Preview
  • Anansi Boys

  • By: Neil Gaiman
  • Narrated by: Lenny Henry
  • Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (221 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Anansi Boys

By: Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Lenny Henry
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.98

Buy for $15.98

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A darkly comic family fable and companion novel to American Gods.

THE NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER AND COMPANION NOVEL TO AMERICAN GODS.

Everything changes for Fat Charlie Nancy, the South London boy so called by his father, the day his dad drops dead while doing karaoke.

Charlie didn't know his estranged father was a god - Anansi the trickster, master of mischief and social disorder. He never knew he had a brother either.

Now brother Spider is on his doorstep, about to make life more interesting...and a lot more dangerous. It's a meeting that will take Fat Charlie from his London home to Florida, the Caribbean, and the very beginning of the world itself. Or the end of the world, depending on which way you're looking.

NEIL GAIMAN.

WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES.

©2005 Neil Gaiman (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"A warm, funny, immensely entertaining story...Anansi Boys combines the anarchy of Douglas Adams with a Wodehousian generosity of spirit." (Susanna Clarke)
"Lenny Henry...is absolutely the perfect choice to read Anansi Boys....An absolutely top-notch performance, one that makes a terrific book even better." (Publishers Weekly)
"Mixing farce and fantasy, epic mythology and domestic drama, Gaiman's novel is a clever piece of storytelling and a celebration of the magic of make-believe." (Independent on Sunday)

What listeners say about Anansi Boys

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    134
  • 4 Stars
    61
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    136
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    105
  • 4 Stars
    42
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lenny Henry brought this book alive for me

What did you love best about Anansi Boys?

I have always loved Neil Gaiman and have read Anansi Boys more than once. However, listening to Lenny Henry tell it brought so many new aspects alive for me. It was a truly delightful experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Narrator is absolutely fantastic, does the voices so well. Really knows how to bring Gaiman's story alive and make the listener laugh!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, great reader.

This was my first audiobook. What a great introduction. One of the best books I have ever read. The naration was fabulous.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended

What an imaginative story - and beautifully read by Lenny Henry!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining absurdity

It is interesting how Neil Gaiman takes the listener in a captivating way to the absurd, and making it believable. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The story starts with a man called Fat Charlie, being called fat, only because his father called him fat. Very much like the neighbour's dog, who won prices in dog shows until his father called the dog Goofy. Gaiman warns the reader that the story isn't an ordinary one. It becomes more and more interesting as Fat Charlie's father's nature is introduced to you. Then Fat Charlie also has to deal with his mischievous long lost brother, Spider. Gaiman interweaves the impossible into a possible setting, making the story unpredictable.

The narrator, Lenny Henry, does an excellent job in interpreting the various characters. I enjoyed his interpretative reading, especially his African-American accent needed to understand the characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Khim

Well narrated. Love the voice and great effort in narrating different voices on different characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Unequivocal Delight

I would like to congratulate the producer of this excellent audio book who thought of paring the unique style of Neil Gaiman with the talent of Lenny Henry. The sum of the parts is truly greater than the whole, the book written with charm and wit, but Henry’s execution brings it to a whole other level. I just did not want it to end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My ABSOLUTE favourite

I have read this book, listened to this book, & lent others this book (hard copy) more times than I can remember.
Lenny Henry's narration is perfect.
Neil Gaiman's story of course is unforgettable. I guarantee you will never look at a spider the same way again. :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping story, great narration

Neil Gaiman has another hit on his hands here. While it has been advertised as a sequel to American Gods, there is very little linking the two books - so don't worry if you don't listen to them together.

It is a story about gods - about old gods from the beginning of time - but those gods are not the central characters. Instead, we see how the lives of the Anansi boys come together and interact to change, in a little way, the world(s) and enrich the lives of those around them. There is plenty of magic, romance, adventure and criminality along the way, all woven together like the fine strands of a spider's web to reach an ending that makes sense of what that came before.

The narration is fantastic, accents and all.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Tremendous. Perfect narrator and narration.

I do love Neil Gaiman's books but hadn't yet read this one on paper. After listening to Anansi Boys, I want to experience all his other novels in audio form. For me, Lenny Henry's narration added a whole extra dimension of joy, and slowing down my experience of the book made me realise how wonderful Neil Gaiman's language and observation is.

Lenny Henry is the perfect narrator for this story; his pacing, his rendition of the characters' voices and thoughts, and the way he can bring both the humour and the awkwardness to life, delighted me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful