Snake

By: Kate Jennings

Write A Review

Paperback | 1 February 2001

At a Glance

Paperback
160 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.4 x 12.8 x 1.4

Paperback

$31.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.94 with

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

'Stunning - the work of a powerful imagination' Carol Shields. Snake is Kate Jennings first novel, she has written poetry and an award-winning collection of short stories. My life is about to begin. This is the only thought in Irene's head the day she marries a handsome second-world war veteran. But irritation, frustration and disappointment follow as the couple start their life together on a remote Australian farm. Rex, hard-working, reliable, agonised by love not returned and 'imprisoned in loneliness', bears mostly silent inarticulate witness to Irene's flailing attempts to escape their claustrophobic existence. So do Girlie and Boy, their children, who to Rex seem like 'the blurred faces on...a passing train. Faces that never gained definition no matter how hard they stared.' Stark yet strangely comic snapshots document the inexorable disintegration of the family. Kate Jennings' black humour and muscular prose, both pared down and rich in startling imagery, distils time and place in a work of literature that carves its exquisitely painful mark deep into the mind.

Industry Reviews

Although this is Jennings' first novel, she is an accomplished writer of short stories, and this talent shows clearly through in this evocative portrait of a marriage doomed to failure. Although structured as a novel, this reads rather as a succession of vignettes, wide brush-strokes of seemingly random events that lead inevitably to tragedy. The sense of place and time - a remote Australian farm, immediately after World War II - is remarkable, almost claustrophobic, so that we can almost feel as though we are there. Irene, a well-travelled, cosmopolitan, middle-class woman marries Rex, a taciturn farmer whose war-time experiences have compounded the harshness of his back-country childhood. This brief, savage, bittersweet story will haunt you for some time. (Kirkus UK)

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.