A couple of months ago, I bought Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys on sight. I thought it was probably going to be a disappointment (the preview I'd read hadn't done much for me), but it was a 3 for 2 kind of thing, so I went for it anyway. The book ended up sitting on my shelf for quite a few months, but yesterday I needed something to read, and stumbled across this one. With a recommendation like "Anansi Boys combines the anarchy of Douglas Adams with a Wodehousian generosity of spirit" [1] I figured I had to give it a chance. I ended up enjoying the read, like many others at B&R, but, like some others at B&R, I wasn't entirely convinced.
It's almost impossible to say something about Anansi Boys without at least mentioning American Gods. Both are similar in many ways, yet so very different in others. When I read American Gods my major complaint was that it seemed to be too full with references, that it was too "epic", so much so that it really started to slow me down. Now, it seems, my major complaint with Anansi Boys is that it is too light. I know that I probably only feel this way because I have American Gods in the back of my mind, but Anansi Boys still seems to be lacking weight (for want of a better word).
But, like I said, aside from a few reservations, I really enjoyed reading the book. After all, the writing was good, the plot was fine, the book hardly had any slow bits and some parts were extremely funny*. What better way to spend your extra hour, right?
* I'd never really thought of Gaiman as a "funny" writer. In fact, I didn't think he could pull it off.
It's almost impossible to say something about Anansi Boys without at least mentioning American Gods. Both are similar in many ways, yet so very different in others. When I read American Gods my major complaint was that it seemed to be too full with references, that it was too "epic", so much so that it really started to slow me down. Now, it seems, my major complaint with Anansi Boys is that it is too light. I know that I probably only feel this way because I have American Gods in the back of my mind, but Anansi Boys still seems to be lacking weight (for want of a better word).
But, like I said, aside from a few reservations, I really enjoyed reading the book. After all, the writing was good, the plot was fine, the book hardly had any slow bits and some parts were extremely funny*. What better way to spend your extra hour, right?
* I'd never really thought of Gaiman as a "funny" writer. In fact, I didn't think he could pull it off.
I reckon someone who had an Eblis O'Shaughnessy sig would like it better...
