Anansi Boys - Softcover

Gaiman, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0755305094 ISBN 13: 9780755305094

Publisher: Headline, 2006

Synopsis

A kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth from bestselling storytelling legend Neil Gaiman, bestselling author of American Gods and Norse Mythology. A BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Anansi Boys, featuring an all-star cast lead by Lenny Henry, premiered on Christmas Day 2017 and can be listened to worldwide on iPlayer.

'Exhilarating and terrifying' Independent

'A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story about the impossibility of putting up with your relations - especially if they happen to be Gods' Susanna Clarke

Fat Charlie Nancy is not actually fat. He was fat once but he is definitely not fat now. No, right now Fat Charlie Nancy is angry, confused and more than a little scared - right now his life is spinning out of control, and it is all his dad's fault.

If his rotter of an estranged father hadn't dropped dead at a karaoke night, Charlie would still be blissfully unaware that his dad was Anansi the spider god. He would have no idea that he has a brother called Spider, who is also a god. And there would be no chance that said brother would be trying to take over his life, flat and fiancée, or, to make matters worse, be doing a much better job of it than him.

Desperate to reclaim his life, Charlie enlists the help of four more-than-slightly eccentric old ladies and their unique brand of voodoo - and between them they unleash a bitter and twisted force to get rid of Spider. But as darkness descends and badness begins is Fat Charlie Nancy going to get his life back in one piece or is he about to enter a whole netherworld of pain?

About this title

Review:

A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story... Anansi Boys combines the anarchy of Douglas Adams with a Wodehousian generosity of spirit (Susanna Clarke)

'A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story about the impossibility of putting up with your relations - especially if they happen to be Gods. Anansi Boys combines the anarchy of Douglas Adams with a Wodehousian generosity of spirit. Guaranteed to make all but the most committed arachnophobe feel gratefully towards spiders' Susanna Clarke (Susanna Clarke)

'The author...gives us powerful deities - Anansi is as charming and dangerous as he ought to be... A thoughtful, atmospheric novel' (The Times)

'As imaginative fiction goes it has become clear that Gaiman has long since left any box. His credentials as a bankable novelist have grown with each title...from his epic of warring divinities, AMERICAN GODS, to ANANSI BOYS, which debuted at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.' (Time, Australia)

'Mixing farce and fantasy, epic mythology and domestic drama, Gaiman's novel is a clever piece of storytelling and a celebration of the magic of make-believe.' (Independent on Sunday)

'Whizzing, twirling, erupting into dazzling cartwheels, firing off showers of multi-colored sparks, chortling to itself and muttering killer-diller one-liners, ANANSI BOYS draws the reader, ever more wide-eyed and amazed, into a world both feather-light and chockablock with mortal danger. Only Neil Gaiman could have brought this fraught enchantment into being, and the ongoing, ultimately revelatory travails of Fat Charlie Nancy display Gaiman's remarkable imaginative powers at full stretch. This book is going to sail off the shelves' Peter Straub (Peter Straub)

'Neil Gaiman is one of the few genuinely intelligent writers of what is generally described as 'post-modern' fiction - his work is thoughtful, wise, spiritually challenging and incredibly funny...From Gaiman, it's a treasure, every word. I can't imagine a better way to start a holiday' Manda Scott, Church of England Newspaper, 22 July 2005 (Manda Scott, Church of England Newspaper)

'Brilliant mingling of the mundane and the fantastic' Publishers Weekly, 18/7/05 (Publishers Weekly)

'Gaiman juggles several intersecting narratives expertly...blithely echoing numerous creation myths and folklore motifs, Terry Southern's antic farces, Evelyn Waugh's comic contes cruel, and even - here and there - Muriel Spark's whimsical supernaturalism...enormously entertaining throughout' Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2005 (Kirkus Reviews)

A book it's impossible not to love (Starburst)

From the Publisher:

This includes exclusive extra material:
ANANSI BOYS deleted scene
Extracts from the Notebook in which Neil Gaiman wrote ANANSI BOYS
An Interview with Neil Gaiman about ANANSI BOYS
Reading-group Discussion Questions

About this edition

• Publisher: Headline
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0755305094
• ISBN 13: 9780755305094
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496