Friday, December 02, 2005
meet mr. henry
Finished listening to the (unabridged) audio book of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys while driving all over Texas for Thanksgiving and enjoyed it immensely. If American Gods was Gaiman's tribute to Roger Zelazny, then this semi-sequel is his tribute to Douglas Adams. It's also, I think, Gaiman's most accomplished work of straight prose yet, fast and funny, and more than a little poignant in places. It is the kind of thing that as a writer, I really wish I'd written, and yet I know that it's something so peculiarly Gaiman that no one else could have pulled it off.
But I really recommend the audio book over the book itself for one big reason: Lenny Henry. I usually prefer the author to read their own work, but there are a couple of voice actors who manage to create an entirely different experience from simply reading the book through their own interpretation of the story. Not every book is amenable to this, and not every actor is appropriate to every story, but when the two click it's magical. Tim Curry reading Garth Nix's superb Sabriel trilogy is one example, and Lenny Henry is another.
I hadn't heard of Lenny Henry before. He's apparently quite popular as a comedian and actor in the UK, but is probably most well known in America for supplying the voice of the shruken head on the Knight Bus in Prisoner Of Azkaban. His work on Anansi Boys is just fantastic, though, almost turning it into a full-blown theatrical production through his brilliant combination of voices and accents. For some reason I couldn't stop imitating the way Mr. Nancy says "Fat Charlie!", and his voice for Tiger is the best this side of George Sanders doing Shere Khan. He really made the story come alive in a way that feels like he's truly telling a Spider story, and that's quite a nice thing.
Henry headlined a British TV series called "Chef" which is available in America in a nice boxed set, so I'll pick that up soon to get better acquainted with his acting. But even if you've already read Anansi Boys, pick a copy of the audio book for a friend -- or keep one for yourself next time you're on a long trip and need some good company.