He chooses not to explicitly identify that his globe-trotting main characters are black until at least p. I agree with many of the reviewers who praise this fun and inventive novel, but I am especially fascinated by how Gaiman represents race in Anansi Boys. 'Cuz I mean what if you died after finishing the next book on your queue? It would be an all time tragedy to have wasted hours reading Donald Miller when there is something like Anansi Boys out there. Anyone thinking of reading Blue like Jazz or Against Christianity or something by Karl Barth should definitely read this first. Critics and the things they say, huh? Well, I don't love spiders, but dang was this book good. Someone on the back suggests that the book will make you love and be grateful for spiders. There may be others that I enjoyed more but my experience of this book was such that it pushed (if even momentarily) all other books from my mind. What I am certain of beyond any shadow of doubtfulness is that Anansi Boys may be the most fun I have ever had reading a novel. I'm not sure that Anansi Boys is great literature and I'm not sure that it isn't. In fact, Anansi Boys may be the prototype from which overused adjectives should have come - before they were overused. And I'm certain they'll want to do similar things with the book.Īnansi Boys is at all times funny, adventurous, and charming. Enough that I gave my copy to someone else to read and purchased a second copy for another friend. Still, not only did I like it but I loved it. I never finished 1602 (despite guessing that I should have persevered). I never finished American Gods (though I'm told I should have persevered). I never got into Sandman (though I'm told I should have persevered). Really, Anansi Boys may be the first thing I've read from Neil Gaiman that I liked. Patrons quietly minding their own business while slogging through their Number Three Specials With Extra Tokyo Beef would be startled into wakefulness to see me - chopsticks in one hand, book in the other - as my grizzled maw broke forth with guffaws and irrepressible smiles.

Okay, so maybe it was more of a chortle, but it was definitely out loud.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman