Itsy Bitsy Spider

 Anansi Boys (6 Points)

Well, I'd certainly say the Gaiman has woven quite a story here, and like many other works of his that I've encountered; these stories always defy the norms of typical fantasy genre by creating a harmonious and often humorous balance between the aspects of the real world as well as the fantastical. I think a lot of the ways that Gaiman seems to deviate from the standards of fantasy is that the real world remains very present and tangible throughout the story, and even characters, places, or objects that are imbued with magical influence or knowledge still have a very tangible feeling to them. I also enjoy that Gaiman doesn't waste time explaining too much of the magic or writing the main characters actual feelings or thoughts, but instead lets their actions throughout his writing speak for itself, and even conversations the characters are brief and succinct. When the fantastical elements are presented by Gaiman, the characters in the world and the audience are genuine hassled into the believing its true. Not because there is no time or because it's posed as a trick, but because that the magic just exists, and the characters like Spider who wield these powers just exist and use them as easy as breathing. What an extraordinary thing, to convince an audience of the possibility and reality of magic within a story just with one character's nonchalant confirmation that they can achieve seemingly impossible things. In a small way, I also find myself charmed to think that Gaiman feels like the character of Spider, who can make anyone believe anything simply by said it is so, and that is exactly how he writes his books.

One more note I'd like to touch on in terms of genre is that this novel does very well in doing everything it can to make the story feel like a slice-of-life drama rather than a fantastical story for a majority of the book. Although the story readily provided reality bending magical concepts, the normal world is still so present that I feel like Gaiman's type of magic really could be occurring in my day to day life and I may just be too oblivious or busy to notice. Gaiman makes the world tactile, so that these stories serve not as an escape into a magical, but as a off-handed statement that magic is real as if he were stating to us that the sky is blue. No one questions the magic, even Charlie who has his life seemingly turned upside-down with the shattering realization that his father was a god and his brother and he are magically imbued in some way or form. He never states how he is feeling or why, and never feels the need to explain it to use because he acts instead to try to rid his brother from his life, or wail outside his apartment window when he finds his fiancé has been seduced by his brother who has been pretending to be him.

All in all, while it wasn't my favorite reading so far, I wholeheartedly love the wit and fun that Gaiman imbedded into the work and found the lore of Anansi to be very entertaining and unique!