Snake Moon

by Ray Manzarek

The year is 1863. Deep in the backwoods of Coker County, Tennessee, farmer Boone Dillard and his family live in ritualistic harmony with the earth and its seasons, content to eke out a living from the land, unaware even of the Civil War that engulfs the nation around them... that is, until Boone is seduced by a mysterious traveling peddler's dulcet promises of fame, fortune, and glory.

As Boone and his hulking yet childlike brother-in-law...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597800414
• ISBN13: 9781597800419
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Night Shade Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Irresistable, lyrical

This is a novel that I found in the "New" section of the library. I was intrigued by the cover and the description on the jacket. I'm glad I took a chance with it, because I found it poignant and reasonably well written, though it has its flaws. For someone who has had only limited experience writing novels, Manzarek did pretty well here. He tells a haunting and poetic story about how war disrupts people and creates a sort of temporary madness. There were scenes that were genuinely moving and I loved the almost Shintoistic tones of the descriptions of the Tennessee countryside. Energy and light--perhaps that's all there really is. It has a fast-moving and eventful plot and only takes a few hours to read. There is a tinge of the supernatural in it, but you're never quite sure whether the characters are just delirious and dreaming some of this stuff or whether it's meant to be taken literally. I enjoyed it--too bad Cold Mountain squeezed it out and prevented the profitability of making it into a film.