Anansi Boys

 This was my first Neil Gaiman book, and I had no idea what it was about. So, like I’ve been doing for many of the readings for this class, I went in blind. I was surprised by how much I actually liked this book. It was definitively not something that I would have picked out for myself, given the option at a bookstore. Yet, I got so immersed in the book and read through it in almost a day. I was not familiar with the myth of the god Anansi, and even took to doing some research on him online while I read; but even if I hadn’t done that, the book did a splendid job of explaining to the reader who the god was and what he did, all while still making it interesting and relevant to the story being unfolded.

The way the book employs magical realism kind of reminds me of “A Wild Sheep Chase” in the sense that it treats the fantastical elements in a way that they are not questioned too harshly; they are simply accepted by the characters and the reader after a while. The story had a perfect mix of fantasy elements entangling with the common human world, even though the line between them was so thin. There were many layers to this world and how it was built.

Even now, I’m still sitting here scratching my head, trying to put it into words. What was it about this book that I liked and was entranced by so much? What I know for sure is that one of the things I enjoyed a lot was the book’s tone. The way it was told was very matter-of-fact and almost humorous. Some of the moments in the book (such as Fat Charlie crashing the wrong ceremony at the cemetery) were downright hysterical. I had a lot of fun while reading it, and it did a nice job of having everything come together in an exciting climax and satisfying conclusion. I might pick up a few more of Gaiman’s work later in the future.