…[a] brief, moving parable…There seems to be no situation, however awkward or mundane, in which Kennedy can't discover humor and humanity. In The Little Snake, the swift emotional slippages click along, one after another, sentence after sentence, like an intricate concatenation of rainbow-bright dominoes. Funny, surprising and unexpected, her individual sentences seem to follow inevitably from the equally surprising sentences that precede them…Kennedy's proselike the endlessly unreeling speculations of her most interesting charactersis simultaneously logical and illogical, sad and funny, simple and profound, turning over and over in endless permutations, like an elegant small snake wrestling against the constraints of its own shiny and menacing skin.
The New York Times Book Review - Scott Bradfield
A profound writer.
A world class fiction writer.
New York Times Book Review
There’s a perpetual sense of danger in [Kennedy’s] fiction, which is partly why it’s so thrilling to read.
Like a mirror reflecting our cracked souls. . . . A. L. Kennedy is painfully detailed about our human flaws and describes them so realistically, the reader dives into each sentence.
"Deeply moving.... Kennedy knows how to write pain in all its stark detail, while managing to gently highlight the humor in the tragic reality of life."
Randy, crabby and dangerous to read… Kennedy is a master of the whomping good phrase.
One of the bright young stars among contemporary British writers.
Randy, crabby and dangerous to read… Kennedy is a master of the whomping good phrase.
There’s a perpetual sense of danger in [Kennedy’s] fiction, which is partly why it’s so thrilling to read.
Like a mirror reflecting our cracked souls. . . . A. L. Kennedy is painfully detailed about our human flaws and describes them so realistically, the reader dives into each sentence.
A.L. Kennedy is almost unique among British novelists for her ability to write fiction that is at once challengingly experimental, luminously beautiful and utterly readable. It helps that she is fiercely observant and very funny . . . If you want a guide to the rough contradictions of the heart, A.L. Kennedy is your woman
The Little Snake has the taste of allegory, myth, and epic adventure all in one tiny book… Sometimes heartbreaking and always charming, this is a good crossover story that will enhance a reader’s understanding of modern day refugees.
Kennedy strips her characters emotionally bare
Kennedy is a singular, superlative author
★ 2018-09-02
This inventive fable tells of a special snake, the young girl it befriends, and the things they learn from each other.
Mary is "a remarkable, wise little girl" who enjoys a garden about the size of a big tablecloth atop a building in which the "pipes only leaked on Mondays and Wednesdays." Sometimes food is short, but her city is "filled with good things." Then a small golden snake named Lanmo appears. It is "immensely handsome," wise, agile, and possessed of "a beautiful speaking voice" that can be "like buttered velvet" or "like being hugged with warm towels after a long bath." The snake teaches the "Very Attractive Girls" at Mary's school not to be nasty partly by turning into "a giant glimmering golden cobra rising from the dirty tarmac of the playground." Kennedy (Serious Sweet , 2016, etc.) will doubtless charm many readers in the early pages of this novella, but it's soon clear that she has more in mind. For one thing, the snake leaves Mary and speeds around the world to remove from life those whose time has come. Yes, Lanmo, whose "tiny needle teeth shone white as bone," is the grim creeper. For another, when he returns to Mary from often long periods of biting, her life among the have-nots has worsened, until she must leave her city and seek a new life elsewhere. Kennedy manages the considerable feat of touching freshly and often amusingly on friendship, love, honesty, education, hunger, greed, aging, war, courage, and displacement without getting preachy or patronizing. Her own voice recalls Lewis Carroll and his gift for taking children and their challenges seriously while using language and logic to have fun in the process.
A delightful read with the earmarks of a classic.
After entering Kennedy’s world, it’s hard to find a way out . . . In The Little Snake , the swift emotional slippages click along, one after another, sentence after sentence, like an intricate concatenation of rainbow-bright dominoes. Funny, surprising and unexpected . . . Kennedy’s prose—like the endlessly unreeling speculations of her most interesting characters—is simultaneously logical and illogical, sad and funny, simple and profound, turning over and over in endless permutations, like an elegant small snake wrestling against the constraints of its own shiny and menacing skin” New York Times
“Charming lessons in life, death and kindness . . . This heartwarming fable is a reassuring read for anyone, young or old, coming to terms with mortality . . . Hugely moving” Guardian
“Teaches its protagonists lessons about cruelty, mortality and above all, love . . . [An] enchanting modern fairy tale . . . A fable for our time . . . Kennedy’s humor and lightness of touch serves to underscore her serious intent: an urgent reminder of the small and great things that actually give life its meaning” Financial Times
“A miniature fable . . . In this bitter age of broken borders, this timely, timeless story's large helping of sugar is not unwelcome” Sunday Times
“An homage to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince , this fairytale novella is a simple but sumptuous read” Telegraph
“Playful . . . sweet, sad, but always a hairsbreadth away from whimsy, it's told in a soothing tone that, for better or worse, makes you feel as if you're sitting cross-legged on a classroom carpet” Daily Mail