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Snakes: A Novel
Angela Tyler has spent the greater part of her life in suspension between the world of the small Midwestern farm she grew up on, and her current life in Northern California as the wife of a college professor and mother of three. When her father dies and the family farm is sold, betrayals both small and large are brought to the surface. Angela faces these betrayals and finds new ground to stand on.
Symbolic of transformation, snakes form the bedrock of Angela's narrative as she examines her relationship to her father, family, the land, and her life. Highly recommended, Snakes is a transformative, engaging, and seductive story about life's insoluble contradictions.
Symbolic of transformation, snakes form the bedrock of Angela's narrative as she examines her relationship to her father, family, the land, and her life. Highly recommended, Snakes is a transformative, engaging, and seductive story about life's insoluble contradictions.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 2011
About the author
Patricia Damery
10 books9 followersPatricia Damery is an author, a Jungian analyst in private practice in Napa, California, and a member of the C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. Her life has been about seeking the divine in everyday life and is reflected in her writing. Patricia's writing concerns remembering instinct, becoming more conscious not only of our personal psyche, but of our relationships to the animate and inanimate world as well. She believes this necessitates a shift in consciousness, “re-membering” an older way while also valuing our intellect, and that this shift is critical to the survival of life as we know it.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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March 22, 2011Passing Into Dust - A Journey
Patricia Damery is a poet beneath her cloak as a novelist. Her writing is at once disarmingly simple and rich in deep philosophical content. Damery is that sort of author who makes the reader feel regret at closing the last page and cover of her book. The very choice of SNAKES for the title of this story suggests the quality of magic that is waiting: she has taken a word that has general connotations of evil or fear or darkness and surprises her reader with that creature become a warmly familiar staff to guide us through her evolving life - not unlike a reversal of the staff of Moses becoming snakes before Pharoah!
Damery leads us through her experiences with the Land in a series of remembrances of her character Angela's beloved deceased father, recalling episodes of childhood that invariably included snakes. There is much to think about in her description of the diminished greening of the earth as the small farms of her childhood congeal into soul-less amalgamations, losing the charm of the land to the greed of the 'new ones'. But the magnet of the childhood farm may summon her memory and soul, but she sets off to 'become herself' through education, marriage and children, only to return to the land in her chosen diversion of weaving wall hangings so beautiful she is wont to sell them. For Angela the weavings provide the connect to the smoldering but still glimmering past, the living source of the meaning of the cycle of life, a cycle that, yes, contains her experiences with snakes and stories of snakes.
SNAKES is, then, a beautifully crafted memoir of each of our lives, as each of us can find a warp or weft or heddle that manages to help us weave our lives into a meaningful and loving existence. It is her strong bond with nature that endears her writing and makes this book an extended and lovely poem.
Grady Harp
Patricia Damery is a poet beneath her cloak as a novelist. Her writing is at once disarmingly simple and rich in deep philosophical content. Damery is that sort of author who makes the reader feel regret at closing the last page and cover of her book. The very choice of SNAKES for the title of this story suggests the quality of magic that is waiting: she has taken a word that has general connotations of evil or fear or darkness and surprises her reader with that creature become a warmly familiar staff to guide us through her evolving life - not unlike a reversal of the staff of Moses becoming snakes before Pharoah!
Damery leads us through her experiences with the Land in a series of remembrances of her character Angela's beloved deceased father, recalling episodes of childhood that invariably included snakes. There is much to think about in her description of the diminished greening of the earth as the small farms of her childhood congeal into soul-less amalgamations, losing the charm of the land to the greed of the 'new ones'. But the magnet of the childhood farm may summon her memory and soul, but she sets off to 'become herself' through education, marriage and children, only to return to the land in her chosen diversion of weaving wall hangings so beautiful she is wont to sell them. For Angela the weavings provide the connect to the smoldering but still glimmering past, the living source of the meaning of the cycle of life, a cycle that, yes, contains her experiences with snakes and stories of snakes.
SNAKES is, then, a beautifully crafted memoir of each of our lives, as each of us can find a warp or weft or heddle that manages to help us weave our lives into a meaningful and loving existence. It is her strong bond with nature that endears her writing and makes this book an extended and lovely poem.
Grady Harp
March 14, 2011
Snakes, by Patricia Damery (Farming Soul, 2010) is a beautifully written novel about a woman coming to terms with family continuity as small farms are packed up and sold off at auctions to those who will never know who once lived there and made of them enduring homes.
Angela leaves the Midwestern farm her family has worked for generations because the roads and fields and traditions are, in spite of their deep values, confining to her coming-of-a-age soul. She attends college in California, receives a degree in biology, becomes a teacher, marries, and has a family. When teaching proves to be an unsatisfactory career, she focuses on her new and all-consuming avocation of weaving.
Snakes is a poetic meditation about the intertwined cycles of life and farming. It is also an evolving letter of love from Angela to her recently deceased father about life as it was, mundane and unexpected daily events, and, of course, the snakes. Snakes and the cycles of life are constant images throughout the book; snakes in the corn crib, snakes in the garden, snakes in the kitchen. We fear snakes, yet we also see them as protectors of the land and as symbols of the natural stages of everlasting life.
For Angela to come to terms with herself and the disintegration of families and farms, she must come to terms with snakes. Her weavings become her medium and her message, the storyboard of her life as it was and as it is, all the memories, dreams and reflections of a nurturing mother claiming her authentic role within the natural order of children and husbands, kitchens and bedrooms, warm tidal pools and freshly ploughed fields, and gardens where snakes live amongst the flowers.
Angela leaves the Midwestern farm her family has worked for generations because the roads and fields and traditions are, in spite of their deep values, confining to her coming-of-a-age soul. She attends college in California, receives a degree in biology, becomes a teacher, marries, and has a family. When teaching proves to be an unsatisfactory career, she focuses on her new and all-consuming avocation of weaving.
Snakes is a poetic meditation about the intertwined cycles of life and farming. It is also an evolving letter of love from Angela to her recently deceased father about life as it was, mundane and unexpected daily events, and, of course, the snakes. Snakes and the cycles of life are constant images throughout the book; snakes in the corn crib, snakes in the garden, snakes in the kitchen. We fear snakes, yet we also see them as protectors of the land and as symbols of the natural stages of everlasting life.
For Angela to come to terms with herself and the disintegration of families and farms, she must come to terms with snakes. Her weavings become her medium and her message, the storyboard of her life as it was and as it is, all the memories, dreams and reflections of a nurturing mother claiming her authentic role within the natural order of children and husbands, kitchens and bedrooms, warm tidal pools and freshly ploughed fields, and gardens where snakes live amongst the flowers.
June 22, 2026
Patricia Damery masterfully captures the delicate, often painful balance between our past and present selves. Snakes is a quiet yet powerful exploration of family dynamics, betrayal, and the deep ties we hold to the land. The serpent imagery is brilliantly woven throughout, serving as a striking symbol of rebirth and transformation. A genuinely moving read that stays with you long after the final page.
June 22, 2026
An exquisite character study. Angela’s journey from the quiet realities of a Midwestern farm to the complexities of her adult life in Northern California is handled with incredible grace and emotional honesty. Damery doesn’t shy away from life’s insoluble contradictions; instead, she leans into them, offering readers a narrative that is both seductive and deeply grounding. Highly recommended for anyone who loves rich, psychological fiction.
June 22, 2026
You can tell immediately that the author understands the messy, insoluble contradictions of life and relationships. Every emotion feels lived-in and genuine, particularly the complicated bond between a daughter and her father. While the sudden upheaval of Angela's childhood world drives the plot forward, the quiet resilience and emotional evolution of the main character are what make this book truly unforgettable.
June 22, 2026
This is a story written with immense empathy and a sharp eye for human behavior. The way the characters navigate both major betrayals and subtle emotional shifts feels entirely authentic to the human experience. The central conflict over the family land is powerful, but the ultimate journey of shedding old skin and standing on new ground is what lingers in your mind.
June 22, 2026
A beautifully grounded novel that mirrors the complexities of real life. The author handles the delicate balance of past traumas and present realities with a remarkably steady, insightful hand. The unraveling of old family loyalties keeps you completely engaged, but the profound use of symbolism to explore healing and rebirth is what makes the story resonate so deeply.
October 18, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews