Anansi Boys

by Neil Gaiman

Grade: Good

Some of it I didn't like at all. Mostly middle bits. The part with the ghost was boring. The end was great, though. I loved Spider at the end, and the part where Charlie sang.
Speaking of Spider--I thought he was cute at the end. From about when he lost his tongue onwards. Fat Charlie was nice as he wasn't a typical hero exactly. And I always like stories about gods and people with superhuman powers. It's been compared to Douglas Adams, and it certainly reminds me of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, but I liked it better, I think. The characters seem a bit more character-like, while the Adams people never go quite far enough for me to like them (for the most part).

Here are some random Spider quotes that I liked for an unkown reason. Just to clarify, I don't actually like people like Spider usually. It's just that he happens to be handsome, which I dislike, so I expected to hate him. Since I didn't hate him, I was pleasantly surprised. Any person in whom I am pleasantly surprised, I tend to like a lot.

"Spider's eyes were like puddles after the rain, and Charlie saw things in them he had not seen before: affection, perhaps, and confusion and, mostly, apology."

"Spider said nothing, but a miserable expression crept across his face, and he no longer looked like a doctor: now he looked like a man who had borrowed a white coate from behind a door and was worried that someone would notice."
(Actually, he looks like Charlie. That's why I liked this quote.)

"And then, after the kiss was done, how he stood, like a man who had just discovered the art of standing and had figured out how to do it better than anyone else who would ever come along."
(Interesting way of portraying happiness.)

"'Do you think we can make this work?' she asked.
'I think so,' said Spider soberly. 'And if I get bored with you, I'll just go away and do something else. So not to worry.'"
(I imagined him saying this perfectly seriously. No joke here whatsoever. It only works that way. Other way is not funny.)

Weird thing I didn't understand: Why didn't Rosie and Spider have any kids? Not that I minded exactly that they didn't, it's just that he seemed to emphasize it, and I don't understand the significance.