First Published: 2005

Rating: Great

"It begins, as most things begin, with a song."

If you've read Neil Gaiman's American Gods, you can deduce from the title of Anansi Boys, as I did, that it's going to involve spiders somehow; if you know me, you know that, given this tidbit of information, I had to really like Gaiman's previous work to go anywhere near this novel.

But I do like Gaiman's style, so I sucked it up and made my way through Anansi Boys. Spiders aside, it was rather enjoyable, if not quite so much as American Gods.

The core plot revolves around Fat Charlie, a London clerk who, upon his father's death, discovers that the old man was the spider-god Anansi. As if that wasn't enough, the decidedly unlucky Fat Charlie is also told he has a brother named Spider who inherited all the skills that go with being a deity. The two meet after Charlie, exercising what is perhaps not the best judgment, tells a spider that he'd like to meet his brother. Spider proceeds to enter Charlie's life and ruin it, as spiders are wont to do.

There are, naturally, other plots intertwined--Charlie's impending marriage to do-gooder Rosie Noah and the business ethics of his boss Graham Coates, to start--and it's great fun to try to figure out how all the side plots tie back into the main story. That said, the ending isn't that surprising, but it's satisfying to watch everything fall into place, thanks to Gaiman's witty style and his--well--god-like ability to make you believe the unbelievable simply by saying that things are the way they should be.

Like American Gods, Anansi Boys relies heavily on mythology and the stories of the gods, but it doesn't have the same sort of charm here that it did in the previous book, simply because there are fewer gods involved and therefore less fun to be had in guessing identities. The mythology aspect also contributes to the story's pacing problem, since Gaiman throws in a few pages worth on Anansi stories here and there. There aren't as many deviations in this story as in Gaiman's previous novel, but they are there and they throw off the pacing by drawing out the rising action more than is necessary.

The book's midsection is spent in important character and plot development, however, and while the story may get slow it never ceases to be entertaining. Gaiman's matter-of-fact British humor is delightful and his characters are somehow realistic in their actions even when they're doing odd things. Among other amusing bits, the running joke about the lime is much funnier than it has a right to be.

Since Gaiman ultimately couldn't have pulled this one off without the spiders, I'll forgive him that little sin, just this once. Witty and compelling even in its slower moments, Anansi Boys is a great read that will definitely make you laugh, possibly make you cry, and certainly make you want to acquire a lime.

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