Crews, Harry. Feast of Snakes. Atheneum, 1976.
Reason read: October is scary month and this one takes the cake.
Feast of Snakes is not for the fainthearted. There is every kind of excessive abuse one can think of within its pages. Rape, domestic violence, corruption, animal cruelty, racism, adultery, elder abuse, alcoholism, gambling, murder, and even castration.
Joe Lon Mackey exists as your typical down and out alcoholic twenty-something year old. His high school glory days as a football star have long faded, “Then one day football was gone and it took everything with it” (p 102). Saddled with a mealy wife and two small squalling kids, trapped in a small town with no future, Joe Lon forever lives in the past. His sister is mentally unstable after coming home to find mom murdered by dad. Dad spends his time getting dogs to fight to the death. Old flame Bernadette is still as beautiful as ever, but committed to someone else. It pains Joe Lon that she has moved on and doesn’t seem to remember the good old days, but he’ll force her to think of them one way or another. The memories of what Joe Lon Mackey had but lost have made him brutally mean to everyone around him. His innermost thoughts lead one to believe that deep down inside he has a tiny smidgen of good that is trying to find a way out. Like mean Mr. Grinch, one had to have faith Joe Lon would crawl out of the anger that ensnares his soul. Unfortunately, the entire town seems to be full of brutally mean men and deeply sad women. It’s only a matter of time before the community explodes with rage.
As an aside, there is a rattlesnake round up that happens every year in Claxton, Georgia.
Line that summed up the entire book, “He always got mean when he got nervous” (p 141).
Author fact: Crews has written a bunch of stuff but I am only reading Feast of Snakes for the Challenge.
Book trivia: the dedication is pretty cool, “I have never raised a glass with a better friend.”
Music: Merle Haggard
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Grit Lit” (p 106).
~*LunaSea*~ 