A Feast of Snakes

by Harry Crews
p 177

This book club selection has already been accurately and descriptively blogged by KimF. Harry Crews is an acquired taste, much in the same genre as Carl Hiassen. Characters and a story so richly bizarre and twisted that you are either going to be repulsed or enthralled. I was the latter, and found the dark humor that lies beneath such a tragically common, yet strangely uncommon tale.
I must admit though, the ending threw me for a loop, and in some ways diminished what I had been laughing about (and at) through the first 2/3 of the book. Yet, I gotta admit I loved it and would recommend his book "Body" as another great train wreck!

Giving it a Rock and Chalk, only because many readers would find it totally inappropriate!
PS Kansas is looking to be ranked #1 after this weekend.......go hawks!

A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews

Harry Crews didn't have an idyllic childhood.  He grew up poor, with a stepfather who was a "brutal drunk" in the hardscrabble world of backwoods Georgia.  He discovered the world when he went into the Marine Corps and has said he was never without a book during his tour of duty in the early 60s.  He struggled to become a writer; wanted it more than anything and lost his family as a result of trying.  He puts his past and his memories into writing some of the most vicious, violent books you can imagine.  But he does it with a sense of wrathful humor.  His books are like car accidents or train wrecks.  Every page is a disaster you can't look away from.  A Feast of Snakes is no different.  I would not recommend it for the faint of heart but if you're willing to wade into a world of rattlesnake hunting, whiskey swigging, baton-twirling cheerleaders, and brutal dogfights, you'll find a unique voice you can't shake, no matter how hard you try.  Prepare to be sickened and awed.
A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews, pp 177
Kim F