Best books of 2006: “Anansi Boys” and “Rocket Boys” are books that mirror art and life

Editor’s note: Join us in celebrating the end of 2006 by revisiting some of our favorite books of the year—like Anansi Boys and Rocket Boys, which we originally reviewed together in August.

It’s said that fiction mirrors life. Here are two stories—Anansi Boys, a fiction by Neil Gaiman, and Rocket Boys, a nonfiction by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.—in which a single pivotal decision propels life in a far different direction than ever imagined and carries with it far-reaching consequences. Not only do these two tales commence in similar fashion, but they finish with a flourish in like fashion, too. They are satisfying and well-told, intricate and humorous.

Neil Gaiman took the plain cloth of an ancient African folktale—Anansi the Spider, who by trickery acquired all the tales of the world—and finely embroidered upon it to produce a fantasy of cosmic proportions. The result is Anansi Boys, a lighthearted well-written jaunt with twists, turns, and at least four interwoven plots. Take one dull, uninspired, earnest, hardworking young man, Fat Charlie, add to him a single impulsive action, and watch the sequence of events unfold and overlap in flaming Technicolor. He unwillingly meets challenges and interesting characters—some gracious and accommodating and others cold and ruthless. Indeed, a villain provides one of the highlights of this book, with his distinctive quirks and rather gruesome habit of butchering the mother tongue.

It is especially great fun to read to read Neil Gaiman’s observant sidetracks. He drops them in one paragraph at a time and then carries on with savoir faire. These snippets are easy to miss but, like nuggets of gold, priceless. This one, for example, is characteristic of his writing style and sly humor:

It is a small world. You do not have to live in it particularly long to learn that for yourself. There is a theory that, in the whole world, there are only five hundred real people (the cast, as it were; all the rest of the people in the world, the theory suggests, are extras) and what is more, they all know each other. And it’s true, or true as far as it goes. In reality the world is made of thousands upon thousands of groups of about five hundred people, all of whom will spend their lives bumping into each other, trying to avoid each other, and discover each other in the same unlike teashop in Vancouver. There is an unavoidability to this process. It’s not even coincidence. It’s just the way the world works, with no regard for individuals or for propriety.

Rocket Boys, by contrast, although it reads a bit like science fiction, is all autobiography interwoven with science and technology, and a little more serious when contrasted with the improbable humor of Anansi Boys.

Homer H. Hickam, Jr., then a small-town teenager, writes in retrospect of building rockets from the first embryo stages to winning the National Science Fair in Indianapolis three years later. Raised in the shadow of the coal-mining industry in West Virginia, where life was hard and money scarce, he and his five friends worked together to build a rocket that not only would fly but would have a basis in scientific and mathematical theory. From algebra—where the author displayed moderate incompetence—to trigonometry, calculus, differential equations, and beyond, these six young men fired the whole town with their enthusiasm, and eventually all attended college.

Hickam’s self-deprecating humor is always evident in Rocket Boys—from his fights with his brother to his success, or lack thereof, with the opposite sex. What shines, however, is his persistence to learn about the science of rocketry. The book is a beacon for anyone who dares to try something new and different. The tale bears reflection—and not all is fun and games.

Both authors, Neil Gaiman and Homer Hickam, display an ease with pen to paper and a talent for imbedding their characters in impossible situations, and again extracting them from the same situations. For those who like their tales well-spiced with humor, quirky characters, and multiple storylines, these two books make fine reading and the pace never slows.

The quote in this review is from Anansi Boys.