Anansi Boys

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Lenny Henry

God is dead. Meet the kids.

When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed, before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life.

Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun, just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.

Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.

Returning to the territory he so brilliantly explored in his masterful New York Times best seller American Gods, the incomparable Neil Gaiman offers up a work of dazzling ingenuity, a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying, exhilarating, and fiercely funny, a true wonder of a novel that confirms Stephen King's glowing assessment of the author as "a treasure house of story, and we are lucky to have him."

©2005 Neil Gaiman (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

• Locus Award, 2006
  
• Alex Award, 2006

" "Excellent." (Stephen King)
"It's Gaiman's focus on Charlie and Charlie's attempts to return to normalcy that make the story so winning...along with gleeful, hurtling prose." (Publishers Weekly)

Best audiobook reader ever

Anansi Boys is a wonderful book by a versatile and entertaining author, Neil Gaiman. But this review is about the book's reader--Lenny Henry, who is an absolutely amazing performer. I've listened to a lot of audiobooks and some very good readers, but Lenny Henry is head and shoulders above all the rest--including Jim Dale. His characterizations--of both males and females--are so good that you forget the reader and only hear the character. In this book, he does Caribbean, American, and several British accents, all utterly convincing. He also differentiates the characters beautifully. I rarely listen to an audiobook twice. This one is an exception.

Pure fun

After having just read American Gods and been totally submerged into a deep, dark ocean of bleakness, this book was like surfacing into a cool, clear pool of refreshing fun and frolic. Hard to believe anyone could have read the book better than Lenny Henry. It is not easy to impersonate various character voices in a book; it has to be even more difficult to convey their feelings and personalities. Few readers do even one of these well. Henry does both and seems to do so quite effortlessly. While a followup, Anansi Boys is not a sequel to American Gods. If you have not read Neil Gaiman this book along with Graveyard Story or Stardust might be a better place to start. Do not introduce yourself to NG with American Gods. While the latter could become your favorite NG, I doubt most would feel similarly.

Light-hearted fun, great in audio form

Anansi Boys follows a similar formula to Gaiman's American Gods: take characters from folklore and mythology (in this case, Afro-Caribbean) and put them into a modern setting. This book is more light-hearted than American Gods, though, and I found it more fun to read. If you don't get a laugh out of Gaiman's colorful conception of Anansi as a smooth-talking, fun-loving, and thoroughly incorrigible old man, or the ultra-cool, multi-talented, and equally irresponsible Spider, or the many lines of witty dialogue and description, you might not have a sense of humor. The story, which involves a shlumpy but decent-hearted office worker nicknamed Fat Charlie, who happens to be Anansi's son, making a wish that he comes to regret, and trying to rectify it with a bargain that he comes to regret even more, follows familiar folklore tropes, but it's charmingly well-excuted.

Possibly my favorite of Gaiman's books that I've read so far, but American Gods is enjoyable, too. However, I have to say that you're missing something if you merely *read* this novel -- Gaiman renders the characters with the color and storybook flair that they deserve, effortlessly switching between Caribbean, African-American, and British accents. Get it from audible (I found it on sale) or seek out the CD version.

Outstanding!

As a recent member of the audible family, I've mostly been focusing on non-fiction. The dramatic possibilities inherent in non-fiction can be, shall we say, slight. I took a chance on this one, and what a winning gamble. The story starts a bit slowly, but the performance was amazing. The narrator (Lennie X?) provided terrific voices, accents, and characterizations, which only added to an already fun and engaging story. Normally, I ration these books out on my lunch time bike ride...but I gobbled up Anansi Boys greedily. Well worth your time if you're in the mood for a fun, funny take on Aesop's fables.

Wonderful Comic Fantasy

If you're a Gaiman fan you know he writes many different styles. This is comic fantasy, in the style of "Good Omens." There is some romance, that might appeal to "Stardust" fans. Combining the African spirit stories of the animal gods with the sensibilites of a BBC sit-com, Gaiman pulls off a neat trick in making the listener laugh, cry and feel child-like wonder in this rapid-moving tale of brothers trying to reconcile after the death of their father.

The narrator is wonderful, with voices that bring the nasty villains and the banal hero to life. He puts a movie in your head, and it's a fine one.

Excellent!

Funny, without being over the top, well-written, intelligent, excellent narration.

The perfect audiobook

The reader is a gifted actor that perfectly presents this book. Neil Gaiman is an intelligent and humorous author that has inspired me to do more research on mythology and to read more stories of folklore from around the world. This book rips right along. I bought the hardback and the audio. The audio is even better than the written page as Lenny Henry makes everything pop to life.

Well worth the listening!

This story branches from American Gods, covering the story of Anansi's son. It has a different feel from American Gods, and I didn't like it quite as well - but it's still definitely worth giving a listen to. The narration is done very well, with accents that I never dreamed of when reading the book on paper, and it adds a lot to the story. No negatives here - I wholeheartedly recommend this one!

What a great voice!

I loved this book, and the narration was wonderful to listen to. Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller, and Lenny Henry brought it all to life :)

Wait for it...

A good listen for driving to and from work. Drones on a bit in the middle but the last 2 hours make it worth it.