Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
Charlie Nancy is living an ordinary life, working in a top agency, being engaged to a beautiful woman named Rosie ( whoa sweet name ), life in London is what he wants, peaceful and most of all away from his Father and the embarrassments that he brings into his life.
Until one day, Charlie whose nickname "Fat Charlie" was one of the many embarrassing reminder his father sanctioned upon him, received a news that his father died of an apparent heart failure in the middle of a Karaoke stage.
Dealing with the aftermath and burying his father, Charlie came to know the truth about his father's real identity. Charlie's dad is not just any other dad, he was Anansi, a god who outsmarts and uses tricks to outwit his enemies, the rebellious God who can create wealth opportunities without working a single day, a God who owns most of the stories handed down from generation to generation.
And that is just a humdinger of things to come, "Fat Charlie" also learned the existence of his brother, all he had to do as Mrs. Higgler told him is ask a spider.
Of course "Fat Charlie" never believed a thing, but when a spider shows up in his tub one night while Rosie is about to take a bath, Charlie did the unthinkable,
"If you see my brother..tell him to come by and say hello" Fat Charlie told the spider.
And then the next day his brother Spider showed up in his doorstep, and Charlie's life will become more interesting and a lot dangerous...
**********
I'm telling you right now, this is not the best book the author has written, but if you're Neil Gaiman, it still speaks highly of you, comparing it to "Neverwhere" or "American Gods" is unfair, those two books are probably at the top of every reader's barometer of a great fantasy novel.
Still "Anansi Boys" is an enthralling read that will provide fun and excitement, Gaiman has again created a world in a world setting, vivid and haunting, to the extent that it stretches your imagination to picture even a portion of what is going through Gaiman's head.
And the result is once again a staggering images of dreamlike scenes enough to make your reading experience a truly enjoyable one.
In Anansi Boys just like in Neverwhere and American Gods, it has a character that is drawn in the world where God's roam and battle each other, Charlie Nancy is that character, unknowingly a descendant of a God, unwittingly drawn into a conspicuous battle between good and evil forces of the world where his father once fought, to the present dangers that beset him in the modern world.
His relationship with Rosie, made complex by the arrival of Spider, Grahame Coates his boss at work, who is planning to pull of a major financial scam, old women in Florida who practice sort of witchcraft rituals, jet-setting from London to Florida to an island in the Caribbean, Neil Gaiman has brought us again fresh and wider plot twists that has been a trademark of his previous novels
And those are some of the upside of "Anansi Boys", it has much of a human element, with the large participation of characters like Rosie and her mom, Daisy, Grahame Coates and the Florida women, the plot is more scattered as i would say, all in a good way, that keeps readers slowly getting the pieces, creating and providing them a wonderful tale.
Although i find the ending a little bit rushed, especially the ones that involves Grahame Coates, an additional 50 pages of additional plot twists is more likely, but hey its almost 400 pages of a fun ride here and there in the world within a world which has become Neil Gaiman's expertise.
Over-all i cant complain, yeah its not "Neverwhere" and "American Gods" but still, i was left impressed again and asking for more, waiting for another Neil Gaiman novel.
Until one day, Charlie whose nickname "Fat Charlie" was one of the many embarrassing reminder his father sanctioned upon him, received a news that his father died of an apparent heart failure in the middle of a Karaoke stage.
Dealing with the aftermath and burying his father, Charlie came to know the truth about his father's real identity. Charlie's dad is not just any other dad, he was Anansi, a god who outsmarts and uses tricks to outwit his enemies, the rebellious God who can create wealth opportunities without working a single day, a God who owns most of the stories handed down from generation to generation.
And that is just a humdinger of things to come, "Fat Charlie" also learned the existence of his brother, all he had to do as Mrs. Higgler told him is ask a spider.
Of course "Fat Charlie" never believed a thing, but when a spider shows up in his tub one night while Rosie is about to take a bath, Charlie did the unthinkable,
"If you see my brother..tell him to come by and say hello" Fat Charlie told the spider.
And then the next day his brother Spider showed up in his doorstep, and Charlie's life will become more interesting and a lot dangerous...
**********
I'm telling you right now, this is not the best book the author has written, but if you're Neil Gaiman, it still speaks highly of you, comparing it to "Neverwhere" or "American Gods" is unfair, those two books are probably at the top of every reader's barometer of a great fantasy novel.
Still "Anansi Boys" is an enthralling read that will provide fun and excitement, Gaiman has again created a world in a world setting, vivid and haunting, to the extent that it stretches your imagination to picture even a portion of what is going through Gaiman's head.
And the result is once again a staggering images of dreamlike scenes enough to make your reading experience a truly enjoyable one.
In Anansi Boys just like in Neverwhere and American Gods, it has a character that is drawn in the world where God's roam and battle each other, Charlie Nancy is that character, unknowingly a descendant of a God, unwittingly drawn into a conspicuous battle between good and evil forces of the world where his father once fought, to the present dangers that beset him in the modern world.
His relationship with Rosie, made complex by the arrival of Spider, Grahame Coates his boss at work, who is planning to pull of a major financial scam, old women in Florida who practice sort of witchcraft rituals, jet-setting from London to Florida to an island in the Caribbean, Neil Gaiman has brought us again fresh and wider plot twists that has been a trademark of his previous novels
And those are some of the upside of "Anansi Boys", it has much of a human element, with the large participation of characters like Rosie and her mom, Daisy, Grahame Coates and the Florida women, the plot is more scattered as i would say, all in a good way, that keeps readers slowly getting the pieces, creating and providing them a wonderful tale.
Although i find the ending a little bit rushed, especially the ones that involves Grahame Coates, an additional 50 pages of additional plot twists is more likely, but hey its almost 400 pages of a fun ride here and there in the world within a world which has become Neil Gaiman's expertise.
Over-all i cant complain, yeah its not "Neverwhere" and "American Gods" but still, i was left impressed again and asking for more, waiting for another Neil Gaiman novel.
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