An absolutely wonderful short story. It’s poignant and heartwarming. Lanmo is an incredible character and the depth this book manages to reach is profound considering its simplicity. I loved it so very much. ( )

http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2020/05/the-little-snake/ ( )

In which I cried when a snake danced with an old couple and his heart went _pitpatpitpat_ as he learnt another form of love. I'll be recommending to the Little Prince crowd as an unofficial sequel of sorts.

‘This is almost, but not quite, the whole of the story of something wonderful and terrible and strange.’

Since she arrived on the literary scene in the early 1990s A.L. Kennedy has been, I admit it up front, one of my favourite writers, and her books such as ‘So I Am Glad’ and ‘Day’ have shown her to be one of our finest living writers. This short book gets its UK publishing debut (it was originally published in Germany in 2016) and is a moving story for our times. Fable, allegory – call it what you will, it is superficially a simple tale of a young girl Mary who is befriended by a talking snake, whom she calls Lanmo, in her tiny garden in a city riven by social injustice and in a land torn apart by war and devastation. The language is often simple, childlike, as we re-learn to see the world through the innocent and prelapsarian eyes of the young, and as Lanmo, centuries old, starts to appreciate the basic humanity and love in (some) people.

The myth or fable analogies are numerous, from the serpent in the garden of Eden, to fairy tale elements such as kindly grandmothers and siblings banished and exiled. In such a short book Kennedy’s mastery takes swipes at the education system, poverty and social injustice, the futility of war, and the plight of migrants. None of this is done in a preachy way, the structure and style of the fable-like story simply and perfectly illustrates her points. There are moments of love and humanity, of friendship and hope, to offset the bleak vision. Kennedy always has a way of playing with language, to cut through to basic emotions and leave you, once the final word has been read, thoughtful and deeply moved. This is a wonderful parable for our times, and I urge you to read it! A definite five-star recommend!

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.) ( )

This is a very short book, a novella really, but utterly charming. It’s the story of Mary, who lives in a city where the people fly kites from their roofs, in an apartment that was ‘only a little bit squashed’, and whose ‘pipes only leaked on Monday and Wednesdays and at weekends’. But Mary doesn’t see the hardships that her father and mother face, she know she lives in ‘a friendly city filled with good things and happiness’. And one day a snake comes to visit, a snake called Lanmo who has lived in the world for a very long time, and struggles to understand the ways of humans. When ‘he opened his beautiful mouth and his tiny needle teeth shone white as bone’ it was usually the last thing that a human ever saw, but Mary and Lanmo form a lasting bond which outlasts the city in which they meet.

[The Little Snake] apparently draws heavily on [Le Petit Prince] but as I’ve never read that book I can’t really comment. But it’s a lovely fable in its own right, and recommended. ( )