Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

[f4f3]

Thankfully my flight got cancelled on Thursday, and I got to spend six hours in Dublin Airport.

Thankfully, because I'd picked up Anansi Boys the day before, and got to read it while I was waiting, Gaiman name-checks PG Wodehouse and Tex Avery in his forward, and there are traces of their influence, but I also caught welcome echoes of Terry Pratchett and Roger Zelazny.

No time to do an in-depth review just now, but enough to say that this was a pleasant, light read, with occasional diversions into a kind of comedy-horror that seems to be Gaimans own.

It's unusual, too, in seeming to be colour blind - the narrator is of African descent, and the myths, gods and witches come via the Caribean, but no big thing is made of this - it just seems assumed that this culture is part of the human culture, and needs no special explanation.

Good fun, you'll come away refreshed, and not overly challenged.

Comments

[morgaine-x.livejournal.com]

I have rarely heard anyone thank a cancelled flight & 6 hours at an airport as a result - although Dublin would indeed be a better one to be stuck in than many others. I can definitely NOT recommend Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I have Anansi Boys on its way to me, so thank you for no spoilers!

[pshtaku.livejournal.com]

Airport delays are only fun when you don't have to be anywhere soon, and you have either good company, a really good book, or cheap wireless access for your laptop! I think a good book is the best thing to go for - as very few airport delays last longer than the time it takes to read a good book! (And there would only be so many posts that we could suffer regarding "Things to do in Dublin Airport when you're bored" - although, to that end, is the East European chappy who polishes your shoes still there??)

Also Dublin Airport = Baileys Truffles yumyumyum

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Oh, i hatses spoilers...

What was funny about Dublin was that the bar was mobbed at 6.30 a.m. and empty by 9.00...

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Yup, I got my shoes polished - and when he asked if I wanted to spend an extra two Euros for the "military shine" I wasn't brave enough to say no!