Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Simile of the day(?)

"...he said, smooth as a snake in a butter churn." Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

I've been listening to Anansi Boys in the car. It's about the two sons of Anansi, the West African spider god. One, Fat Charlie Nansi, is a non-descript fellow living in London looking forward to his upcoming wedding and working a nameless job for a talent agency. When his father dies Fat Charlie is introduced to his heritage and, especially, to his brother, Spider. Spider is cool and slick (though not the subject of the simile above) and causes all kinds of trouble for Fat Charlie. It's a fun book and different from what I usually read in that it uses West African/West Indes magic and myth for its fantasy. It's not hard to see why Gaiman has often collaborated with Terry Pratchett.