Anansi Boys
Subtitle: A novel
By: Neil Gaiman
Edition: First Edition (1)
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780060515188
Copyright date: 2005
Subjects: Anansi (Legendary character) -- Fiction.; Fathers and sons -- Fiction.; Brothers -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
First sentence: It begins, as most things begin, with a song.
Description: God is dead. Meet the kids.

When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life.

Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun ... just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.

Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.

Returning to the territory he so brilliantly explored in his masterful New York Times bestseller, American Gods, the incomparable Neil Gaiman offers up a work of dazzling ingenuity, a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying, exhilarating, and fiercely funny — a true wonder of a novel that confirms Stephen King's glowing assessment of the author as "a treasure-house of story, and we are lucky to have him."
--front flap
Notes: US/CAN
Table of contents: title: Which is mostly about names and family relationships; title: Which is mostly about the things that happen after funerals; title: In which there is a family reunion; title: Which concludes with an evening of wine, women and song; title: In which we examine the many consequences of the morning after; title: In which Fat Charlie fails to get home, even by taxi; title: In which Fat Charlie goes a long way; title: In which a pot of coffee comes in particularly useful; title: In which Fat Charlie answers the door and Spider encounters flamingos; title: In which Fat Charlie sees the world and Maeve Livingstone is dissatisfied; title: In which Rosie learns to say no to strangers and Fat Charlie acquires a lime; title: In which Fat Charlie does several things for the first time; title: Which proves to be unlucky for some; title: Which comes to several conclusions; title: Acknowledgments