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A review by jodyjsperling
Rattlesnake Farming by Kathryn Kramer
5.0
Rattlesnake Farming is so enormous in so many ways. From the sprawling span of time to the vast cast of characters to the depth of colliding ideologies, at just under 500 pages, this novel may have been, if anything, too short. I confess, I wanted a different ending, but it's as if Kathryn Kramer, the book's author, had told her reader, "You'll want it another way, but it has to be this way," and still I hoped she was lying.
What startles and upsets me is that I've never heard Kramer discussed. She wrote this behemoth novel, executed it so well, and even the meager 11 ratings on Goodreads proves the work is largely ignored, today.
Rattlesnake Farming deserves to be discussed alongside classics. Readers should flock to this book. Yes, the author's ambition fails to translate at times: there are some transitions that seem a bit abrupt, and a few moments throughout that feel a bit limp, but for the relatively few technical mistakes, there are five dozen splendors.
Who's writing today that juggles religion and philosophy, family and friendship and romance and revenge and hope and despair, life, death, afterlife, environment and love all in one novel? And that Kramer does all this so horrifically well, it boggles the mind.
I'll almost certainly need to edit this review as I continue to process the narrative, but I needed to express my thrill at having encountered this book, one I purchased from a library sale because it was in good condition and sounded interesting based on the dust jacket synopsis.
What startles and upsets me is that I've never heard Kramer discussed. She wrote this behemoth novel, executed it so well, and even the meager 11 ratings on Goodreads proves the work is largely ignored, today.
Rattlesnake Farming deserves to be discussed alongside classics. Readers should flock to this book. Yes, the author's ambition fails to translate at times: there are some transitions that seem a bit abrupt, and a few moments throughout that feel a bit limp, but for the relatively few technical mistakes, there are five dozen splendors.
Who's writing today that juggles religion and philosophy, family and friendship and romance and revenge and hope and despair, life, death, afterlife, environment and love all in one novel? And that Kramer does all this so horrifically well, it boggles the mind.
I'll almost certainly need to edit this review as I continue to process the narrative, but I needed to express my thrill at having encountered this book, one I purchased from a library sale because it was in good condition and sounded interesting based on the dust jacket synopsis.