Anansi Boys Post 1

Fat Charlie Nancy's normal life ended the moment his father dropped dead on a Florida karaoke stage. Charlie didn't know his dad was a god. And he never knew he had a brother.
Now brother Spider's on his doorstep -- about to make Fat Charlie's life more interesting... and a lot more dangerous.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

So in the first four chapter we meet Charles Nancy (aka Fat Charlie). He lives in England, is about to get married to Rosie, and is severely embarrassed by his father even though they are separated by an ocean. The question of whether or not to invite his father to the wedding become moot when his father suddenly dies.

Does it make me a horrible person that I laughed out loud when FC started given a eulogy when he showed up late for the funeral...the wrong funeral? Yeah? I think I may go to hell for that. But the little boy's line made me laugh.  After the funeral, FC goes to his old neighbor's house and together the two of them decided to start cleaning out FC's dad's house.  That's when things begin to get a bit cray-cray.

The neighbor, Mrs. Higgler, the coffee addict, tells FC that not only does he have a brother but that his dad was the god Anansi. (If my memories of the children's show Wishbone are accurate, Anansi is a mischievous African spider god). There's some weird info about FC's brother and a window reflection or something that I didn't quite understand and then Mrs. Higgler says that if FC ever needs his brother all he has to do is ask a spider to send him. What the what?

Because alcohol does amusing things to people that's what happens and the brother (named Spider) shows up at FC's. It's all kind of awesome until he walks into photos and takes FC on a weird bonding adventure made entirely of debauchery and bad judgement.

That's pretty much where things left off. Poor FC. Nothing goes right for him. His dad is dead, the neighbor is crazy, his brother goes all Voldemort with spiders, his boss is a jerk and his fiancee is too prudish for his tastes.

I really like FC and hope that he catches a break soon. I don't think that Rosie (and her nightmare of a mother) are very suited for FC. I am glad that FC has some family but I'm still not sure how I feel about Spider. He's quite the attention whore. I'm looking forward to see what god like powers the brothers have and whether or not things improve for FC.