Who is the best fantasy writer around nowadays? It is, of course, a matter of opinion. If we narrow the field a bit to adult fantasy (and thereby take folks like Rowling and Pullman out of the equation), a good argument could be made that the best in the bunch is Neil Gaiman. While most other fantasy writers are busy writing Tolkien knock-offs, he presents original stories. While most others can't seem to write a story that doesn't span several volumes (which is probably driven as much by commercial considerations as artistic ones), Gaiman gives us standalone novels.
Anansi Boys helps solidify his standing as one of the best (if the best) in his field. The story follows Fat Charlie Nancy (who is not fat), who as the novel opens, finds out his father has just died. Fat Charlie was by no means close to his father, but his fiancee Rosie was not fond of the estrangement. Fat Charlie flies from England to Florida to attend his father's funeral. While there, he learns some interesting things, most of which he finds hard to believe.
One unbelievable idea is that his father was actually the trickster god Anansi, which makes it more surprising that he actually died. Furthermore, Fat Charlie has a brother who has apparently has inherited Anansi's powers. This brother, Spider, comes into Fat Charlie's life soon enough and starts turning things upside down: he seduces Rosie and puts Fat Charlie in dangerous peril with his crooked boss. When Spider will not leave, Fat Charlie comes upon a method to force him to go; this method, however, is actually part of a grander scheme that will threaten both brothers.
Among the people Gaiman thanks on the dedication page is P.G. Wodehouse, and this novel has a wonderfully comic feel that fits right in the Wodehousian tradition. This is one of those books that is a constant delight from beginning to end. You don't have to be a fantasy fan to enjoy Anansi Boys; in fact, since the book doesn't adhere to the genre's cliches, it may even be better not to be one.
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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 own 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 songs instead.Highlighted by 1,317 Kindle readers- Songs remain. They last. The right song can turn an emperor into a laughingstock, can bring down dynasties. A song can last long after the events and the people in it are dust and dreams and gone. That’s the power of songs.Highlighted by 1,158 Kindle readers
- People take on the shapes of the songs and the stories that surround them, especially if they don’t have their own song.Highlighted by 1,094 Kindle readers
- People respond to the stories. They tell them themselves. The stories spread, and as people tell them, the stories change the tellers.Highlighted by 1,087 Kindle readers
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God is dead. Meet the kids.
"God is dead. Meet the kids."Fat Charlie Nancy is just a normal guy with a normal job and a normal girlfriend, which tells you, considering this is a Neil Gaiman book, that things are about to go very, very sideways for him. Sure enough, he soon learns that his father has dropped dead while singing karaoke in a Florida bar.Fat Charlie hates his father, who seems to have made it his mission to humiliate his son, including giving him his nickname. Finding out that Dad was a god named Anansi doesn't change Fat Charlie's opinion a bit. But that little revelation is only the beginning, as Fat Charlie's brother, Spider, shows up and turns Fat Charlie's tiny spare bedroom into a huge pleasure palace.Then things get weird. Nobody's better at taking regular people and dropping them down a rabbit hole than Neil Gaiman. He did it brilliantly in American Gods, and here he brings back one of those gods, Anansi, to torture his unsuspecting offspring. Fat Charlie, once settled into his London life, now finds himself ping-ponging across the Atlantic Ocean, with his job, relationship, and life in jeopardy as he desperately struggles to figure out what's going on.It's a comedy.After all, there are also few authors better at drawing humor out of their character's misery, either.Although not as complicated as American Gods--there's only one god involved here, mostly, and way fewer characters--Gaiman weaves a great tale of rich and eclectic people, in a (shall I say it?) web that gradually draws their stories together. It's delightful, chaotic, and great fun, written in a free flowing way less experienced writers just couldn't get away with. I have a feeling Gaiman works hard to make his writing look like it's not hard work.
Top reviews from other countries
Sergio Alberto Cortés Ronquillo
De lo mejor de Gaiman
Reviewed in Mexico on April 30, 2023
