Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
"If you need to see him, tell a spider."
Mr Nancy is dead, and in the act of death has managed to embarrass his son Fat Charlie just one more time. Travelling back to America for the wake, he learns of a brother he didn't know he had, and when he turns up, it's Fat Charlie's life that turns upside down. To make him leave again, he strikes a bargain with the Bird woman in return for the Anansi bloodline, and that, of course, is when things really start to go wrong.
It's in the same vein as American Gods, although not a direct follow-on: the old gods, the animal gods, walking as men, and affecting the world, and the stories that make the world. It's got humour, horror, romance, crime and a goodly dollop of magic and myth. Recommended - even if you don't like spiders.
It also comes with 'extras' - including a deleted scene, scans of the notebook he wrote it in, and reading group discussion questions. And I especially liked the chapter headings - "In which Fat Charlie does several things for the first time" and so on.
posted by Izzy @ 6:20 pm
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