Eine Strumpfbandnatter by Donna Tartt

Eine Strumpfbandnatter Reviews

• 
  Annet

  This is not a story about Mel Gibson! This is a short story of Donna Tartt!!! :-) Extra note: I added a quote from the book below. I discovered Donna Tartt's short stories this year, this is the third I read and wow! Now most of us know that Tartt writes d*mn big books, not so easy to plough through though brilliant. But... d*mn, she can write good short stories too. Full of tension, weirdness and unexpected endings. Recommended. No... Mel Gibson is not in the story ;-), this cover is a bit wrong, but this is the magazine the story was published in. More to follow, for all you Donna Tartt fans out there, read her short stories too! :-) This is a story about a 9 year old boy who is horrendously scared of snakes... then his horrible nephew comes to live with them for a while and hides a snake in the cellar. I will say no more.... Here's the link:
  http://languageisavirus.com/donna_tar...
  
  My cousin Tom, who said he was not afraid even of water moccasins, was spending the summer with my grandmother and my father and me. My hatred of him-already considerable-grew by the day. I hated his freckles and his cruel big-knuckled hands, hated his horsey teeth with the wide spaces in between them, hated more than anything else his sniggering tales of atrocity; but my grandmother ordered me, in fierce whispers on the back porch or in the kitchen hall, to be nice to him. Tom's mother-my grandmother's daughter and my aunt-had just died...
• 
  Thomas Stroemquist

  Brilliant short. In quite few pages, Donna Tartt manages to tell a riveting coming-of-age story with both endearing and quite dark ingredients. The young protagonist is at the same time a huge animal lover and has a real phobia for snakes. The two will come to a dramatic collision.
• 
  Brian

  A link to the four short stories published by Donna Tartt:
  http://languageisavirus.com/donna_tar...
  
  I feel rich having found these stories. Tartt writes with the skill of a surgeon, such precise and meticulous work. She writes in such a way this had to have happened in reality. She weilds the human experience and capacity of feeling and cycles of the psyche like a military bomb specialist neutralizing chaos.
  
  A young boy loves animals, but trembles with the sickening phobia of snakes. His older brother hates animals and abuses them. The story reaches crisis when the brother shows his friends a snake in a jar, and the boy erupts with personal matters he projects onto the snake. A brilliant showcase of literary skill.
  
  I wonder if Donna Tartt would go on a date with a guy fourteen years her younger? Is she married? Anyone know?
• 
  Anna

  A haunting coming-of-age story with a dark theme and moral questions. I like the paradox within the text and it is my favorite Donna Tartt short story. An animal lover myself, some parts are heartbreaking and hard to digest. The vivid writing style is effective, very authentic and feelings presented in a pictorial form. The sad and true meaning of the story will stay with me for all time 🖤
• 
  anna ✨

  Did I “quickly” read this to finish that cursed reading challenge of this year? Yes. But it was a good read!
• 
  nicky

  not the best lunch break read. this just made my skin crawl.
• 
  ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ

  Sometimes self-care is printing out a bunch of Donna Tartt short stories and stapling them into little books.
• 
  Ania

  can't help but wonder about the possibility of marty's friend barney meeting harriet during his stay at camp lake de selby
• 
  Matthew Ochal

  Love it love it love it
• 
  Val

  this piece is a metaphor for lesbianism you can't prove me wrong
• 
  Kiely Anderson

  "Leave me alone," I hiccupped, convulsed by an emotion so violent I couldn't come close to understanding it. "I hate you. I hate you all."
  
  This is the third short story I have read by Tartt, all of which have focused on kids and very reminiscent of The Little Friend (2002), particularly this ones focus on snakes. Based on the dates these were published, after The Secret History and before (& after) The Little Friend, its cool to see that she was in TLF headspace at this point and these short stories really really reflect that. I always like Tartt's characters and she is such a descriptive writer- Marty's paralyzing fear and overwhelming panic was palpable and yeah it was a little overdramatic, but that is what its like to be a 9 year old
• 
  clarissa

  quite probably my favorite of donna tartt's short stories so far!! i'm convinced i'd even read her grocery lists at this point
• 
  Sayo -bibliotequeish-

  Finally read all of Donna Tartts published short stories.
  Starting with the Garter Snake.
  A little boy a lover of all animals, tormented by a fear of snakes.
  A short story of the fight between ones fears and morals.
  
• 
  Kristin

  Read it here:
  Short Fiction by Donna Tartt
• 
  Aseel

  A Garter Snake 
• 
  Mili Chamberlain

  Amazed as always.
• 
  Lanxin (Alex)

  The whole story about snakes had my skin crawling (((φ(◎ロ◎;)φ)))
  I was hooked with anticipation...
  ... (灬º 艸º灬) then that ending - Ha!
• 
  p.

  donna tartt's talent really shines in this; it is a short story but it is just as effective in impressing onto the reader the emotions of the main character.