Anansi Boys

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Lenny Henry

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

Spider

What made the experience of listening to Anansi Boys the most enjoyable?

The narration was so much fun to listen to, I loved all the voices of the characters.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Spider had to fight Tiger after he was captured by the bird woman

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

any scene with Fat Charlie and Mrs Higgler made me laugh

Fantastic Story - Superb Narration

an absolutely wonderful story set in the same universe as American Gods. is it a sequel? a prequel? a side quest? doesn’t matter.

Loved it

Gaiman doing what he does best: A measure of humour, a measure of horror, two measures of wonder, well baked mixed and baked to perfection.

Wonderful!

Any additional comments?

This isn't the type of book I usually read but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The story revolves around "Fat Charlie " Nancy, who isn't really fat, but his nickname came from his father. Charlie is engaged to Rosie, who wants him to make peace with his father and invite him to their wedding. When Charlie contacts a former neighbor, he finds out that his father has just died, so he goes from London (where he now lives) to Florida, where he grew up and his father lived.
There are tons of side stories, but they are surprisingly easy to keep track of, amusing and all come together in the end.
I "read" this as an audio book and I loved the reader, who did a great job of the English accents, the Caribbean accents, the men and the women.
Although there are some "heavy " issues: parental relationships, male/female relationships, embezzlement , body image, etc. all is done with a light touch.
I ended up loving this book.

Not one of my favorite gaiman but still good

the story is just not that great, good yes but not great. I don't know if this is because I've never read or heard American gods. I didn't like the reader. it's not that he did anything particularly bad I just didn't like him. maybe the accent but I don't think do.

47 Listeners Agree! It's terrific!

This is one of my two favorite listens ever. (_David Copperfield_, with Frederick Davidson, is the other.)
This is also one of the few books I've found with NO negative reviews. (Although I suspect someone will now store one just to ruin this fine book's perfect record.)
The book is funny, scary, unexpected, inventive and cool. The narrator does an amazing job with Charlie's lower class accent and Spider's ultra-hip urban black American accent, as well as all the other characters' voices. He even sings well! Although many people write about "LOL"ing, I seldom either do it or write it. In this case, however, I frequently embarassed myself by laughing out loud on the bus and the street. I liked _American Gods_, but found it a little dark for my taste. I LOVED this book.

loved it!!!!

I loved it and am going to be reading more by this author. It was well told and imaginative.

Cute story with excellent narration

I enjoyed this book very much and thought Lenny Henry did a fantastic job with the narration. It kept my interest and I'd recommend it.

My First Gaiman Book

I had never delved much into this genre before but I was pleasantly surprised and extremely entertained by Anansi Boys. Narrator was excellent. This book was recommended to me by a friend. I wish I could find his reviews on this website so I could follow him.

His voice, though!

Even if the writing wasn't so colorful and hilarious, I would've finished this book in a couple days because I could not stop listening to the narrator!