THE SERPENT KING

Zentner, J. (2016).  The Serpent King. New York, NY: Crown.

Three teenager best friends who live in Forrestville, Nashville are seniors in high school and about to graduate, Travis dreams of writing fantasy novels, Lydia Blankenship runs a fashion blog and dreams of going to school in New York, and Dill Early Jr dreams of doing something with music.  Dill is the son of a Pentecostal snake handling minister who sees snakes as some form of salvation. The three teenagers are best friends and often find comfort within themselves.

 Dill’s father has been in jail for the last several years for having child pornography and the sad thing is that Dill is still being blamed by not only by the town, but by his actual mother till this day.  His father was an extreme faith beliefs and trouble with the law has been the reason for him being bullied at school.  Dill is secretly in love with Lydia and hates the fact that she’s leaving after graduation.

Travis Bohannon red hair and over 6 feet height makes him stand out.  You’d think he’s was as horrid as his dad, needless to say, they were complete opposites.    He and his mother are physically and mentally abused by his dad, yet he still puts up a front working in his fathers lumberyard.  He’s escape from reality is to immerse himself in fantasy books, something his father hates with a passion. 

Lydia doesn’t have money problems and her life seems pretty easy compared to Dill and Travis.  She has professional and loving parents, one might think she’d be too stuck up to hang with Dill and Travis, but she doesn’t see that and pushed Dill towards being better and to care about himself.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen parents that don’t care if their child finishes school as long as they help pay for house bills.  And then you have those that are more messed up themselves and think that they have the right to abuse their family.  What people don’t understand is that, sometimes without some type of guidance people will stay in abusive relationships until something drastic happens and they can’t turn back the time.  Like in the case of Travis and his mom, he’s run out of his home by his dad, led him to live in a car.   He then is shot and killed, which causes Dill to loose hope and fall into a deep depression.  After his death his mom leaves her husband. 

I really like this realistic coming of age novel.  Even with different backgrounds, upbringings, and religion impact the way you carry yourself, it’s the strong with a group of friends that helps you keep it together, learning to cope with everyday life.  Life is short, do what you want to do because at the end, you don’t take anything with you when you die.   This novel won the William C. Morris Award. 

• This is the Serpent King book trailer.

• Goodbye Days is also by Jeff Zenter. This book is about the heart-breaking and at times humorous look at one teen's life after the death of his best friends and how he navigates through the guilt and pain by celebrating their lives--and ultimately learns to forgive himself.