Neal Gaiman wrote Anansi Boys in 2005 and it considers a modern myth about the children of West African and Carribean gods. The story is a combination of realism and fantasy with some romance, comedy and supernatural stuff is thrown in to make it interesting. When the story begins, the narrator tells us that songs were what caused the creation of the world and one of the gods sang a song to create every part. Songs are magic and play an important part in the life of the main character Charlie.
Like most myths, things don't always work out the way they're supposed to. When Charlie was a boy and living in a magical world, he broke a magic ball in a neighbor's yard. To punish him, the neighbor split him into two boys. Spider got all the bad qualities and Charlie got all the good and kind ones. But Charlie doesn't remember any of this and has no idea he comes from a magical family. In order to return to the world, Spider can step through a picture but Charlie has to be sent back from a god. Spider lives up to his bad reputation and Charlie wishes he could send him but, but I think Charlie really knew he had a connection with Spider.
The story is full of symbols and metaphors just like myths of ancient times. The animals are the avatars of the ancient gods just like Zeus used to take human form. They all face problems. For example, the birds won't leave Spider alone because he owes something to the bird woman. The most interesting symbol is when Charlie begins to sing and he sings the story of this novel. I think myths that combined reality today with magical elements make the story better for readers today because we can connect with them.
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