Anansi Boys
I thoroughly enjoyed neil gaiman’s Anansi boys. I had no idea what the story was about, it came as a complete surprise. When I was younger I was familiar with Anansi the spider and had a sneaking suspicion from the title but was thrilled to actually find how the stories were related to gaimans book. I also liked how this was folk fantasy, a genre I never really considered. I always thought as folk tales as those culture stories you have as a kid, this was a little more adult and was more just related too. Like Bible stories for adults. All the characters came full circle in the end… I love that type of cleaver writing where it seems the writer from the very beginning conceived the end. It reflected upon the books own themes as well, there was a passage saying that there where only so many people to one mans individual life that always keep appearing like casts in a play, everyone else are just extras. The book kept doing this as well, displaying a theme or an interesting writing style through the characters in the story, then the narrator would comment on it as if he himself just noticed, it just all fit so perfectly into a very easily read adventure. I am someone who has trouble with fantasy… wildlife fighting a holy war against good and evil is a turn off to me; but for some reason gaiman’s way of human interaction with the spirits of all the animals is more tangible for me. My only small issues are with the ending and the “lime” the ending seemed a little dragged out but the story was so good I almost did not mind. Regarding the lime. I am pretty sure that gaiman was just trying to show how small the island was when everyone asked fat Charlie If he was the one with the lime, but it was so embedded it made me wonder if there was any greater significance with the lime. The thought almost made my head explode.
