Week 8 - Anasi Boys

In Neil Gaimans 2000 novel American Gods he established a world of survival-seeking former gods, some clinging to their half-forgotten mythology, some seeking a new place in the new world. Gaiman fleshed the concept out in depth, creating a world so rich that it seemed a shame to confine it to only one novel. So it seems natural enough that Gaiman has returned with the Anansi Boys. But this  book takes a distinctly different tone: Where American Gods was a quirky but weighty kind of novel, Anansi Boys is a lighter, looser, more playful read. Anansi Boys contains a couple of traditional-style Anansi fables, and the book itself takes a similar direction  but wry, pointed tone; like any good Anansi story, it's usually about cleverness, appetite, and comeuppance, and it's funny in a smart, inclusive way. And like any good typical Gaiman book, it's about the places where the normal world and a fantastic one intersect, and all the insightful things they have to say about each other. This novel deals with the African trickster figure of Anansi, at once an industrious spider and a human slacker. They lead the brothers into adventures that are at times scary or downright hysterical. Anansi is also a story about fathers, sons, and brothers and how difficult it can be to get along even when they are so similar. It's Gaiman's focus on Charlie and Charlie's attempts to return to normalcy that make the story so winning. Definitely becoming one of my favorite authors.