The Serpent King
by Jeff Zentner
Published: March 8th 2016
(384 pages)
Dillard Early, Jr., Travis Bohannon and Lydia Blankenship are three friends from different walks of life who have one thing in common: none of them seem to fit the mold in rural Tennessee's Forrestville High. Dill has always been branded as an outsider due to his family heritage as snake handlers and poison drinkers, an essential part of their Pentecostal faith. But after his father is sent to prison for sexual abuse of a young parishioner, Dill and his mother become real pariahs. His only two friends are Travis, a gentle giant who works at his family's lumberyard and is obsessed with a Game of Thrones-like fantasy series (much to his alcoholic father's chagrin); and Lydia, who runs a popular fashion blog that's part Tavi Gevinson and part Angela Chase, and is actively plotting her escape from Redneckville, Tennessee.As the three friends begin their senior year, it becomes clear that they won't all be getting to start a promising new life after graduation. How they deal with their diverging paths could cause the end of their friendship. Until a shattering act of random violence forces Dill to wrestle with his dark legacy and find a way into the light of a future worth living.
I don’t usually like contemporary novels, but I really enjoyed The Serpent King. I felt like it was about making your own destiny. It was also a poignant reminder to not wait too long to follow your dreams.
“And if you’re going to live, you might as well do painful, brave, and beautiful things.”
-Jeff Zentner, The Serpent King pg 327
The characters had interesting personalities. Lydia was great. She has this blunt personality that I really love. For example, she’s late and says she’s sorry but Dill calls her out on it. Lydia replies:
“Of course I’m not [sorry]. But I have to pretend. Social contractual obligations and whatnot.”
-Jeff Zentner, The Serpent King pg 5
Lydia is also a blogger which I thought was cool. She also says things like this that can’t help but love:
“We didn’t drive all this way to eat at dumb Krystal and get the same diarrhea we could get in Forrestville.”
-Jeff Zentner, The Serpent King pg 20
Reading The Serpent King felt like reliving that bittersweet feeling of high school where everything is ending and your friends are going different directions in their life. You’re excited to start your life but sad that so many things are changing – especially losing a lot of your friends. I really related to Dill’s feelings about wanting Lydia to go on and have a great life while trying his best to deal with the fact that he probably won’t see her anymore. It’s a beautiful story that really tugged on my heartstrings.
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About Jeff Zentner
Jeff Zentner lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He came to writing through music, starting his creative life as a guitarist and eventually becoming a songwriter. He’s released five albums and appeared on recordings with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Thurston Moore, Debbie Harry, Mark Lanegan, and Lydia Lunch, among others.
Now he writes novels for young adults. He became interested in writing for young adults after volunteering at the Tennessee Teen Rock Camp and Southern Girls Rock Camp. As a kid, his parents would take him to the library and drop him off, where he would read until closing time. He worked at various bookstores through high school and college.
He speaks fluent Portuguese, having lived in the Amazon region of Brazil for two years.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
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