Anansi Boys (6 pts): British Humor at its Finest

     Believe it or not, this was my first foray into the writings of Neil Gaiman. Most of my knowledge about his works came from trivia about Coraline and occasionally seeing his name in big letters on books in my elementary school. I was always under the impression that Mr. Gaiman wrote very serious novels, along with horror, on occasion. However, I was genuinely surprised while reading Anansi Boys.

    This book is really, really freaking funny.

    I never really thought Gaiman could be a funny guy. Like, some of his works are super dark! But I think the humor really comes from the situations the characters are put in, or just in the way that he writes. It reminded me of Simon Pegg movies like Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, with very blunt, dry humor that can only be found in British works. It's not for everyone, but I love it.

    There were a couple of gags and scenes that stood out to me. One of them was the preparation of sending Charlie to the beginning of time. There's just something about the idea of a bunch of old women prepping a ritual to send someone OUT OF THIS DIMENSION using cute penguin candles and mixed herbs (which, mind you, they're not supposed to be using, but they're old ladies who make do). It's the absurdity of the situation and the casual items they use to get the ritual going, as well as the dialogue that gets me laughing at this scene. Especially Mrs. Dunwiddy's line of "Glad somebody is payin' attention," (Page 75).

    Then of course there's my favorite running gag in the latter part of the book, which is the lime gag. I don't know why this got to me the way that it did, but just seeing all the people on Saint Andrews refer to Charlie as "the guy with the lime" is just hilarious. AND the fact that they keep asking to see it is even better! The thing was literally picked on their island! If there was some sort of metaphorical significance to that green citrus, I could not pick up on it due to me cackling over the whole thing. Every time someone asks him about the lime, the delivery is so dry and to the point, much like a lot of British humor. I love it.

    So thank you, Neil Gaiman, for tickling my funny bone with a tale about the sons of an African Spider god. Who would've guessed that you had it in ya?

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