ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman

I purchased this audiobook via Audible two years ago on the recommendation of some friends, and I'm not quite sure why it took me so long to read. Maybe because it's not Young Adult or Middle Grade, and so much of my reading falls in those categories? Still, the majority of my audiobooks are adult, and after listening to bits and pieces of about five other audiobooks in my library, I finally skimmed down the list until I came to this one and remembered I never listened to it.

ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman (HarperTorch, September 26, 2006)


As for the book, here are five reasons you will love ANANSI BOYS:

1) You, like me, are a mythology buff, and even though you think you mostly like Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology, you will be fascinated by the god Anansi and his trickster ways. I want to say one more thing about this. So many times when I read about less well-known mythologies, I find them vague and hard to grasp since I have not grown up with the stories. Not the case with ANANSI BOYS. The mythology is present yet so fun and perfectly easy to understand.

2) You don't always like to predict the endings of books after the first fifty pages. Seriously, I loved the ending of this book. Yes, it was happy and so many strings were tied neatly. Just not in ways would have thought.

3) You like when even minor characters who are introduced have some important role in the story.

4) I'm telling you this book is seriously worth checking out. The humor is laugh-out-loud funny, the plotting is clever, and you're looking for something a bit different to read.

5) You think Neil Gaiman is brilliant.

As for the audiobook rating, this one kept my interest completely. I mentioned I'd listened to bits and pieces of maybe five other books from my library, and seeing as how I now have something like 500 titles in my audiobook library, I can be choosy in what I settle upon reading. ANANSI BOYS started out strong, with a great narrator, and entertained me throughout.

Overall, highly recommended for fans of Neil Gaiman, fans of mythology, and fans of fantasy. Since it is technically an adult book, I'd say high school and up.

Source of book: Purchased


From Amazon:

Fat Charlie Nancy's normal life ended the moment his father dropped dead on a Florida karaoke stage. Charlie didn't know his dad was a god. And he never knew he had a brother.

Now brother Spider's on his doorstep—about to make Fat Charlie's life more interesting . . . and a lot more dangerous.