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 Jebber set forth in search of their destiny, they set into motion a haunting and disturbing chain of events that threatens to tear the family apart, awaken restless ghosts, and alter the course of their lives forever. From rock and roll legend Ray Manzarek comes Snake Moon, a bewitching and ghostly Civil War-era parable of Eden. Snake Moon stunningly blends ancient myth and fable with the charm and voice of rustic Americana and exposes themes of violence, heroism, and the loss of innocence amid the horrors of war with captivating intensity that builds to a stunning and unforgettable climax. Doors co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek is the author of the auto-biography Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors, and the novel Poet in Exile. In recent years he and co-wrote and directed Love Her Madly, which premiered in February of 2001. He currently tours with Doors co-founder Bobby Krieger, and Cult singer Ian Astbury, as Riders on the Storm.
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.
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