In Which Death Is Not Allowed to Take a Holiday

[spectralbovine]

After loving American Gods, I really had no choice but to read its follow-up/sequel, Anansi Boys.

It's not necessary to read American Gods to appreciate Anansi Boys, as the only common character is Mr. Nancy (Anansi), who appears in the first chapter and promptly dies. You might infer from my wording that Anansi Boys is perhaps a more lighthearted

Comments

[spectralbovine]

It's really interesting! And Death is so not like Drosselmeyer! He's much nicer. Narrators are great.

[electricmonk]

Dealing with Dragons et al. had chapter titles like that, didn't they? I wonder where the trope comes from.

And I was just talking to someone about how I really ought to read Kavalier and Clay. Aw, books.

[spectralbovine]

Dickens?

[electricmonk]

But... he doesn't do it.

[spectralbovine]

Hm. I thought he did that thing where chapter titles were like "The boy in the iceberg - The painted lady - A blind bandit saves the day - There is much bitter work - The city of walls and secrets."

Wait, that was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

[lynevere]

It's the kind of book you want to hug to your chest when you're done with it. Which is what I did.
Awww.

Huh, I never knew that American Gods and Anansi Boys were related. I read the first third of American Gods while locked out of my hostel room in Panama, so perhaps I wasn't concentrating on the book as much as I should. Anansi Boys was a little out there for me. With Hitchhiker's Guide (I've not read any other Douglas Adams), I found the strange turns to be funny, but for Anansi Boys, they were just bizarre.

I did enjoy The Book Thief, though. My favorite parts were Rudy and the bond between Liesel and Max.

You make an interesting point about what's included in Young Adult books. I read a fair number of them (most recently Nick Hornby's Slam and Lois Lowry's The Giver), but I don't really know how they're classified. Sometimes (as with Slam), we think teens want to read about IMPORTANT TOPICS like teen pregnancy, drug use, or depression. Often, though, it seems the book is classified by the age of its protagonist and not its

[spectralbovine]

Huh, I never knew that American Gods and Anansi Boys were related.
Seriously? But...Mr. Nancy.

Often, though, it seems the book is classified by the age of its protagonist and not its reader. (Although once a book is in the YA section, I guess the age of the reader becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.)
I mean, The Lovely Bones is about a fourteen-year-old girl, and it doesn't get stuck in YA. Nothing about The Book Thief says YA to me at all. It's just as deep and creative and enriching as any adult novel.

[lynevere]

Seriously? But...Mr. Nancy.

Perhaps some justification: The copy of American Gods belonged to the hostel, so I never finished that one, and I fell asleep during Anansi Boys (audio book). Hmm, it's increasingly sounding like I had no authority to be commenting in the first place.

[spectralbovine]

I came across a kind of snooty New York Times review of the book and wanted to punch it in the face.

[shpyum]

Speaking of Death, have the read the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony? I kind of can't stand Xanth, but really loved Incarnations of Immortality, which includes a book where the main character is Death.

I thought Anansi Boys was actually darker than American Gods. *shrugs* I loved it better, though. I love Trickster beyond what is healthy for me. : )

[spectralbovine]

Darker, really? Huh.

I've never read any Piers Anthony.