Anansi Boys

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Anansi Boys (original title: Anansi Boys ) is a novel by Neil Gaiman from 2005. It can be read as a sequel to American Gods and combines elements of fantasy with religious aspects of mythology and American folklore . The German translation comes from Karsten Singelmann and was first published in 2007 by Heyne Verlag .

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Like most of Neil Gaiman's stories, Anansi Boys tells of the power of stories: not that of the story, which is well known, but that of the stories that ultimately make up history. And of course the power of whoever tells the stories. In this case it is Anansi , a formidable African spider god , who in the distant past, through cunning and skill, snatched the power of storytelling from the paws of the cruel tiger. Since then, the stories have been humorous, witty, full of cunning and cunning, but ultimately only slightly less cruel.

Another important role in Anansi Boys is the issue of being ashamed of others, i.e. the question of how people perceive themselves and others, and how far self-expression can go without being embarrassing or indecent.

Last but not least, archaic gods and various genesis myths have a not inconsiderable part in this novel.

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Charles "Fat Charlie" Nancy, a native American, has lived in England for a long time. He's been an accountant at Grahame Coats' investment advisory firm for almost two years, preparing to marry his fiancée Rosie Noah. She urges him to get back in touch with his father in Florida . Since his father always put him in embarrassing situations, there has been no contact for years. During a phone call with Miss Higgler, an old friend of the family, he learns that his father has died and that the funeral is about to take place. Fat Charlie flies to Florida, mixes up the funeral there, then has to dig up the grave himself and comes to Miss Higgler's funeral feast. She tries to explain to him that his father was the African spider god Anansi and that he has a brother. He can contact him through any spider. Charlie tries to be polite but doesn't believe a word she says.

In England everything goes as usual until Fat Charlie, slightly drunk, informs a spider that his brother can stop by. The next morning a man stands in front of his door who introduces himself as his brother "Spider". When he learns that her father is dead, Spider wants to check it out and disappears into one of the photos that Fat Charlie brought back from Florida.

The next day, after work, Spider intercepts him, waiting in front of the agency. He is very serious for his circumstances, almost depressed and insists that they both have to deal with the grief for their father together and traditionally - with wine, women and song. What follows goes beyond all known standards for Fat Charlie. First, they drink a very, very unusual Greek wine in a tavern. Then Spider forks an entire female birthday party in front of a pub, with which they finally sink into a karaoke bar . His singing rehearsal in front of an audience goes completely wrong and after a film tear, Fat Charlie wakes up in his bed in the morning, next to a naked, short lady named Daisy. Fat Charlie's cat is about 45 meters tall, but worse, it's 11:30 and Daisy happily informs him that his brother has gone to the office instead of him. As if that weren't enough, his future mother-in-law turns up unexpectedly to discuss the terms of the wedding dinner with him.

The following eventful days in rapid succession: Spider, perfectly embodied his brother, discovered, skilled in networking by birth, the extensive scams of Grahame Coats and with eloquent hints prevents Fat Charlie's dismissal. Fat Charlie then lets Graham Coats send him on a four-week vacation with a £ 2,000 bonus. When he leaves, however, he reveals his password for the company network to the boss. Spider meets Rosie and is totally in love for the first time in his life. He seduces her into Fat Charlie's bedroom, while she is kept away from his own apartment by means of an Anansi miracle. Grahame Coats manipulates all suspicious documents in such a way that everything points to Fat Charlie as the perpetrator. Then he calls the police. The detective assigned to investigate the case is that Daisy, who is known to both Fat Charlie and the reader from a certain morning scene. Fat Charlie has no clue what his boss and the policewoman are getting at. Because of the incident with Rosie, he has Spider out of his apartment, which Spider callously ignores.

Fat Charlie is desperate and flies to Florida again. Miss Higgler, Mrs. Dunwiddy, Mrs. Bustamonte and Mrs. Noles, four very old family friends and a kind of witches' coven, are already waiting for him. They cannot drive away Spider themselves, but send Fat Charlie to the region of the archaic animal gods using an obscure ritual . Here he should seek help. In a barren valley at the beginning of the world, Fat Charlie meets all kinds of animal gods, but they all fear Anansi . Tiger, too, turns out to be more of a mouthful and pinches his tail. Only the obviously crazy bird woman shows herself willing. She'll drive Spider off, but she'll demand the entire Anansi bloodline from Fat Charlie . In exchange, she gives him one of her tail feathers .

Meanwhile, Grahame Coats kills his old customer Maeve Livingstone with a hammer . She found out about him and threatened the police. He hides the body in a secret room in his office. He then breaks down his tents in London and begins his well-prepared retirement on the Caribbean island of St. Andrews .

Meanwhile, Spider is attacked several times by angry flocks of birds. He confesses to Rosie the truth that he is not Fat Charlie , which earns him a slap in the face from his beloved and her final goodbye.

After Fat Charlie's return from America, Daisy is arrested. Spider visits him in his cell and apologizes for his selfish behavior. In return, Fat Charlie admits that he put the bird woman on Spider . Under Fat Charlie's eyes, Spider is dragged away by a kind of bird tornado and brought to the bird woman. After tearing his tongue out of her mouth, she delivers Spider to Tiger, as ordered, who still has a number of bills to settle with the Anansis.

Daisy leaves Fat Charlie free. Again he flies to Florida. this time in search of the feather he received from the bird woman. From Mrs. Dunwiddy he learns that the pen is in the possession of Miss Higgler , who in turn has returned to her home country - the island of St. Andrew . So Fat Charlie is on his way there.

As a consolation because of the broken engagement, Rosie has been invited by her mother on a cruise, which, in the long run, turns out to be a pretty bad idea. When going ashore on, no one is surprised, the Caribbean island of St. Andrews , you happen to meet Grahame Coats . He invites her to his villa and then locks them both in his meat cellar. The murder of Maeve Livingstone aroused his bloodlust. Now he intends to combine the good with the useful - eliminate witnesses and satisfy this urge.

Meanwhile, Fat Charlie wanders across the island in search of Mrs. Higgler . He rings the doorbell at every door and asks questions, regularly encountering, in a friendly way, ignorance. Only the gates of a villa in the north do not open, but the video camera shows the owner Grahame Coats who is ringing the bell and finally arouses his paranoia.

How the ghost of Maeve Livingstone and the incarnate Daisy come to the island is undescribed here. The fact is that both arrive there, bringing all the relevant protagonists together for a classic showdown . It takes place in Grahame Coats Villa. Previously, engaged Fat Charlie with Daisy and sings for the first time in public. Mrs. Higgler gives him back the pen and she takes him to the world of the gods, where he has one last encounter with his father. After some explanations, Anansi gives him his green felt hat and says goodbye until further notice.

Meanwhile, Grahame Coats becomes a loa for Tiger and tries to tear Rosie apart. Your mother and Maeve Livingstone's spirit know how to prevent this. Daisy and the island police arrive and find a hysterical Rosie , a badly injured elderly lady, and the bloodied, comatose Grahame Coats . Maeve Livingstone feels released and follows her beloved Morris into the ultimate afterlife. Rosie marries Spider and continues to live on the island with him and her mother. Spider becomes a gifted cook in his own noble restaurant. Fat Charlie marries Daisy and has a son named Marcus with her . He makes his living as a pretty famous singer. Anansi is sleeping comfortably in his grave in Florida .

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