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    Snakewoman of Little Egypt: A Novel
    Snakewoman of Little Egypt: A Novel
    Snakewoman of Little Egypt: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Snakewoman of Little Egypt: A Novel

    Written by Robert Hellenga

    Narrated by Coleen Marlo

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    On the morning of his fortieth birthday, anthropology professor Jackson Jones contemplates his future: Should he go back to Africa, where he did his fieldwork, and live with the Mbuti, or should he marry and settle down in the Midwest, where he now teaches?

    On the morning of her release from prison, Sunny, who grew up in a snake-handling church in the Little Egypt region of Southern Illinois, rents a garage apartment from Jackson. She's been serving a five-year sentence for shooting, but not killing, her husband, the pastor of the Church of the Burning Bush with Signs Following after he forced her at gunpoint to put her arm in a box of rattlesnakes.

    Sunny and Jackson become lovers, but they're pulled in different directions. Sunny, drawn to science and eager to put her snake-handling past behind her, enrolls at the university. Jackson, however, takes a professional interest in the religious ecstasy exhibited by the snake handlers. Push comes to shove in a novel packed with wit, substance, and emotional depth. Snakewoman of Little Egypt delivers Robert Hellenga at the top of his form.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 14, 2010
    ISBN9781400187911
    Snakewoman of Little Egypt: A Novel
    Author

    Robert Hellenga

    Robert Hellenga was educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton University. He is a professor at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and the author of the novels The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, Philosophy Made Simple, and The Italian Lover.

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    Reviews for Snakewoman of Little Egypt

    3.5/5

    134 ratings48 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I had difficulty finishing this book. I enjoyed the detail the author included regarding snakes, squirrels, African tribes etc but it bogged me down. I didn't really care for or about any of the main characters; the relationship between Sunny and Jackson didn't ring true.
    • 1/5
      It is well written, but I am choosing not to finish it. It's a personal aversion to sexual crudity. If that doesn't bother you, I have a copy you can have.
    • 3/5
      This novel wins in it unusual subject matter. Jackson is a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Once an anthropologist with a bright future, it has now been years since he published anything. His first book was about the time he spent with a native tribe deep in the Congo. Now he wonders whether he should remain in the states or move back to Africa to search for his native lover and unknown daughter. Right at the cusp of this decision he meets Sunny, a thirty year old woman just released from prison after a six year sentence. She was jailed for (non-fatally) shooting her husband after he forced her to shove her arm into a box full of rattlesnakes. Sunny was raised in a church in Southern Illinois that advocated the handling of snakes and the drinking of poison. Sunny and Jackson have an immediate connection. They can learn a lot from each other, and Jackson begins to wonder if he should do a study on the snake-handling culture. But when Earl, Sunny's husband, won't sign the divorce papers and comes looking for her, Jackson finds himself in the undesirable position of Sunny's protector. Well written, but odd, I felt this novel provided a lot of food for thought but tied things up too neatly at the end. Intriguing and thought-provoking. Exciting!
    • 3/5
      I liked the idea of this book more than I actually liked the experience of reading the book. The basic premise is this: the snakewoman of the title is leaving prison as the story begins. She has spent 6 years there for shooting her Pentecostal pastor husband after he forced her to stick her hand in a box of rattlesnakes. Her recently deceased uncle has left her all his possessions in a different town, and she moves into his old apartment on the property of a college anthropology professor, where she takes up her uncle's old post as the property caretaker. She quickly begins an affair with the professor, and while she is interested in leaving behind the ways of her charismatic Pentecostal background in favor of getting an education and joining the mainstream modern world, the anthropologist is intensely drawn to the idea of her snake-handling past.

      I found the contrast of the lovers' conflicting expectations for the woman's future to be a fascinating subject, but I kept wishing that Daniel Woodrell had written this novel instead. I just didn't find Sunny, the main character, to be a believable backwoods gal heading into the modern world. She was supposed to be this kind of tough, driven person, but her character frequently seemed too dopey somehow. Part of the novel is written 1st person in her voice, and those were the parts that kind of grated on me. I didn't feel the author had as much respect for Sunny as I wished he did. I did finish the book -- I really liked the idea of this story, but somehow it didn't gel for me.
    • 3/5
      3.5*

      Willa Fern (Sunny) Cochrane has been in prison for 5 years for shooting (not killing) her husband. She claims it was self-defense; he held a gun to her head and forced her to put her arm in a box of rattlesnakes.

      Professor Jackson Jones is recovering from Lyme disease, and a miasma that comes from leaving his love – the Mbuti tribe of Africa. His late caretaker was Sunny’s uncle and has made Jackson promise to care for her when she’s released.

      This is a great premise for a novel, and I was completely hooked into the story from the beginning. But I felt Hellenga kept a bit too much distance between the reader and his characters. I wanted to know more about the WHY of what they did, and I didn’t get any answer to that. I was confused about some of their actions … again, why did they make certain choices or react certain ways. Instead I got a lot of information and miscellaneous facts – about serpents, or indigenous peoples in Africa, or field dressing a deer. Still the story kept me riveted, and there were twists in the plot line that I really didn’t expect. I would definitely read another book by Hellenga.

    • 3/5
      Chapter 21 - "Carmina Burana" - THAT is enough of a "hook" to get my interest.
      WNIU (Northern IL Univ. Public Radio) book of the month by Knox College English Professor.
      I have several other of his books on my bookshelves, also.
      I liked the book - something "different" than I expected to be reading.
      Plus, learned much more about Timpani.
      Book is a good read, but mostly - it reminds me to remind you - if you have never attended live performance of Carmina Burana - Go, Go, GO !!!!
      The Timpani "Big Ending" is well worth it !!!!
    • 4/5
      I very much enjoyed Sunny's story. The characters were interesting and well drawn, and I found the plot to be unique and interesting. Sunny grew to be a strong, competent woman, someone I would enjoy meeting. I love that she becomes a scientist interested in snakes, despite the horrible snake handling religion she was exposed to. I'll definitely read more of Hellenga's novels. Reccommended if you enjoy great characters and an offbeat story.
    • 2/5
      I have to agree with many of the other reviewers that although the detail and information about the snake handling, religion and anthropology is interesting, it did tend to bog down the story. It felt like too much detail for too little plot. Thanks for the opportunity to read it.
    • 2/5
      For some reason, I was bored by this book. The "snake-woman" was a likeable enough character, who had many typical human failings. I think what bored me were all the little details. There were too many. Also, the plot lacked substance. As a character study, I enjoyed the book somewhat, but there was just nothing that gripped me and made me want to find out more. It was a book that could be too easily put down. 
    • 4/5
      Well written story with interesting characters. I plan to look for more Robert Hellenga books in the future!
    • 5/5
      Right off-hand, I can't think of anything else I've read that's even remotely similar to Robert Hellenga's novel, SNAKEWOMAN OF LITTLE EGYPT. It's that unique. And it grabs you from page one and doesn't let go until, until ... Well, actually it hasn't let go yet, and I finished reading it a couple days ago.Two main characters: Jackson Jones, an anthropologist at a fictional midwest university who has been to the heart of darkness and studied the little people of The Forest up close and personal; and Sunny (aka Willa Fern) Cochrane, just released after serving six years in a women's prison for shooting (but not killing) her husband, Earl, a controlling, chauvinistic, snake-handling charismatic Pentecostal-type preacher. Sunny too, in many ways, has visited that 'heart of darkness' right in her home country of 'Little Egypt' in southern Illinois. After a dozen or so years of marriage (at age sixteen) to Earl, she finds it stifling and not very much to her liking. Prison gives her a chance to reflect, as well as earning her GED. She lost her faith there too, "from reading the Bible.""But it wasn't so bad, losing my faith. It was a relief, in fact, not having to worry about salvation all the time, not having to worry about every little thing you do because God was watching over your shoulder every second of every day ... I may have been in prison, but I felt like I was finally free."So, at age 35, she renames herself Sunny, to reflect her new, free, positive attitude, and, thanks to the generosity and kindness of a late uncle, she enrolls at Thomas Ford U, and, soon, comes to live with professor Jackson Jones. So you've got this rather unorthodox professor and this snake-handling ex-con. Mismatch? You'd think so, but nope. Hellenga makes it all so believable and real that you just keep on turning the pages and wondering what in the hell is gonna happen next. And he packs his narrative full of absolutely fascinating esoteric stuff about pygmies in Africa, rattlesnakes in the rural south and midwest, and the Pentecostal characters of Earl's Church of the Burning Bush with Signs Following, who handle serpents, speak in toungues and play some of the best - and maybe LOUDest - gospel blues music ever heard in southern Illinois. (This interest in blues was dominant in Hellenga's wonderful third novel, BLUES LESSONS.)The story starts in 1999, so there's a lot of stuff here too about the new millenium and all the fears and panic associated with that time. And there are is lots of Bible-thumping and quoting, as well as plenty of equal time given to the opposite views - Darwinism, evolution and anthropology. Handling snakes - and guns - can lead to bad things, of course, and bad things do indeed happen in SNAKEWOMAN. There is a murder trial too, maybe one of the best fictional trials I've read in some time. And there is a gentle denouement in the final two chapters, "Paris" and "Joie de Vivre," which are immensely satisfying, wise and, I think, appropriate.Jackson and Sunny are great characters I didn't want to let go. (In fact, I'm kinda half hoping there will be a sequel some day.) I read the book in just a few sittings over a few days. I didn't want it to end, but, as I said, a great 'denouement.' I mean, this guy Hellenga can write with a capital W! Fortunately, there are three more Hellenga novels I have not yet read. But soon, I hope. I will recommend this book highly to all my serious reader friends.
    • 3/5
      As he turns 40, anthropology professor Jackson Jones can’t decide whether he should go back to Africa where he did his fieldwork, or settle down at the university where he is. At the same time, Sunny, who grew up in a snake handling church in southern Illinois, rents a garage apartment from Jackson. She’s just been released from jail where she served five years for shooting, but not killing, her husband after he forced her at gunpoint to put her arm in a box of rattlesnakes. Of course, Sunny & Jackson commence a relationship.I didn’t find Sunny’s metamorphosis or her relationship with Jackson plausible, nor could I warm to Sunny, Jackson, or Sunny’s ex-husband, Earl. My overall reaction: ‘meh’.I received this as part of the Early Reviewers program and I’m sorry I can’t give it a higher rating.
    • 4/5
      This was an early review book. I requested it because many years ago I had read a novel by Hellenga and remembered liking it. This did not disappoint me. I found the characters alive, interesting, ecelectic. And the plot includes learning about snake-handlers as a religion, relationships, and just what should one do with his/her life and what is most important in living and working with people. The writing was fast paced and as the pages went by I felt a connection with the main characters and cared about their choices and their welfare. The jacket blurb hooked me saying that Sunny was released from prison because she tried to kill her husband because he forced her to put her hand in a box of rattlesnakes. He is pastor of the Church of the Burning Bush with Signs Following. The story follows two main characters: Sonny who after being released from prison pursues a college education and Jackson who is an anthropology professor at the university, overcoming Lyme disease and tryng to decide if he should return to Africa to find his Mbuti girlfriend and his daughter. They have a mutual connection who brings them together and their lives and stories become intertwined. The reason I did not rate this with five stars is that Jackson's attraction to Sonny's ex-husband Earl and his snake-handling sometimes seems a bit forced. Although Hellenga adequately provides how the attraction could be, I still found it a bit forced because he needed it for the growth of Sunny and for a decision Jackson needed to make. I would recommend this book. It can be funny, poignant and there is fascinating information on such things as killing a groundhog, and studying the habitat of snakes. Very satisfying.
    • 4/5
      Interesting plot, definitely had an unexpected ending. I enjoyed the mix of anthropology and religion but felt that it was a bit overdone at times. However, the characters were intriguing and it was one of the more unique books I have read!
    • 4/5
      This book was definitely better than average and held my interest start to finish. The characters were interesting, believable and mostly likable. It was a little difficult to understand Claire, who should have been jealous but ended up being a real friend to Sunny. Sunny herself was certainly a case of arrested developement, as she pretty much missed being a young adult having married so young to a very controling, abusive person. This is the first book I've read by this author; I may well look for more.
    • 4/5
      Jackson Jones is an anthropologist, caught in the past and looking for a new direction in life. Sunny is a recently-released convicted felon, self-actualized and looking to start anew. When their lives connect, they begin to realize a comfortable, albeit unusual, connection and embark on a life together. As Jackson finds inspiration in Sunny's past life, Sunny embraces the academic rhythms of life as a college student, choices that continue to bring them together and move them apart. In their new lives, Jackson and Sunny ultimately discover their own personal truths.The novel is split between the perspectives of Jackson and Sunny, but Sunny's voice is what drew me in and I could have read an entire novel from her perspective. As she emerges from prison, she is already a confident and opinionated woman with goals and a strong idea of who she is. However, through her anecdotes of an early teenage marriage and living within a rattlesnake worshiping church, we can see that she wasn't always this way. Jackson struggles with his own demons, and his tendency to push the limits with his fieldwork is a reoccurring problem.Snakewoman of Little Egypt is full of delicious little nuggets of information and I was continually intrigued with facts about adaptive squirrel behavior, timpani playing, Mbuti social interactions and more. But the story of Sunny and Jackson, and their journeys, both together and personal, can stand on its own. I liked this book.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: An anthropology professor, and an ex-con convicted of attempted murder of her husband, find themselves in an unlikely romance. Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different: Jackson is an intellectual who dreams of returning to Africa where he spent years doing fieldwork; Sunny was brought up in a zealous snake-handling church. While on the surface the two couldn’t seem to be more different, they find kinship in their being products of uncommon cultures, mutually understanding what it’s like to be shaped by the atypical. As an anthropologist, Jackson finds himself inexplicably drawn to Sunny’s former church, and its unusual spirituality. Sunny, now a college student studying science, is attracted to academic life. Their relationship serves as a catalyst towards individual journeys of self-discovery.What I liked: Hellenga brings into his novels a plethora of information about interesting things and manages to seamlessly and convincingly weave them into his characters and plot. From the nuances of snake-handling and playing the timpani, to how ground squirrels use infrared to repel snakes, this is a smorgasbord of joyously digestible biological and sociological factoids. You can’t read this book without coming away with new knowledge. The romantic friendship between Jackson and Sunny is sweet, and their individual life-journeys and pleasure to witness. Actually, there wasn’t really anything I didn’t like in this book. For an unusual and satisfying change of reading-pace, I recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      On the surface this is a novel about two radically different individuals (a college professor and a convicted felon) whose lives cross paths in a not as boring as it might seem mid-western college town. The surface story with its voyueristic look at the snake handling world of Holiness churches is compelling enough, but the real meat of the novel is in its philisophical bent.Jackson (college professor) early on becomes fascinated with dust motes. He observes that you can only see them when you are looking directly at a beam of sunlight. If you look along the beam (or th beam is absent) they are invisible.In time he comes to understand that the motes are a metaphor for how we chose to live our lives.- standing on the outside seeing everything or in the stream experiencing everything.
    • 1/5
      the concept of the story was interesting but the got frazzled into too many directions. mbuti, pymys, snake handlers and churches. i still dont know why sunny fell in love woth jackson. the whole chemestry and courtship was missing and then the sudden move to africa just did not make sense to me.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of a woman who grew up in the Little Egypt area of Illinois where she was a part of a snake handling church. After being released from prison for shooting, but not killing her husband, she goes to live in her recently deceased Uncle’s apartment above an anthropologist professor’s garage. As she re-starts her life she is faced with confronting her past – the church, her husband, and her new outlook on life. In the beginning I really enjoyed this book, but after awhile I was disappointed. I felt like Sunny was cold, rude, and did not seem to care about the feelings of others; however everyone seemed to swoon over her. The characters, while developed well, went against their characterization at times. I believed that the story started off well enough, but was unable to deliver on its potential and eventually became contrived. Besides the problems I had with the story itself, the book was riddled with typos that made me wonder if it had even been proof read.
    • 5/5
      This was a wonderful read. This book draws the reader in from the first page and keeps you turning until the last. I found the characters well developed and very interesting. It is a story of fundamentalists, anthropologists and college students. Sunny is an ex con who upon being released enrolls in a local college, Earl, her husband has not been told of her release on Sunnys request. But soon Earl finds out and finds where she lives when Sunny asks for a divorce and this starts a chain of events that almost lands Sunny in jail again. An excellent book, a great read! You will be reading well into the night to find out what will happen.
    • 4/5
      Robert Hellenga has written a story that involves the reader with his characters and draws the reader into the world of fundamentalist Christianity, university life, and discovery of self. This is a solid story that builds characters that are believable and easily identified with. The plot moves steadily through the experiences and beliefs of Sunny, an ex con who enrolls at the local university, Earl, her ex husband and fundamentalist preacher, and Jackson, a professor/ anthropologist at the university. Secondary characters, Claire, DX, and Cramer, are also well delineated.This story held my attention and made me want to keep reading. It ranged from a relaxed, enjoyable read to one that was filled with intensity, stress, and excitement. While the conclusion was filled with logical possibilitities, this reader did not find it a satisfying one.
    • 4/5
      There is quite a cast of characters in this story. Earl is a snake-handling preacher who forced his wife at gunpoint to put her arm into a cage of rattlers. She retaliated by shooting him and was sent to prison for six years. On her release she changes her name to relect a new life... Sunny finds a new home with Jackson, an anthropologist who lived with African pygmies long enough to consider adopting their lifestyle, and who develops a near fatal interest in the snake-handler's religious group. These three form a kind of love triangle, further complicated by Claire, Jackson's former lover and now would-be mentor to Sunny. Complicated, but enjoyable and interesting reading.
    • 4/5
      How could you not be intrigued by the cast of characters Robert Hellenga creates for us in Snakewoman of Little Egypt? First, there's the anthropologist, Jackson, who has lived in the Congo, has a Pygmy daughter there, and is living in Illinois, recovering from a long bout of Lyme Disease. Into the picture walks Sunny, just released from six years of prison for shooting her abusive husband, Earl. There's Earl, a backwoods preacher with a congregation that speaks in tongues and handles rattlesnakes to prove their faith. Then there's Claire, English professor, Jackson's friend and sometimes lover, married to a minister, determined to be Sunny's teacher and friend. Hellenga's story just flows, making all of the eccentricities seem natural. The relationships in this story are complicated but satisfying, with no pat answers. It is a story that I enjoyed reading.
    • 5/5
      Wow, this was a fantastic book. Willa Fern gets out of jail, changes her name to Sunny and meets up with a college professor anthropologist who becomes her lover. But her new lover gets interested in Sunny's previous life in the snake-handling Holiness church in southern Illinois and befriends her former husband, Earl, the preacher of the church. So this book is part romance, part murder trial, part coming-of-age novel. The characters are great, very complex and unpredictable. My only question is what happened to MawMaw Tucker after the Bush Arbor meeting?
    • 3/5
      Sunny the convicted felon, mature university student and battered bride of Earl. Jackson the anthropology professor who took his work too far, obsessed with a tribe of pygmies in Africa. Earl the snake handling preacher, fisherman and former fighter. Each of these characters left me a little baffled. The story of Snakewoman of Little Egypt was like a series of ribbons that were twisted and twirled around each other but they never stuck together. Each of the characters was more than a little over the top which was fine but they never gelled together. Too many aspects of the story seemed untold. The story is told by Jackson and Sunny. The mixing of stories from a religious and scientific perspective could have been very interesting but just never quite got there. The book was not hard to read and flowed well but just never really grabbed me.
    • 4/5
      This book was surprising in many ways. When you think about the elements included in the book such as an anthropologist who studied Mubuti pygmies, a church of snake handlers, a woman who went to prison for shooting her husband, a college campus, a murder trial, and a prison, you have a pretty diverse set of circumstances. Somehow Robert Hellenga ties these components together into a highly unique and original story and makes it work.The book contains cultural elements from all of the components and the anthropologists perspective. It is full of fascinating facts about cultures, snakes and many other literary references. There is something to be discovered on every page. The book is written from two perspectives. Sunny (aka Fern) speaks to the reader in first person. She has made many mistakes and is somewhat backwoods and naive. She has a strong voice and is a unique character. There is also Jackson, ho is an anthropologist and speaks to the readerbin third person...primarily speaking as an anthrpologist would. Of the two, Sunny is a deeper character but both were interesting. The bok follows their journeys over several years and shows how two people can grow together or apart.The reader does have to work a bit to get their brain wrapped around so many different elements and fact. But if you are looking for a book that is original and unique fhis is a great choice.Reader received a complimentary copy of this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers program.
    • 4/5
      In an earlier phase of life, I was involved enough in cultural anthropology to earn a bachelors degree in it from a very prestigious university. The intricacies of various societies and cultures still hold great fascination. And, as I have loved several books by Robert Hellenga, there was great anticipation in reading this novel. After all, it involved and anthropologist and references to not one, but two cultures (Mbuti and snake-handlers), a young woman recently released from prison after shooting her husband, biology research in Herpetology, culture and ideology, all at the turn of the millennium (or the year before, depending on who you believe.)While the novel was interesting, it didn't grab in in quite the same way other novels of Hellenga's have (The Sixteen Pleasures being one of my all-time favorites.) I found myself a bit distracted, piecing together relationships and references to previous novels (remember Norma Jean, the elephant, in Philosophy Made Simple?), and not becoming fully immersed in Sunny and Jackson's world or them as characters. (I probably learned more than I ever wanted to about snakes and snake handling. Not my thing, but still fascinating.) Of the two main characters, Sunny perhaps reached out to me a bit more; Jackson being more of a sad-sack who came back to life when she entered his. Some of the science I learned/refreshed in her studies was a definite plus for me. Another odd aside: I just spent a few hours last Sunday wondering about timpani and how music was written for them etc. Thanks to Mr HEllega, I now actually understand a bit more.Many thanks to LibraryThing and the Early Reviewers program, and to the publisher, who sent this book. And many thanks to Mr Hellenga for writing yet another book which took me to another place and taught me something in the reading.
    • 2/5
      The novel is full of information on pygmies in the Congo timpani drums,snake handling,women’s prison and campus life.Unfortunately all these odd and random events do not come together to make an interesting story.
    • 4/5
      An interesting read that manages to tie together research on pygmies in the Congo, a church focused on snake handling, campus life, and a women's prison. It offers a look at a culture within the US of which relatively few outsiders are aware.