Anansi Boys (book impressions) by Neil Gaiman

[gategrrl]

I couldn't wait for my first introductory installment of the SF Book Club to arrive, and grabbed the paperbook copy I saw on the shelf of the used bookstore I frequent. Actually, I'd forgotten I'd ordered Anansi Boys, but, oh well, I'm glad I'll have it in hardcover as well.

Anansi Boys, like American Gods, is a fun puzzle. There aren't as many mysteries as in American Gods, which plays out like an onion, (see Shrek) but that's okay: Anansi Boys is more of a romp, a roll in the hay with a trickster god. There is more at stake than the hero's desire for a normal life: there's a plot afoot by an opposing god to take back all the stories in the world and make them back into unhappy, warlike stories, instead of the thinking man stories Anansi the Spider god has turned them into. 

Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller. It's no wonder he wrote a story involving Anansi, the trickster storytelling spider-god. And it's refreshing that Gaiman chose a god/pantheon that isn't your average Nordic or Greek reinterpretation. It's all African/Caribbean gods here.

(TBC later - fell asleep on the couch)

Comments

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

I love both American Gods and Anansi Boys but I was happier when I read Anansi Boys because it felt like Gaiman hadn't written anything really funny in a while. American Gods wasn't that funny, if I remember correctly, but more dark and exciting. Anansi Boys had me laughing out loud many times and I loved it. :)

I think what I like most about Gaiman is that he can surprise me.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

I have American Gods and haven't read it yet. I'm currently working on The Earthsea Triology (yes, I never read it).

I've belonged to the SFBC for...um...10-12 years now. I love it.

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

(TBC later - fell asleep on the couch)

That's the story of my life. *g*