Review: Snake Island

Snake Island by Ben Hobson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm going to try and keep this brief because I just started a week of annual leave and I have a lot of books waiting patiently for my attention!

I'm still not sure how I feel about this one, to be honest. It was an easy enough read, sure, but towards the end I was over it a little bit, and that led to a little skimming. There is a LOT of guilt in this book and there's only so much of people feeling sorry for themselves that I can put up with.

Plot: Caleb Moore is in prison after beating the snot out of his wife. His parents, Vernon and Penelope, don't want anything to do with him, but then they discover he's copping beatings himself from Brendan Cahill, and it begins a chain reaction of sordid activity from a bunch of cowards and a-holes in a small Aussie town.

It's an intriguing story, but these characters are all pretty easy to despise. Let me break it down:
Caleb: Wife beater
Vernon: Solves problems with threats
Sharon: No backbone
The entire Cahill family: Drug-dealing losers who solve all problems with violence
Rev. Kelly: Preacher of the worst kind of preaching

I despised them all, basically, which does not make for a good time.

I did, however, enjoy that contemplation of family relationship vs my-son-is-a-scumbag. I mean, I kinda hate it a little bit that we're supposed to feel sorry for a guy who pummelled his wife, but I do think it's important to show that parents should support their kids no matter what, even if they don't approve of the behaviour.

Sidebar: I remember asking my mum once when I was a teenager if she would stick by me if I murdered someone (I was a dark kid, I guess). And I'm pretty sure she was a bit conflicted over me asking such a morbid question (sorry mum) but she answered that I would never do that, and if I did I'd have had a pretty good reason. And she hoped that I would never murder anyone but whatever wrong choices I made I was her daughter and she would love me no matter what. (Just to clarify: I have never murdered anyone, nor do I intend to. I'm a very nice person. Please don't be afraid.)

So yeah, I think it was pretty interesting for me to feel the conflict between hating this wife-beater but also supporting his parents in wanting to protect him. Such a fascinating dynamic.

Of course, once that was kind of discussed, we were left with the rest of the sordid activities and violence and basically everyone solving things with their fists and guns and rolling over and letting themselves be manipulated. This was not a fun time.

There are a lot of moral grey areas here and conflicting ideas, wondering what you'd do in a similar situation, but overall I just got so sick of reading about these people who brought their troubles on themselves. It made me sad.

Also, hated the writing style. Short sentences. Poorly formatted. Incomplete. Ideas not properly explained. Can't even demonstrate properly with this sentence. Too terrible. Beyond my skill. Choppy. Lazy. PLEASE JUST USE COMPLETE SENTENCES AND IDEAS. I need that sweet, sweet flow of language.

All in all, some great ideas to contemplate, horrible characters and writing you will either love or hate. I didn't hate it, but it's not one I'll be raving about any time soon.

With thanks to A&U for an uncorrected proof copy to read and review.

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