Book Review: Anansi Boys - Page 2

When Charlie learns of his father's death back home in Florida, he can't exactly say he's surprised - which isn't to he's not embarrassed by the manner of the old man's passing (it involves falling off a stage while singing karaoke and accidentally grabbing a young woman's halter top on the way down). He travels home to attend the funeral (managing, accidentally, to crash a stranger's) and spends a bit of time with Mrs. Higgler, one of the old neighbors from his youth. It is Mrs. Higgler who tells Charlie, quite matter-of-factly, that his father was a god - and not just any god, but Anansi, the trickster god. And she lets him know that he has a brother he didn't realize existed; if he ever wants to meet his brother, she says, just tell a spider.

With a deft touch and humorous prose, Gaiman transcends the pitfalls that occasionally accompany contemporary fantasy; he is always in control, guiding the story exactly where it needs to go and offering readers a wonderful glimpse of the contrast between life and death, humor and pathos, and the idea that its less whether life is one big accidental joke than that whatever it is, it ought to be enjoyed. Borrowing from both the African legends of Anansi as well as from the trickster motif found in the myths of many cultures, Gaiman offers us the playful, often self-absorbed Spider who irritated, annoyed, and offended the other animals at the dawn of creation, while simultaneously preventing the full imposition of the cruelty of Tiger's vision upon the world. "In the old stories, Anansi lives just like you do or I do, in his house. He is greedy, of course, and lustful, and tricky, and full of lies. And he is good-hearted, and lucky, and sometimes even honest. Sometimes he is good, sometimes he is bad. He is never evil. Mostly, you are on Anansi's side. This is because Anansi owns all the stories." Except that Tiger thinks Anansi stole the stories, and he wants them back.

When Fat Charlie does, in fact, take Mrs. Higgler up on her suggestion, it's mostly done on a whim. Nonetheless, his brother - named Spider - soon shows up on his doorstep, leaking a cockeyed form of magic into Charlie's mundane, humdrum world. Spider is something akin to the Pied Piper; when he tells Charlie they need to mourn their father with song, wine, and women, well, that's what they do - even if it is against Charlie's better judgment. When Spider decides he rather likes Charlie's fiancée, all of a sudden Charlie's feet can't find his home - and neither can a poor taxi driver caught in Spider's web. Yes, that's right: less than a week after he learns he has a brother, that brother has managed to get Charlie fired from his job (not to mention framed for a crime he didn't commit), steals his fiancée, and generally made a mess of his life (not to mention moving a palace into the spare bedroom in Charlie's apartment).

Article Author: W.E. Wallo

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

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