This note contains spoilers for the book.

A story of personal discovery, following on from African folklore, it seems like. Spider and Fat Charlie are the sons of Anansi, who by the end of the book is taking some time dead (not for tax purposes).

Well, that's a bit of an oversimplification. They're the son, singular. They were split, early on, by a meddling old woman.

It bugs me that Anansi's kiss never gets delivered to Spider. I think that's intended to reunite the two halves, and perhaps Charlie decides not to do it; but it's all very vague, and it could easily be read as dropped on the floor.

I liked this a good deal better than American Gods. Of course I don't much care for gods and mysticism in the first place.