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skidd's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
mwgerard's review against another edition
2.0
Bea, a psychologist, and Dan, a struggling artist, are eking out a life in London. Bea has a strained relationship with her family, which seems to be putting pressure on their own marriage. They two decide to ditch the stress, sublet the apartment, cash out the savings and go on an extended trip on the continent. Perhaps the change of scenery will re-inspire Dan and Bea can find a new position when they return — or set up elsewhere.
The roadtrip begins with a stop at Bea’s brother’s in Burgundy. Always the schlub of the family, he has been set up as the proprietor of a sagging bed-and-breakfast. In a constant state of (dis)repair, it would seem that Alex has spent more time pretending there have been guests than fixing the place up. The younger generation then prepares for a visit from the parents with dread.
As much as I wanted to, I didn’t much like The Snakes. I loved Sadie Jones’s previous novel, The Uninvited Guests. I didn’t expect a repeat but I did hope for the same sense of the slightly surreal. Instead, the uneasiness I felt was from the construction of the book. I don’t think that authors have to follow conventions of a genre, but this one did feel a bit lost. Dysfunctional family drama, police procedural, romance, crime thriller.
Read my full review: https://mwgerard.com/the-snakes-by-sadie-jones/
The roadtrip begins with a stop at Bea’s brother’s in Burgundy. Always the schlub of the family, he has been set up as the proprietor of a sagging bed-and-breakfast. In a constant state of (dis)repair, it would seem that Alex has spent more time pretending there have been guests than fixing the place up. The younger generation then prepares for a visit from the parents with dread.
As much as I wanted to, I didn’t much like The Snakes. I loved Sadie Jones’s previous novel, The Uninvited Guests. I didn’t expect a repeat but I did hope for the same sense of the slightly surreal. Instead, the uneasiness I felt was from the construction of the book. I don’t think that authors have to follow conventions of a genre, but this one did feel a bit lost. Dysfunctional family drama, police procedural, romance, crime thriller.
Read my full review: https://mwgerard.com/the-snakes-by-sadie-jones/
cassiewbee's review
4.0
4/5
This was a thoroughly engrossing read. The only things that stopped me giving it 5 stars were the lack of commitment to a particular genre and THAT ending.
The majority of the novel felt like a complex family drama. But it also had this distinctly unsettling and malicious undertone that felt more like a thriller. Each of these elements were done really well but it often felt like I was reading two different stories with two very different tones.
It also lacked closure on a lot of story threads that felt somewhat unsatisfying. And OMG that ending!
With all that being said, however, I would still highly recommend it!
This was a thoroughly engrossing read. The only things that stopped me giving it 5 stars were the lack of commitment to a particular genre and THAT ending.
The majority of the novel felt like a complex family drama. But it also had this distinctly unsettling and malicious undertone that felt more like a thriller. Each of these elements were done really well but it often felt like I was reading two different stories with two very different tones.
It also lacked closure on a lot of story threads that felt somewhat unsatisfying. And OMG that ending!
With all that being said, however, I would still highly recommend it!
ruthnessly's review
4.0
I liked this so much and I was half tempted to give it five stars, partially because I think it really creeps up on you like ivy and partially because I'm spiteful! But I feel like that would be dishonest, because the beginning of this book didn't grab me. The first chapter does, naturally, but for the next few I definitely didn't feel as connected with the book. The characters are distant smudges, which gradually become clearer as the book goes on.
There's a central mystery here to be solved, but the mystery isn't particularly the point. It's a very dense novel, with a writing style that matches it -- I found it kind of hard to settle into at first, but then I really did and there's some beautiful prose in here. There's some nice repetition, too, and I feel like Jones has a very clear handle on when sentences need to change. The scenes with action were written shorter and sharper and they were very tense. There's a particular piece towards the end of the book that my heart was in my throat.
At its heart, this book is an excavation of how rotten wealth can be. The main character, Bea, is the only daughter of an obscenely wealthy family, who has left it behind, refuses to take money from them, and essentially doesn't bother with any of her family except from her brother, Alex, who is an addict. Bea and her husband decide to take a break from their life, go travelling and visit a hotel that Alex has bought in France, except it's literally barely more than a ruin. Alex is a very vibrant character and extremely sad. He's brightly painted and flies off the page.
This book is a sort of slow teasing out of the way that money has enchanted and destroyed everyone in it. The whole novel is essentially structured around it and the characters are always thinking about it. I actually thought it was really, really interesting to see how Dan is initially completely charmed and drawn in by the money. It's very realistic, but considering what we, the reader, know about how awful Bea's family is it's a bit gut churning. I really liked how clear it was how insidious money was, how alluring and ultimately how devastating it could be.
A major point with this book, I guess, is the ending. I gather that it would be divisive but I loved it so much. I feel like it's extremely in keeping with the central themes of the book and a logical conclusion. I also just thought it was so beautifully written.
Honestly, it's really hard to talk about this book because so much of talking about it is discussing major spoilers but I thought it was really, truly wonderful.
There's some p significant content warnings I guess if ppl want that kind of thing tho hmu.
Quotes I liked:
There's a central mystery here to be solved, but the mystery isn't particularly the point. It's a very dense novel, with a writing style that matches it -- I found it kind of hard to settle into at first, but then I really did and there's some beautiful prose in here. There's some nice repetition, too, and I feel like Jones has a very clear handle on when sentences need to change. The scenes with action were written shorter and sharper and they were very tense. There's a particular piece towards the end of the book that my heart was in my throat.
At its heart, this book is an excavation of how rotten wealth can be. The main character, Bea, is the only daughter of an obscenely wealthy family, who has left it behind, refuses to take money from them, and essentially doesn't bother with any of her family except from her brother, Alex, who is an addict. Bea and her husband decide to take a break from their life, go travelling and visit a hotel that Alex has bought in France, except it's literally barely more than a ruin. Alex is a very vibrant character and extremely sad. He's brightly painted and flies off the page.
This book is a sort of slow teasing out of the way that money has enchanted and destroyed everyone in it. The whole novel is essentially structured around it and the characters are always thinking about it. I actually thought it was really, really interesting to see how Dan is initially completely charmed and drawn in by the money. It's very realistic, but considering what we, the reader, know about how awful Bea's family is it's a bit gut churning. I really liked how clear it was how insidious money was, how alluring and ultimately how devastating it could be.
A major point with this book, I guess, is the ending. I gather that it would be divisive but I loved it so much. I feel like it's extremely in keeping with the central themes of the book and a logical conclusion. I also just thought it was so beautifully written.
Honestly, it's really hard to talk about this book because so much of talking about it is discussing major spoilers but I thought it was really, truly wonderful.
There's some p significant content warnings I guess if ppl want that kind of thing tho hmu.
Quotes I liked:
A personality quiz had once told Bea to stop being self-sacrifcing. Don't be a doormat, it had said. It had struck her as a particularly modern assumption that giving diminished the self rather than nourished it. She didn't equate giving with sacrifice.
[...] he couldn't identify with Alex whose risks were all in his head. There was nothing in the real world to threaten him, so he had to create things. Going up into a loft with a rotting floor looking for snakes wasn't adventurous, it was dumb.
She had always known she wasn't strong enough to fight wealth. It was bigger and more beautiful, and it was fierce. Bea wasn't beautiful or fierce.
She wondered what level of wealth it took to rearrange the molecules. Too rich and too poor were slippery creatures, they were always out of reach. But she knew, in every part of herself, how sick it was to live with such disparity, when beyond the garden wall, just there, was poverty. Not even a mile away, not another country, but hers. It wasn't an effort to think of it, she had only to stop trying not to. It took constant vigilance to live blinkered, so the rich wouldn't lose their minds with terrors, under the yes of the poor, and the poor lose hope.
She was her own. She was her secret mind that nobody saw, her work and the things she loved. She concentrated on the precious places inside herself, untouched and only hers. She focused on her body's future and pictured herself well and strong. She would be. She was the mother of babies yet conceived. [...] She mustn't cry or show what she felt. She had to keep herself secret. She concentrated on her pain, and then on forgetting the pain, and then the pain again. First things first, she thought. First things first.
A lot of my favourites, too, are extremely spoilery out of necessity but I do think some of this prose was just so lovely to read.
song's review
3.0
finished in two sittings. good thriller, great tension building. by the end felt quite similar to some other books in the genre, which took the shock out of it. I liked some of the conversations between characters but also never really connected on why I should care.
aynara's review against another edition
1.0
The nicest thing I can say about this novel is that the last half of it is not boring.
rebuiltbybooks's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
aestinson's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5