Snakebite Sonnet

by Max Phillips

The romance of Nicholas, 10, who falls in love with Julia, 19. As Julia already has a boyfriend, he has to wait until he goes to college, where she will be a graduate student. What follows is a tempestuous on-and-off affair, narrated by self-deprecating Nicholas, a victim of Julia's fickle love.

Genres: Fiction

273 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Max Phillips has received an Academy of American Poets Prize and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his stories have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Partisan Review, and the Village Voice, among other publications.

Forrest Devoe Jr. is the pen name of Max Phillips. In addition to cofounding the pulp revival imprint Hard Case Crime, he has authored one of its debut titles, Fade to Blonde, as well as the literary novels The Artist's Wife and Snakebite Sonnet.

He is married and lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas is an artistic soul who, at the age of 10, falls deeply, irrevocably in love with an older woman named Julia. His life is characterized by his encounters with her and her treatment of him.
I am still not sure exactly what to say in review of this book. I can’t decide whether it is roughly poetic or vulgar and trying too hard. The phrase ‘masturbatory fantasy’ springs to mind. Nevertheless, the characters are extremely genuine. None seem to have contradictory motives or behave in a way that seems out of character for them. They are real people and not caricatures. Nick is a ridiculously self-aware narrator, and honest with the reader about his motivations as they contradict his dialogue. He is fascinating.
As a side note, the author is also incredibly well-informed on the subject of out-of-the-ordinary art forms, describing the processes of copper etchings and book binding, and other things I don’t exactly have a name for. It was quite interesting to read about, and the descriptions did not interrupt the flow of the narrative.
I enjoyed this book immensely, although I would not recommend it to just anyone. I think it takes a somewhat scattered individual with no qualms about graphic sex and general crudeness of language.

[Frena · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favourite book.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neurotisch-derbes "Sie-kriegen-sich-sie-kriegen-sich-nicht". Artsy, bisweilen ein wenig drüber, aber selbstironisch und witzig.

[Punk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction. At the tender age of ten, Nicholas Wertheim falls in love with Julia Turrell and never really recovers. This book pushes my button marked doomed childhood romances which we eventually, after much obsession and sulking, overcome. Except, maybe not so much with the overcoming. I read this when it first came out in 1996 and ever since I've thought back on it fondly, if vaguely. The writing is as fantastic as I remember, playful and surprising. The obsession, however, gets a little tedious in the second-half of the book where Nick's wallowing and self-destructive behavior really get out of hand. That definitely could have been shorter, but sometimes you have to sweat the poison out and Nick does, eventually, get better. Not perfect, but functional. This has a bittersweet ending, and though I get the feeling my teenaged self enjoyed the wallowing way more than I did, the book itself is still excellent despite its few rough spots.

Be advised: There is some brief sexual contact between brother and sister. They're twins, and it's consensual and mostly just "practice" kissing. It didn't bother me, and, objectively, the kissing's pretty hot. Phillips has a real way with writing bodies and sex -- and there's a lot of it in here -- earthy and desperate. Some guy on the back of this book says, "Max Phillips portrays, perfectly, man reaching for his pants." It's true.

[Roy Jeffords · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phillips has written the story the young boy inside every man wishes he had the courage to tell. He captures the pain of that first love beautifully, but makes it larger and more difficult than it should be. I found myself wanting to yell, "Get over it," more often than I should have. His writing is excellent, with passages that make it seem as if he has peered into the reader's soul and written about what he found hidden away in the corner. The book reads much like a condensed version of Tim Sandlin's Skipped Parts trilogy. The clean, tight prose makes it a good read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my most favorite popular fiction book, but I have no idea why! Perhaps it is the way the poem and the text play off of each other. Perhaps it is the well-developed characters and the way they make their way across the stage that is the book. Perhaps it is the way that Nick and Julia's worlds contiue to collide throughout the story, as the pursuit of reality and the pursuit of fantasy blend together. Whatever the reason, I always enjoy reading it.