Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
My friend Jamila always introduces me to new wonderful things…and I am sooo happy Neil Gaiman has been one of them!
Here is my latest read of his:
“When Fat Charlie’s dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie “Fat Charlie.” Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can’t shake that name, one of the many embarrassing “gifts” his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie’s life.
Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie’s doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who’s going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun … just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.
Because, you see, Charlie’s dad wasn’t just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.
Returning to the territory he so brilliantly explored in his masterful New York Times bestseller, American Gods, the incomparable Neil Gaiman offers up a work of dazzling ingenuity, a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying, exhilarating, and fiercely funny — a true wonder of a novel that confirms Stephen King’s glowing assessment of the author as “a treasure-house of story, and we are lucky to have him.” “
How Neil Gaiman creates such wonders of fiction I have no idea.
Every book I’ve read of his so far is so unique and so creative…and I’ve enjoyed them all for such similar yet also very different reasons.
All are a little (or a lot) odd.
All are a little (but most of the time a lot) funny.
All make me have deep thoughts about humanity and life and emotions.
Some make me cry (this wasn’t one).
Some make cringe a bit (this was one).
I have yet to read one of his books and not like it.
I seriously ❤️ each one I have read.
This one had me thinking about the meaning of family, the meaning of what makes us who we are (environment vs genetics) and also about creation myths and legends around the world and their origins.
I know…all over the place right?
But so good.
Go read you some Neil Gaiman…I’m telling yall…
you won’t be let down EVER.