Anansi Boys Responses | kyleindingaro

Set of Reader Responses on Anansi Boys

Anansi Boys (Ch. 1&2)

After reading the first two chapters of “Anansi Boys”, I can’t help but picture Fat Charlie’s dad as Jimmy Buffet. An energy-filled old man who loves the Florida life and all the girls that come with it. I certainly got the clue that Fat Charlie didn’t like his dad growing up and I can’t blame him. I mean, if my dad called me “Fat Kyle” there would probably be some hostility between us. A partying man like Fat Charlie’s dad experiences the ideal death when he croaks on stage during a karaoke session surrounded by beautiful women. A charming man to many, Fat Charlie never saw that charm. Moving away seemed to be the best decision of his life. While in Europe, I believe the author was trying to foreshadow when Fat Charlie witnesses a shadowy image of a man in the distance and makes eye contact with this man. Learning later in the book that Fat Charlie has a brother, I’m assuming this figure was in fact his brother. At the end of chapter two, Mrs. Higgler claims Fat Charlie’s dad is a “god” named Anansi. I’m starting to understand the title. Two brothers and a father with god-like features named “Anansi.” Makes sense to me. In the story told by Mrs. Higgler, Anansi makes a fool out of Tiger to get what he wants in life. Reading this, I compare Fat Charlie to Tiger. Fat Charlie’s dad (Anansi) has always made fun of Fat Charlie along with humiliating him (like the President’s day story). Similar to Fat Charlie, Tiger also experiences the same same situations with (apparently) the same man behind the actions. Moving forward, I’m sure we will learn more about the life of Fat Charlie’s dad along with his brother who we have yet to meet.

Anansi Boys (Ch. 3-7)

After reading the next four chapters, I was introduced to Fat Charlie’s older brother, Spider who, although resembles Fat Charlie, would certainly be considered the better looking of the two. While enjoying a night on the town, Spider is able to charm women and form a group that would follow him the entire night, leaving Fat Charlie as the outcast. One girl in the group actually did not even know Fat Charlie was Spider’s brother, instead thought of him as Spider’s bodyguard. Fat Charlie saw Spider as a better version of himself. A confident and outgoing version of himself. Spider seemed to contain a “James Bond-like” personality. Spider (to me) resembles Fat Charlie’s dad with his outgoing personality and way with women. While Charlie at first enjoyed seeing his brother for the first time, it seems that Spider has overstayed his welcome. While Fat Charlie was out with his brother, he became too hungover the following morning to go to work. This led Spider to take over Fat Charlie’s job for the day impersonating his brother. While taking over, Spider (unknowingly) seemed to lead Fat Charlie into a few undesired situations. One being that Spider kissed Rosie while on a walk and seemed to sweep Rosie off her feet, giving Rosie a reason to move on with her wedding with Fat Charlie. She could not seem to tell the difference between Fat Charlie and Spider which confused me while reading. The second issue that seemed to arise from the situation was Spider’s interaction with Grahame Coats. He accuses Mr. Coats of fraud within the company and seems to scare Mr. Coats away from firing Fat Charlie. Although it seemed like a positive swing for Fat Charlie at the time (who “earned” a paid, 2 week vacation), Mr. Coats is now trying to set up Fat Charlie for the scandal within the company. With his brother in town, Fat Charlie is left with numerous concerns about his work-life and love-life. Both of which could be destroyed by a brother he just met within the last week. With his brother refusing to leave, Fat Charlie is now forced to ask Mrs. Higgler to assist in his situation. She seems to be the only one who knows Spider well enough to help Fat Charlie.

Ananasi Boys (Ch.7-9)

Chapter 7 through 9 in Anansi Boys delivered a real fictional turn to the story. Until this point I felt like this was a realistic fiction story. I figured the story behind Anansi The Spider was a myth, however I found out this wasn’t the case. Fat Charlie looks to get rid of Spider by seeking help from Mrs. Higgler.Fat Charlie is tired of Spider taking over his life. Spider has continued to pursue Rosie which is driving Fat Charlie crazy. Mrs. Higgler proceeds to have a ritual with Fat Charlie that brings him into another dimension of mystical creatures, or “gods”. Fat Charlie looks around this new dimension (that seems to be a dream) for a creature that is willing to assist him in making Spider go away. After numerous denials from various types of creatures, one bird, woman “thing” accepted to help in getting rid of Spider. Once Fat Charlie woke up from his apparent dream, he quickly saw his luck turn and Spider began to see signs of this bird in his life. The bird creature is trying to run Spider out of Fat Charlie’s life. We can see that Spider is scared of birds when he explains his fear to Rosie. While this going on, we also see that Mr. Coats has become a murderer after he kills a client who discovered his faults. After the murder, Mr. Coats flees from the country. We also see that Spider explains to Rosie that he isn’t really Fat Charlie and she doesn’t take this well at all. She leaves not only Spider but Fat Charlie. Fat Charlie isn’t able to explain himself to Rosie because he is being arrested. Now Fat Charlie must fix his life while being behind bars.

Anansi Boys (Ch.9-10)

While Fat Charlie is helpless behind bars, Maeve Livingston quickly realizes she has died from the brutal attack delivered by Grahame Coats. Maeve initially realizes her death when her past husband, Morris, calls her on her cell phone and gives her the news. Astonishingly, Maeve does not overreact to the situation. She examines the office building and tries to understand her purpose after death. During this, Spider has broken Fat Charlie out of prison to get an understanding behind the recent bird outbreak. Everywhere Fat Charlie and Spider go, a large flock of birds surrounds them and expresses their desire to attack. Spider is able to avoid the birds by “transporting” himself and Fat Charlie to various locations such as the desert and Antarctica. Places in which Spider believes there to be no birds, however, ends up incorrect about his initial assumption. Finally, the brothers find themselves in a dark mine (possibly in Poland) where Spider apologizes for his recent actions. During their confrontation, Fat Charlie expresses his past journey to the “Bird Woman.” Spider has no knowledge of the Bird Woman and soon realizes she’s not only after him, but Fat Charlie as well. After sending Fat Charlie back to the prison for safety, Spider contemplates as to what he will do next. Once Fat Charlie returns to the prison, he is interrogated by Daisy who relieves him of his prisoner status. Still without a sign of Maeve Livingston’s dead body, Fat Charlie accompanies Daisy to a secret room in Grahame Coats’ office where the body is eventually discovered. As a free man with nothing in life, Fat Charlie decides to ask Daisy out to lunch, which to me, sounded like a date. I certainly sensed that Fat Charlie had a desire for Daisy when he asked her to lunch. After the lunch “date” with Daisy, Charlie is once again confronted by Spider. Spider needs Fat Charlie to head back to Florida where he can hopefully acquire the feather he received from the Bird Woman. With the feather, Spider hopes he can make their problems with the birds disappear. Just before the chapter ends, Fat Charlie witnesses Spider mauled by thousands of birds and disappear. Fat Charlie runs out to the location of the attack and confronts the Bird Woman who expresses her desire for Anansi’s bloodline. Now Fat Charlie must find Mrs. Dunwiddy in Florida and hopefully find the feather in the process.

Anansi Boys (Ch.11-12)

Chapters 11 & 12 really begin to bring the entire book together. We start to see various characters and their stories all lead to the stories of others. In these chapters, the main characters including Rosie and her mother, Grahme Coats , Fat Charlie and Daisy all go to the island of St. Andrews for different reasons. Grahme is still on the run from the police, Rosie and her mother are on their cruise vacation, Daisy is following a hunch on Grahme Coats, and Charlie is looking for Mrs. Higgler who can supply the feather that will hopefully save Spider. While in St. Andrews, Rosie and her mother run-into Grahme Coats at a local coffee shop and follow him back to his beautiful estate as they were invited. Soon after arriving, Mr. Coats locks Rosie and her mother in a meat cellar to stop them from leaving the island and possibly telling authorities of his location. While staying at the Dolphin Hotel, Charlie embarks on a few biking trips around the island to find Mrs. Higgler. With Spider in serious trouble, Charlie needs the feather that he believes is in the hands of Mrs. Higgler. During one of his biking trips, Fat Charlie (unknowingly) stops at Mr. Coats’ house for water. Without an answer, Fat Charlie thinks nothing of it, however, Grahme Coats sees Fat Charlie at the front gate and believes there to be a “conspiracy” taking place with the recent sighting of Rosie and Fat Charlie. While at his hotel, Fat Charlie runs into Daisy who is looking for Grahme Coats. Little do they know, Grahme Coats would find them while they are having dinner together at their hotel. In an attempt to avoid being abducted by Grahme Coats, Fat Charlie attempts to sing karaoke and with that, asks Daisy to marry him (all as a way to get away from Grahme Coats). The plan works, and Grahme Coats decides to run off as the crowd in the restaurant congratulates Charlie and Daisy. Now with Rosie and her mother still trapped in Grahme’s meat locker,Fat Charlie and Diasy must save them and in the meantime,find Mrs. Higgler to save Spider.

Anansi Boys (Ch.13-14)

In the final chapters of Anansi Boys, I was pleasantly surprised to see all the characters find peace within their lives. In chapter 13, Spider must escape the attacks by Tiger who hopes to kill off the Anansi bloodline and take back what used to be his. Tiger wants back the stories and power. After failing to kill Spider, Tiger decides to go after Spider’s love, Rosie, who is then trying to escape the home of Grahme Coats where she is being held captive. After being able to avoid being murdered by Grahme Coats, Rosie is able to Grahme Coats in the meat cellar. Tiger then takes over the body of Grahme Coats and what was once a dying Mr. Coats has become a dangerous hunter. Part Grahme Coats and part Tiger, the beast tries to kill Rosie, however, inflicts most of the damage on Rosie’s mother. Just before Tiger strikes Rosie, the ghost of Maeve Livingston confronts Grahme Coats. She attacks Mr. Coats with kicks and blows to the face. As Maeve finishes off her attack, Daisy barges into the home to witness Rosie and her severely injured mother along with Grahme Coats who is now back to his normal-human self and also hurt. In Tiger’s world, Spider is able to fend off Tiger with the help of his spider army. Fat Charlie wonders into this world only to find his father fishing off the side of a bridge. Knowing it was probably the last time he would talk to his father, Fat Charlie enjoys a meaningful, and brief bonding conversation with his dad who ends up giving him his fedora hat. After finding each other, Spider and Fat Charlie head back to the real world to find Rosie alive in the hospital. Spider and Rosie reconnect, but Rosie is still concerned about her seriously inured mother. Feeling bad about the situation, Charlie and Spider embark back to the mystical world in hopes of being able to save Rosie’s mother. After breaking out into song and embarrassing Tiger in-front of all the animals, Charlie gains confidence in himself and also saves Rosie’s mother from death. The experience seems to change Fat Charlie and gives him more confidence in life. He would continue to go on to become a famous singer, marry Daisy, and lose some of the weight. He would even lose the name “Fat Charlie.” Spider and Rosie stayed in St. Andrews to start a new life along with Rosie’s mother who continued to show her desperation for grandchildren. In the end, everyone seems to get what they wanted in life. I believe this book shows that our current situation may look good as of now, but change can always bring out a more desirable outcome. Just look at Charles Nancy.