I have been reading Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys for two weeks now. I finally found the time to finish the book in the early hours of today. Since I was having a 24 hour guard duty yesterday I had all the time in the world to read.

I must say that this is of the most bizarre books I have ever read. Although I read almost all genre its not often I come across a book which is set in a dreamlike world of reality and circumstance.

Anansi Boys is not a big, solid, serious book. But it is laugh-out-loud funny and scary as a spider on your arm. So when birds begin pecking out the hero’s eyes in Anansi Boys, it comes as a surprise when you start to laugh.

Gaiman’s a very daring writer, who goes for broke from the first page. But he does so in such a witty, matter of fact manner that the reader can’t help but be charmed. As Charlie finds out about his father, he also meets the brother he never knew. The whole family magic thing is a bit more intense in Charlie’s world, because his father is Anansi, the Trickster god. And his brother Spider got all the magic.

Gaiman cleverly complicates matters with crime fiction, slapstick comedy, supernatural plotting and mythic storytelling styles.

The miracle is that he does so effortlessly, with a light hand so sure that he can slip from a tale of corporate misdeeds to a Caribbean romance via ghosts and gods. It sounds complicated, but it’s really simple.

Charlie has a family as screwed up as any you’ve ever met, and certainly as screwed up as yours. He’d like to simply get married to the girl he loves and live a relatively normal life. But his brother, his father, and family friends don’t make that an easy task.

Gaiman demonstrates the full range of his skills as a writer with ‘Anansi Boys’. He’s constantly, remarkably entertaining and humorous, even when he’s taking on subjects as serious as the father-son dynamics and the permeation of ancient mythologies into the modern world. The plot here is quite complex, yet it seems utterly transparent.

Gaiman’s plot engine runs on a financial scam, on a ghost story, and on several love stories. But he lays them out with such clarity and logic that the novel streams from one scene to the next. Only in retrospect, thinking back on the novel, and you will think back on it - does ‘Anansi Boys’ seem as complex as it really is.

Gaiman masterfully weaves in a variety of narrative styles in a manner so seamless as to make the novel almost absurdly easy to read. The character arcs are complicated but clear. There are so many of them it almost seems a bit crowded, but every character, major and minor, gets precisely the right amount of attention and detail. Gaiman juggles everything in his pocket universe with precision and a big old goofy smile on his face. No, wait, that smile is on your face.

When an author loves everything in the book as much as Gaiman clearly does, readers will find the whole complicated concoction seems a lot simpler than it is. This is the only potential problem for Gaiman with ‘Anansi Boys’. It functions so smoothly that many readers may never realize that it’s remarkably sophisticated.

Of course, this is the sort of problem that writers should dream about. ‘Anansi Boys’ tells us so much about ourselves in so many witty and imaginative ways that it seems positively bursting. And yet it also seems nicely confined, honed in on a single story, a single family, and a man who at least starts out the novel as single. Anansi Boys is more intimate, picking apart the fears that lock families together.

In this world of petty gods ruining the lives of desperate men, Gaiman is pitiless and arch. He often sacrifices narrative for wordplay and improvisation. You can almost hear his writer’s voice shouting.

In the end it’s Gaiman’s mastery of language that carries the reader through to a satisfying conclusion.

What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t invent with your mouth.
- Jewish Proverb

When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
- Marquis de la Grange (1639 - 1692)

Do you know the problem with opinions today? Well everyone has one.
- Ganz

You can be pleased with nothing when you are not pleased with yourself.
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 - 1762)

Life’s a contradiction, for every decision we take there is always someone ready to oppose it.
- Ganz

As I was searching for a book in my drawer, I come across an old note in one of my English books I had when I was in secondary school.

I can’t remember when exactly I wrote the note but it must have been atleast 8 years.

It made me laugh when I read it. I guess I was indeed young and stupid back then. Man I can’t believe I actually numbered the criteria too. I must have been desperate. So here what I wrote in the note.

My Dream Girl
1) Must be charming
2) Must not be taller than me
3) Must not be older than me
4) Must be independent
5) Must not giggle
6) I do not care which freaking race she belongs to.
7) Funny - must be so fucking funny
Must not be those girlie type girl
9) Should be able to kick ass
10) Should be really nice too…

P.S I would love her like no other – Ganz

And by the way, my camp celebrated Chinese New Year today and I got the chance to eat mussels for the very first time. I only ate one and didn’t quite like it and I also didn’t like the fact of being informed last minute that I was doing a 24 hour guard duty shift on Sunday.

This is probably one of the worse periods of my life.
1) My mother screwed up yet again
2) The army screwed up with my rank and pay
3) Got into an arguement with my client and he now refuses to pay me
4) Exhausted my savings in trying to help my dad settle my mother’s debt
5) My dad tells me that he is unable to sponsor me for my further studies

It couldn’t have hit me harder. Here I was dreaming of studying in the States, but I forgot how unlucky I really am. I cry if I could. But I have no tears left, besides nothing will change the fact.

My brother often ridicules me by asking when I was going to study in the states. And everytime he asks me that, I would talk my way out of it. Because deep down I always had the gut feeling that it was dream that was not going to happen. I have always feared my dad was going to come up to me and say that he was not able to support me for my degree.

And when my father told me that I probably need to wait until the end of 2007 when he retires to pursue my degree I realized that I was burdening my dad with my ambition.

I know because he has always hinted me on going to a local university to study. But he knows that in my heart I always wanted to go aboard to study. I never been aboard and it was my only chance.

I guess it’s all making sense now. If this is the path I must take to realize my dream of becoming a film director then I am going to see it through. So what if I become a Film Director in my thirties, or maybe even in my forties, the thing is I still become a Film Director right?

I know I am merely consoling my self but what choice do I have. I wasn’t born with a sliver spoon. I went to school with a dollar in my pocket, never ate lunch, and worked hard for everything I have.

And I will be damned if I was going to have my dreams taken away from me. I deserve better and I know it. I am not going to bitch about it. I make things happen.

Not only my promotion in the army comes 6 months late. I have been informed that I am getting a Lance Corporal rank instead of a Corporal rank. After all the effort I put into my job day in and day out and going beyond my job scope to ensure that the trainees understood Trunk Communications Systems, I get promoted wrongly. It’s just a rude slap in the face.

If everyone did their jobs in the army I do not need to go to beyond my requirements. But being Ganz and all, I took it upon myself to impart whatever knowledge I have to the trainees so that when they go to their units they understood Trunk Communications Systems.

Needless to say, the army messed up. I asked around and everyone was pointing fingers at each other. No one was man enough to take responsibility. Talk about being in the army, they say it’s where boys become men. But being a man is about taking responsibility. Sadly the army is actually about boys who haven’t realized that they have grown old and started graying. Age my friends does not guarantee maturity.

The good news is although I will be getting a lower targeted pay than that of a corporal (no back pay), I will finish my army in 24 months instead of the 26months I was supposed to serve.

I only hope they do not give me a last minute promotion and make me serve those 2 more months. And right now the only job satisfaction I get is when the trainees praise me. They say I am the best.