“Stories are like spiders, with all they long legs, and stories are like spiderwebs, which man gets himself all tangled up in but which look pretty when you see them under a leaf in the morning dew, and in the elegant way that they connect to one another, each to each.”
— Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys
Fat Charlie is happy with his normal life and does his best to keep it normal. And that means staying away from his eccentric father who used to trick him into embarrassing situations just to get a laugh.
Charlie is doing well at maintaining the ordinary. He has a job, has a fiancé. But then his father ruins everything by dying on a karaoke stage.
When Charlie goes to the funeral to pay his respects, he learns something that shatters his perceptions of normal life: his father was a god. The trickster god from African folklore, Anansi the spider man.
This opens up a whole new world to Charlie. In that world exists a brother he never knew he had—a brother by the name of Spider who loves mischief and fun as much as Charlie loves normalcy. Spider inherited his father’s power and bag of tricks. And now he wants to be a part of his long-lost brother’s life.
This doesn’t bode well for Charlie. But this is where the magic and the fun begins.
At its core, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is the classic story of the protagonist seeking out his true identity. But its blend of Afro-Caribbean legend and magic concealed within the modern world gives it a unique flavor.
Gaiman is a magician when it comes to blending the real world and the mythical—making the nonsensical make sense. Take for instance a man who’s a spider but not a spider. Or brothers traveling across the world in a blink of an eye. Or a flock of killer flamingos. Gaiman somehow had me nodding along and thinking to myself, “Oh, so that’s how that works.”
What I like best about Anansi Boys is the principle characters: Charlie and Spider. Spider, despite his flawed confidence stemming from always being the life of the party, is likeable because he’s ultimately guided by a knowledge of right and wrong—even if he’s at odds with that knowledge sometimes. And you have to like Charlie because he’s the underdog.
The conflict with his brother forces Charlie on a journey that helps discover who he truly is. And in the process, he awakens a feud between the gods that’s older than the hills. The buildup promises an epic climax.
Unfortunately, Gaiman doesn’t deliver on that promise. The bad guys are too easily beaten. The magic for the good guys becomes too convenient towards the end. And the antagonistic forces are weaker than the rising action makes them out to be.
Still, I’d say Anansi Boys is a good story in that it took me on a memorable adventure with two brothers and a colorful cast of characters. (Even some of the minor characters are so vibrant they still stick out in my mind.)
Also, there were moments when Gaiman’s whimsical language and clever humor had me laughing out loud. And it’s been a long time since a book has done that for me.
Have you read Anansi Boys? What are your thoughts on it?
What are you reading lately? Any recommendations? Share in the comments below.