A Feast of Snakes: A Novel

This book came as recommended for me. If i'd known it was only 177 pages i may not have bothered. It was more than i would normally pay for a paperbqck too. I am so glad i bought it! A great read, and quite horrific. Yes you guess the worst charqcter will get his comeuppance, and it makes you want to cheer when it happens. I didn't realise how long ago it was written, why have i never heard of it before i can't fathom. It should be made into a film, it reminded me of an southern american whicker man in some ways. Buy it, read it, recommend it!

I really like Harry Crews stuff. I got this one after reading 'Car' and 'The Gypsies Curse' and loved it just as much. It's dark and violent and very enjoyable.

"The annual rattlesnake round-up in Mystic, Georgia bears no relation to 'Whacking Day' in The Simpsons at all! As the thousands turn-up to take part and watch, by the day of the actual hunt, you know it'll have all gone horribly wrong. Throw a handful of good 'ol boys and their women, moonshine and whisky, fighting dogs, diamondbacks and the return of the prodigal cheer-leader queen into the mix and you have a heady brew that will burst from its bottle in a flash. At the centre of this is Joe Lon Mackey, a former footballer who didn't get the grades to go to further, stuck in a trailer with his fading wife, two babies, and with nothing to do except mind his father's liquor store, misses his former girl Berenice the cheerleader, and finds himself taking it out on everyone ... It's tragedy in the making, and the writing is brutal, visceral, yet not without a wicked sense of humour in the caricature of the characters. No words are wasted in this cinematic novel of murder and mayhem, and the tension builds and builds until it finally explodes in an stunning ending that will shake you to the core."

Of the several Harry Crews books I've read so far, 'A Feast of Snakes' is my favourite. It conjures up a view of the South that is both very real & yet unreal. He captures the feel of the south superbly, the prose is lyrical and makes you feel that you are there, experiencing the action like you can really smell it. While the Northern States may have been rich in culture it was in the South that Story-telling became a way of life and an integral part of life; Harry Crews is a master story teller.

Poorly printed book, not worth £10.99. Listing should say this is 'Printed in Great Britain by Amazon' (these words appear on the last page and as therefore missed by the 'look inside' view). So not manufactured in the USA as shown in the 'look inside' view on the publishing information page? Amazon - this quality of printing reflects very poorly on you and ruins the book reading experience. I can only assume you are trying to drive people to kindle. If you must produce books of this quality at least mention it in the listing and charge a fair price, say £1.99. I would pay extra for an above average print quality by the way. Wouldn't have bought it if the listing had been honest.

A weird, weird book. One that can be read in a day or two. It has moments of beauty and genius that lets you know that this is more than some exploitation novel, trying to shock you with extremes. It's a meditation on violence. On lost hope and lost direction. On the cruelty we all allow. And the cruelty we can't allow that may eventually break us. It is, in the heart, a brilliant, textured novel that is at times vulgar, and at other times violent, and leaves you questioning why at the end, but within all that is an addictive literary read.

My first book by Crews, but I'm definitely going to read more by this author.

Harry Crews ist ein amerikanischer Südstaatenautor dessen Kultstatus sich noch nicht bis nach Deutschland herumgesprochen hat. Während Cormac McCarthy weltweit gelesen wird, kennt Crews hierzulande kaum jemand. Und das ist schade, denn "A Feast of Snakes" ist wahrscheinlich einer der besten Romane der amerikanischen Nachkriegsliteratur. Dieser Roman enthält alles, was die Südstaatenliteratur ausmacht: "Southern Gothic", "violence" , präzise Wiedergabe der gesprochenen Sprache und poetische Beschreibung der Atmosphäre. Und das in einem Stil, der lakonisch und "tough" ist. Joseph Heller, der Autor von "Catch 22" hat dies als "fine, extraordinary novel...weird and powerful" bezeichnet. Man kann kaum mehr sagen. Wenn man glaubt, dass Hemingway "tough" schreibt, dann sollte man dieses Portrait der gesellschaftlichen Unterschicht in Georgia lesen. Gewalttätig, von einem Ton der Verzweiflung getragen und doch hochpoetisch. Dieser Roman gehört einwandfrei zu den Top Ten der amerikanischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts.

After indulging in Crews' work, I have heard some call this novel "darkly comedic" while others call it full of "gratuitous violence." In all sincerity, it is clear these critics missed the point of the novel and tried to latch onto some pathetic reason to hate his exploration of hapless souls. This is a haunting exploration of life, love, and unhappiness in Georgia some fifty years ago. Any comedy within its pages is "human comedy" or the one we experience each day when someone does something silly or stupid or makes the worst possible remark at the wrong moment. The violence is not gratuitous when it reveals character or propels the story forward — and if it's the violence and/or the comedy that makes you uneasy, I'm sure Crews would be proud. I cannot tell you how gripping and visceral this story can be especially when written with such economy and simplicity. I have no doubt Hemingway toasted Crews from his grave. To discuss plot would be folly and I certainly hope you didn't ruin your reading experience by reading a third-rate summary or from taking in the book blurb. Go into this novel fresh and unknowing and experience the discomfort, shock, and existential torment as you should.

“A Feast of Snakes” is Harry Crews’s 1976 novel about Joe Lon Mackey, a former high school football and track star. Unable to attend college, Joe Lon assumes his father’s convenience store and RV campground, selling bootleg liquor on the sly to residents of the rural Georgia town of Mystic. Joe Lon comes from a broken and starkly violent home. He lives on a steady diet of alcohol and profound regret for lost love and a life of possibilities that has passed him by. Crews’s novel is an engaging, fast read. I’m just uncertain if this is so because the novel is good or unrelentingly shocking. Likely both, I think. This is grit lit on steroids, Southern literature’s version – somewhat – of Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” a chaotic, wild ride to the final page. “There is nothing folksy, never mind pastoral or genteel, about Crews,” wrote Lauren LeBlanc in a 2022 retrospective in the Los Angeles Times. “His novels … are set in a lawless South, their characters so surreal and disturbed they could be found only in dead-end towns marked by dirt roads and moonshine.” This is certainly true of Joe Lon and other lead characters in “A Feast of Snakes.” The only redeeming folks in the novel are Joe Lon’s sister Beeder and a young woman named Lottie Mae. But the two are strictly secondary characters who’ve developed mental disorders as a result of trauma stemming from violence. Readers may struggle, as I did, to empathize with any of the primary players. There are only antagonists here, no protagonists. We cannot empathize with their actions, but only observe with our mouths agape. Crews’s novel is a page-turner for sure, and the writing’s superb. Take, for instance, the dog fight. Before the fights begin, Joe Lon takes a lap in the pit with Tuffy, his father’s prize dog. Self-loathing, bad choices and hurt people bear down on Joe Lon as other dogs in nearby cages bark and snap at Tuffy. It’s a striking parallel, and the reader feels pressure growing and that something’s got to give. “Christ, they were taking turns. They were all going to take a turn at him. … Joe Lon stretched his neck to breathe. He felt as though he had his head in a sack of cotton. The dog fighters had moved down a little closer to the pit. …They stared intently at his daddy’s Tuffy, who … stood with his dark ears forward on his head, leaning in the direction of the other penned bulls where they barked and growled and howled in their cages.” Not for the faint-of-heart, I recommend Crews’s “A Feast of Snakes” for die-hard Southern lit fans and readers with a fistful of Xanax.