Anansi Boys

Description

THE NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, AND COMPANION NOVEL TO AMERICAN GODS. 'Neil could never have known that he was writing for a confused Jamaican kid who, without even knowing it, was still staggering from centuries of erasure of his own gods and monsters' MARLON JAMES 'A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story about the impossibility of putting up with your relations - especially if they happen to be Gods' SUSANNA CLARKE 'It's virtually impossible to read more than ten words by Neil Gaiman and not wish he would tell you the rest of the story' OBSERVER --- 'People think that funny and serious are mutually exclusives. They think they're opposites, and that's not actually true' NEIL GAIMAN --- Everything changes for Fat Charlie Nancy, the South London boy so called by his father, the day his dad drops dead while doing karaoke. Charlie didn't know his estranged father was a god - Anansi the trickster, master of mischief and social disorder. He never knew he had a brother either. Now brother Spider is on his doorstep, about to make life more interesting . . . and a lot more dangerous. It's a meeting that will take Fat Charlie from his London home to Florida, the Caribbean, and the very beginning of the world itself. Or the end of the world, depending on which way you're looking. NEIL GAIMAN. WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES. --- **Includes reading-group discussion questions and an interview with Neil Gaiman**

Neil Gaiman was born in England but now lives in Minnesota, in a big house of uncertain location where he accumulates computers and cats.

'A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story about the impossibility of putting up with your relations -- especially if they happen to be Gods. Anansi Boys combines the anarchy of Douglas Adams with a Wodehousian generosity of spirit. Guaranteed to make all but the most committed arachnophobe feel gratefully towards spiders' Susanna Clarke -- Susanna Clarke 20050601 'The author...gives us powerful deities - Anansi is as charming and dangerous as he ought to be! A thoughtful, atmospheric novel' -- The Times 20050917 'Whizzing, twirling, erupting into dazzling cartwheels, firing off showers of multi-colored sparks, chortling to itself and muttering killer-diller one-liners, ANANSI BOYS draws the reader, ever more wide-eyed and amazed, into a world both feather-light and chockablock with mortal danger. Only Neil Gaiman could have brought this fraught enchantment into being, and the ongoing, ultimately revelatory travails of Fat Charlie Nancy display Gaiman's remarkable imaginative powers at full stretch. This book is going to sail off the shelves' Peter Straub -- Peter Straub 20050601 'Neil Gaiman is one of the few genuinely intelligent writers of what is generally described as 'post-modern' fiction -- his work is thoughtful, wise, spiritually challenging and incredibly funny!From Gaiman, it's a treasure, every word. I can't imagine a better way to start a holiday' Manda Scott, Church of England Newspaper, 22 July 2005 -- Manda Scott, Church of England Newspaper 20050722 'Brilliant mingling of the mundane and the fantastic' Publishers Weekly, 18/7/05 -- Publishers Weekly 20050718 'Gaiman juggles several intersecting narratives expertly!blithely echoing numerous creation myths and folklore motifs, Terry Southern's antic farces, Evelyn Waugh's comic contes cruel, and even -- here and there -- Muriel Spark's whimsical supernaturalism!enormously entertaining throughout' Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2005 -- Kirkus Reviews 20050715 'A book it's impossible not to love' -- Starburst 20050916 'Gaiman is best-known for his Sandman series of graphic novels, but here he demonstrates an equally vivid ability to portray the mythic and the fantastic in comic prose...slapstick and verbal pyrotechnics are the primary motors of the book. The "apparent effortlessness" of this sort of writing requires planning and execution of a very high order... Neil Gaiman is a very good writer indeed, and this is a very funny bedtime story' -- Daily Telegraph 20051001 'Bizarre, bonkers!rather brilliant' -- Ian Hislop 20051001 'Exhilarating and terrifying' -- Independent 20051001 'This is the most accomplished of Gaiman's novels thus far... Anansi Boys has charm going for it and a plot that pirouettes on a dime. Urbane and sophisticated' -- Time Out 20051001 'Part soap opera, part macabre fairy tale, part supernatural horror... Gaiman's writing is as sharp as ever, full of flair and fun...his characters are huge and full-blooded... Often hilarious and just as often unsettling, Anansi Boys is a dark delight' -- SFX magazine 20051029 '[Neil Gaiman is the] literary equivalent of a sexy rock star' -- Scotland on Sunday 20051113 'A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story... Anansi Boys" combines the anarchy of Douglas Adams with a Wodehousian generosity of spirit' -- Susanna Clarke 'As imaginative fiction goes it has become clear that Gaiman has long since left any box. His credentials as a bankable novelist have grown with each title!from his epic of warring divinities, AMERICAN GODS, to ANANSI BOYS, which debuted at number 1 on the New York Times" bestseller list.' -- Time, Australia 20060530 'Mixing farce and fantasy, epic mythology and domestic drama, Gaiman's novel is a clever piece of storytelling and a celebration of the magic of make-believe.' -- Independent on Sunday 20060604