Neil Gaiman is one of my very favorite authors. His imaginative worlds and beautiful way with language make his books some of my very favorites to read. In preparation for the series American Gods, I decided to revisit both the book that series is based on and it's companion, Anansi Boys. This
time, though, I did the audiobooks, and I am really glad I did. My review of the writing is below, but I want to start with a shout out to the narrator of the audiobook, Lenny Henry. He pulled off British, American, and Carribean accents, as well as voicing several gods. I was completely sucked in by his narration.

Anansi is a mythical character from African folklore, a trickster god who bedevils man and god alike. Anansi stories have been popular for ages; I remember teaching an Anansi picture book when I was still a classroom teacher. In Anansi Boys, Gaiman takes the god out of legend and places him in retirement in Florida. When he dies, his son, tragically nicknamed Fat Charlie, travels from his home in England to his father's funeral. While there, he discovers he had a brother that no one ever told him about. His father's elderly neighbor tells him to whisper to a spider if he wants to meet his brother, and feeling rather foolish he does just that. When his brother, named Spider, shows up, Fat Charlie's life takes a decidedly frightening and crazy turn.

Anansi Boys has lots of the dry wit that I love about Gaiman's adult fiction, and while much of the action is humorous or downright absurd, he also provides some truly chilling scenes. Poor, hapless Fat Charlie is the perfect straight man to his brother's shenanigans and the eccentric ladies who try to help him solve the problems his brother creates in his life. Compared to American Gods, which ends up being very dark and full of violent imagery, Anansi Boys is almost whimsical, though it is not without it's tense, terrifying moments. The Anansi of this book has some recognizable elements from the Anansi in American Gods-his trademark hat, his smooth talk, his playful nature-but is much better developed, even though he is really only present for a small portion of the book.

I remember wondering when I read Anansi Boys for the first time if Gaiman planned to make his Old Gods stories into a book series. There were so many gods mentioned in American Gods that could be explored-Mr. Wednesday, Easter, the Russian sisters and Czernobog, Bilquis, Ibis and Jackel. So far there is no sign that is a thing that will happen, but hope springs eternal! Humans have created so many gods over the millennia that an author would surely never run out of source material. So Mr. Gaiman, if you're reading this, this fan would totally be down with a few more adventures in the world of the Old Gods.

The Night Tourist, or Why Greek Myths are Timeless

In the myth of Orpheus, the hero loses the woman he loves to death, and braves the dangers of the Underworld to try and bring her back.  In The Night Tourist, by Katherine Marsh, our here, 14-year-old Jack, is unwittingly drawn into the same fruitless pursuit.  Jack-intensely intelligent and intensely lonely-is struck by a car.  Surprisingly unhurt, his rather distant father nonetheless sends him from their home in New Haven to New York to see the mysterious Dr. Lyons.  On his way back home, Jack meets a girl who appears to be his age, Euri.  He follows her into the bowels of Grand Central Station, and from there into a journey through the New York Underworld, in search of the mother he lost as a young boy.

This short little book about a motherless boy searching for love and connection in a cold and lonely world is enchanting.  Though meant for young adults, this novel is engaging enough that adult readers can find meaning and enjoyment from its pages. The Underworld as imagined by Marsh is both alluring and frightening, where the dead are treated with benign neglect while they try to work out whatever troubles are keeping them from "going over" to the Elysian Fields.  As long as they stay underground during the day and don't try to communicate with the living, they are allowed to roam the skies above New York, haunting their loved ones and hanging out in pubs listening to a literal Dead Poets' Society read from their immortal works.  Try to go out in the daylight or get back to the world of the living, however, and the ominous guards, led by the corrupt Clubber and his dog Cerberus, will come looking for you.  In a way Jack is searching as much for a way to move on as any of the dead surrounding him in the Underworld.  As he discovers the answers to his mother's death-and life-and death, he comes to realize that the way can only be forward.  Looking back only causes tragedy-both literally and figuratively-for him and his new friend.

To be sure, there are holes in the internal mythology of the story that are never fully explained-like why Jack is able to get to the Underworld in the first place, or how it is that he can do things that only the dead are supposed to be able to do despite the fact that he is still alive. That said, I still found the story engaging.  What the story lacks in depth it more than makes up for in imagery.  As a first novel, I think it is a great attempt, and I look forward to more from this author in the future.