When I read Allya's book review, I remembered that I'd just finished a book and I was planning on reviewing it here. So here we go!(Btw, the picture you see here is the less popular cover of the book and the one that was on my book. I didn't post the other cover because I think it's kind of ugly.)
I've been reading more lately because I take a book with me to work at the Cafe and keep it in my mail box. That way I can read during breaks. It leads to pretty short reading periods, but it's also a nice way to reading without distraction.
Anyway, I started Anansi Boys like several months ago and I was immediately taken. It's about this man named Fat Charlie (Charlie Nancy but his dad gave him the nickname and it stuck) who's living in London and about to get married. He gets word that his father has just died so he has to fly back to the states to bury him. That's when he finds out that his father was really Anansi, this spider trickster god, and that he has a brother named Spider (who is also a god). He ends up contacting Spider and chaos ensues as Spider is a lot cooler than him, magical and steals his fiance.
Neil Gaiman is an amazing storyteller. He has a really strong voice and a delicious sense of humor. My favorite part in the book is when Spider is impersonating Fat Charlie at work (because Fat Charlie is hungover and Spider can pretend to be him because, hey, people believe anything that gods say). Fat Charlie's boss has decided to fire him and he starts saying all these cliches like, "In every life a little rain must fall" but Spider keeps coming back with things like "Every cloud has a silver lining" so the two men just keep saying cliches to each other. Then Spider reveals that he knows Fat Charlie's boss is embezzling money and gets a bunch of money out of him. It's hilarious.
Another thing I appreciate about Neil Gaiman's writing is he takes a couple of pauses form the story to tell folk tales about Anansi (the trickster god). Like the time Anansi had to bury his dead grandma and managed to trick Tiger into killing his own grandmother. They feel very authentic and they don't really add anything to the plot exactly, but they're such good stories and they really help the feel of this old world magic that has perpetrated the modern day.
The reason I want to be Neil Gaiman's friend is because A. I love his sense of humor B. He' the kind of fantasy writer I really aspire to be like and C. I read the part at the end where he acknowledges all the people that help him with his book and he mentions his daughter at one point who he says was there, "When I needed a clear headed daughter to help me." It's very sweet.
I highly recommend Anansi Boys. The stroytelling is great, you really feel for the characters and his descriptive skills are awesome. Also, he's hilarious, which I sincerely appreciate in writers who weave stories that are also gruesome, violent and dramatic.
But be warned if you have phobia of spiders, there are a fair amount of them in the book.
I saw this and another of his books combined into one at Barnes and Noble the other day. I might just pick it up the next time I'm there. I've been meaning to read some of him.
ReplyDeleteFirst I have to finish a new book I just got but Markus Zusak, who wrote "The Book Thief" and whom I love. It's called "I am the Messenger" and I can already tell it's gonna be good.
Anyway, I'll look into Gaiman's book when I finish the one I'm on now. Even though it has spiders. (Eww!)
I LOVE Neil Gaiman. I'm reading his collection of short stories, and I fall more and more in love with him. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm sad I'm not friends with Ron Weasley. I'd torture him with that book, and then cure him of his fear of spiders!
Or something. :D FANFICTION TIME!
@ Allya- I've got to read The Book Thief. My mom read it and loved it. You know, I wonder if we might own it? Man, after Catcher in the Rye, I promise.
ReplyDeleteAnd many of his books don't have spiders. And there really aren't all THAT many spiders.
@Ada- Neil Gaiman just has such a great self depreciating sense of humor. Love.
And you know what? I think I just want to marry a British man. I'm going to come out and say it. They've got cute accents, wry sense of humor and we can visit their parents in London twice a year. They'll want to live in America with me of course. I see no problems with the fantasy relationship.
And I love how sadistic your fan fiction wishes are. When most people write fan fiction because they want to see the characters they love go in places they never did in the show. But you just want to straight up torture Ron Weasly. Niiiice.
@Cerasi: After meeting the two British volunteers here in Tak, I want to say that I no longer want to marry a British man. Or an American man. British people don't always have a great sense of style. Also, some are just dickheads that puts down Harry Potter and Doctor Who, who claims he's a writer and actor, and oh wait, this asshole sounds very familiar...
ReplyDeleteI'm not getting along with one of the British guys, obviously. The other one's a sweetheart though, and reminds me a little of Ronald Weasley.
btw, if you marry a British guy, why wouldn't you live with him in England???????? Why you'd stay in the U.S. is beyond my comprehension.
My fanfiction wishes are not sadistic. They seem mean, but it's all because I've got their well-being in mind. Ronald Weasley would be cured of his arachnophobia! It's not torture when you care!
Sorry, when I said that British people don't always have a good sense of style, I actually meant "a good sense of humor". Some of them are just pretentiously self-serving and have no regards for respect.
ReplyDeleteI would marry an Irishman. Or an Aussie. And I would move to either place. Or spend time here and there to placate my family.
ReplyDeleteBut on the off chance I married an Englishman, I would make him move here. I realize I've never been there, but I just don't think I'd move there. So I'm with ya there, Cerasi. And I don't see any problems with your fantasy relationship either. In fact I find it charming that you'll allow him to visit his parents biannually. :)
@Ada: I'm sorry that you meet an unseemly Brit. I would say they're not all like that, but I don't actually know many Brits. I will say that a person of any nationality without a sense of humor is.... well, I know we wouldn't get along.
@Ada- I guess I should make myself more clear. I want to marry a British character from a tv show. Doctor Who if at all possible. If not, I will settle for Martin Freeman's character in Sherlock. Or Martin Freeman. Or David Tennet.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm living in America in my fantasy because I'd really like to be close enough to home to visit my parents. Though as long as we're fantasizing, let's be fabulously wealthy . . . and he raises horses on a horse ranch and gourmet cooks in his downtime and looks at me adoringly while I write.
And as for the only two girls in the office thing, that sucks. My office is full of women with one guy and they all pretty much talk about food all the time. I gotta say it's pretty great. Men are stupid and one day you will have to work with less of them. I promise.
AND THE C-WORD IS NOT OKAY! I don't care how dry your British humor is. (Also I think he's confusing "you don't get British people" with "you don't like douchenozzles." Maybe everyone he knows is a d-bag so he just assumes that's how the whole of Great Britain is."
@Allya- An Irishman or an Aussie for sure. It's all about the accent man. All about the accent.
Lol, I thought biannual was pretty generous. But you're right. We should visit mother England more often (especially since we're successful horse farm ranchers now). We'll split major holidays and then spend two weeks traveling around England every summer. Much better. And his parents will have a house on the cliffs of Dover and we will swim always. (THIS CAN REALLY HAPPEN, DON'T DENY ME!)