Yikes – am I really the first to start a thread on this?
Just finished it this evening – right before heading over to a Doper Dinner, appropriately enough.
It’s about the two sons of Anansi, the twickster, er, trickster god – and written with Gaiman’s trademark wit and charm. A lot of fun – I really enjoyed it.
Has anyone else read it?
It’s on my beside table, but I haven’t started it yet!
I really liked American Gods. I was not expecting to be so totally sucked into the story.
It was a fun read. I still get a chuckle thinking about the Barrel of Monkeys.
I read it recently and LOVED it. Of course I love everything Neil Gaiman has ever written. But, overall, I thought it was much more cohesive / better than American Gods. YMMV.
Read it, loved it, will no doubt read it again. I think he hit the tone he was aiming for. It’s lovely fun and suitably spooky/scary in parts. I finished most of it while waiting for someone to arrive at an airport which seemed like a great place to be reading it.
I agree. I liked American Gods, but I loved this. Especially the ghost. And the happy ending. sniff
The humor was great – I really did LOL a few times – but it never got in the way of the story.
The best single line in the book:
That goes on the inside of my medicine cabinet, where I keep words of wisdom.
I want to read this. I’m new to Neil Gaiman…just finished reading Coraline to my fifth graders…(They loved it!) I’m hoping I can pick it up at Costco next time I go.
I enjoyed this book. Weird Question: Shouldn’t the Anansi boys be Native American or black? Anansi was certainly not a mythic figure in WASP lit. (I’m short on time so I can’t explain my thoughts in detail - sorry)
How were they described (not in your head, but by the author)?
I certainly got the impression they were gentlemen of color.
It never quite said. I thought it was implied they were black, possibly West Indian in flavor. Anybody who assumed they were white is just playing out their expectations - I noticed it specifically went without comment.
Without direct comment – I remember there was something about skin color at some point – something about Charlie and Rosie, perhaps? it’s vague in my mind – and I thought “oh, right, you {meaning, of course, me} do tend to assume protagonists are white, don’t you – but apparently not in this case.”
I actually liked that Gaiman didn’t make a big deal about it one way or the other.