearing without mercy. But then
Anansi, the spider, stole them from Tiger; then all the stories were about
cleverness and trickery and Tiger always came off the worst. Anansi then moved
to Florida, had a son named Fat Charlie, and proceeded to die of a heart attack
while belting out karaoke. It was all rather embarrassing.
Fat Charlie had no idea until the funeral that his
humiliating joke of a father was actually an ancient spider god. Nor did he
have any inkling of the existence of his brother Spider—the one who inherited
all the cosmic powers. But now Spider is in town and he’s eager to get to know Fat
Charlie… and Fat Charlie’s fiancée. Especially Fat Charlie’s fiancée. Relations
between the two brothers get rough, and all the while Tiger is lurking, looking
for an opening to revenge himself on Anansi’s blood. It’s hardly fair, though.
How can an ordinary man be expected to hold his own amidst legends and gods?
A kind-of sequel to American Gods, Anansi Boys is a typical
sampling of Gaiman’s trademark magical realism. The mundane and the sublime are
put side-by-side in a fascinating, sometimes humorous, juxtaposition. You
definitely root for Fat Charlie as he is engulfed by a world not his own, and
the deity figures are both mysterious and compelling. Though not my favorite
Gaiman, Anansi Boys is definitely still a good read and I’d recommend it to
fans of Gaiman or Terry Pratchett.
LLK
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