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Big Snake Little Snake
A meditation on the ever-constant allure of risk, fortune and fate from Booker Prize-winner DBC Pierre.
Big Snake Little Snake is a cascade of true stories by DBC Pierre, recorded while on his way to make a short film with a parrot in Trinidad, which not only examines the nature of gambling, the love affair between gambler and game and the mindset of obsessive practitioners, but aims to shed light on the invisible odds and outrageous chances of everyday life on Earth.
Snakes symbolise a road in a Trinidadian numbers game based on dreams and superstition. The inquiry was prompted by a little snake on Pierre's doorstep.
'If writers were athletes, DBC Pierre would be hanging out with the skydivers, the stunt-snowboarders and the white-water rafters' Independent
'One of the most original and seriously funny narrative voices' Observer
Big Snake Little Snake is a cascade of true stories by DBC Pierre, recorded while on his way to make a short film with a parrot in Trinidad, which not only examines the nature of gambling, the love affair between gambler and game and the mindset of obsessive practitioners, but aims to shed light on the invisible odds and outrageous chances of everyday life on Earth.
Snakes symbolise a road in a Trinidadian numbers game based on dreams and superstition. The inquiry was prompted by a little snake on Pierre's doorstep.
'If writers were athletes, DBC Pierre would be hanging out with the skydivers, the stunt-snowboarders and the white-water rafters' Independent
'One of the most original and seriously funny narrative voices' Observer
- GenresMemoir
176 pages, Hardcover
Published April 14, 2022
3 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
D.B.C. Pierre
39 books382 followersDBC Pierre is an Australian-born writer currently residing in Ireland. Born Peter Warren Finlay, the "DBC" stands for "Dirty But Clean". "Pierre" was a nickname bestowed on him by childhood friends after a cartoon character of that name.
Pierre was awarded the Booker Prize for fiction on 14 October 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little.
He is the third Australian to be so honoured, although he has told the British press that he prefers to consider himself a Mexican.
Pierre was awarded the Booker Prize for fiction on 14 October 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little.
He is the third Australian to be so honoured, although he has told the British press that he prefers to consider himself a Mexican.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 4, 2022
‘Stay with me as we ask: can we tune in to chaos and therefore influence chance?’
A friend told me about this book, and I was curious. I mean, snakes and risk belong in the same sentence in my universe, but where does the parrot fit in? So, I picked up a copy from the library and joined DBC Pierre (nom de plume of Australian Peter Finlay) in Jamaica. I’ve not read any of his work since ‘Vernon God Little’ and was not sure what to expect.
DBC Pierre was in Trinidad to make a short film about a parrot when he found a Little Snake on the doormat of the house he was staying in. He discovered that Little Snake is #27 in Trinidad and Tobago’s lottery game (Play Whe). Clearly a signal, clearly a guide to the ‘vibrant maths’ of the universe. Especially when he had a bet on that number and won. And that is the path DBC Pierre takes us down in the twenty-nine vignettes contained within this slender volume. The parrot is largely incidental.
Reading this book is like listening to a long conversation about building a theory of life around chance, chaos and coincidence. Sort of. It is amusing in parts and invites the reader (listener) to move beyond ‘binary logic’ by considering human and animal influences. It begins with a Little Snake and ends with possibility.
Along the way, I learned about the habits of smokers at betting shops, the challenges of the driveway at the house DBC Pierre was living at in Jamaica, and stories about life in Texas and Mexico.
Did I make sense of it all? No, not really, but I enjoyed the journey. And I am still wondering about how random ‘luck’ really is.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
A friend told me about this book, and I was curious. I mean, snakes and risk belong in the same sentence in my universe, but where does the parrot fit in? So, I picked up a copy from the library and joined DBC Pierre (nom de plume of Australian Peter Finlay) in Jamaica. I’ve not read any of his work since ‘Vernon God Little’ and was not sure what to expect.
DBC Pierre was in Trinidad to make a short film about a parrot when he found a Little Snake on the doormat of the house he was staying in. He discovered that Little Snake is #27 in Trinidad and Tobago’s lottery game (Play Whe). Clearly a signal, clearly a guide to the ‘vibrant maths’ of the universe. Especially when he had a bet on that number and won. And that is the path DBC Pierre takes us down in the twenty-nine vignettes contained within this slender volume. The parrot is largely incidental.
Reading this book is like listening to a long conversation about building a theory of life around chance, chaos and coincidence. Sort of. It is amusing in parts and invites the reader (listener) to move beyond ‘binary logic’ by considering human and animal influences. It begins with a Little Snake and ends with possibility.
Along the way, I learned about the habits of smokers at betting shops, the challenges of the driveway at the house DBC Pierre was living at in Jamaica, and stories about life in Texas and Mexico.
Did I make sense of it all? No, not really, but I enjoyed the journey. And I am still wondering about how random ‘luck’ really is.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
January 29, 2023
A series of vignettes that mostly describe dangerous or fun or unexpected situations that the author found himself in while staying on the island of Trinidad.
While reading them you may learn something about risk and chance, and contemplate the odds of you reading the book at all, or even being alive to do so.
Perhaps more importantly than that, you’ll be reading some writing which is dazzling, vivid and amusing, and which reminds you just how sometime a sentence can make you feel glad to be alive, whether or not you understand the concept being described.
I haven’t read all of his books but I’ll certainly go back and read the missing ones now.
While reading them you may learn something about risk and chance, and contemplate the odds of you reading the book at all, or even being alive to do so.
Perhaps more importantly than that, you’ll be reading some writing which is dazzling, vivid and amusing, and which reminds you just how sometime a sentence can make you feel glad to be alive, whether or not you understand the concept being described.
I haven’t read all of his books but I’ll certainly go back and read the missing ones now.
September 23, 2022
Inventive but densely written, requiring double takes to reread unusual combinations of words. Essentially says life is too complex to rely on probability and statistics; go with your gut. The vampire bat was a nice touch.
May 2, 2022
Marvellous. Quantum physics, parrots, risk gambling, Trinidad... a short inquiry.
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May 24, 2023To all my professors: please don’t make me read this shit again
November 15, 2025
First third of this takes some work but it really grows into itself
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews