Kirkus Reviews gave the novel a glowing review, writing that 'Crews is a true regional writer out of the heart of the redneck rural south and besides the brutality. Joe Lon is then tossed into a pit of snakes by the people. This finally culminates during the Rattlesnake Roundup when he grabs a gun and begins to kill those there, including Berenice, to “be in control again”. Joe Lon eventually starts to lose his sanity amongst the violence in the town. Because of this, Buddy is not around to control the chaos emerging at the Rattlesnake Roundup. Lottie May eventually defends herself from one of these attacks by cutting off Buddy's penis with a straight razor she gets from Joe Lon's insane sister, Beeder. One of whom he rapes is Lottie May, a young black woman. Meanwhile, in Mystic, Buddy Matlow, the local sheriff, is abusing women. Joe Lon's old high school sweetheart, Berenice has come back to town for the hunt, and their old romance is rekindled. Coming up is this year's Rattlesnake Roundup, a time when people come to hunt, kill, and eat snakes in the town. The novel is set in Mystic, Georgia in 1975, and primarily follows Joe Lon Mackey, a former high school football star, who now is an alcoholic, abusive husband, and father. It would be his last for more than a decade. Many critics consider it to be Crews's best novel. It was published by Atheneum Books in 1976. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.A Feast of Snakes is a novel by Harry Crews. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published.

Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. His eldest son drowned in 1964.Ĭrews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Crews is twice divorced and is the father of two sons. His mother later moved her sons to Jacksonville, Florida. His father died when he was an infant and his mother quickly remarried.

Harry Eugene Crews was born during the Great Depression to sharecroppers in Bacon County, Georgia.

A feast of snakes