Baby Todd and the Rattlesnake Stradivarius

by Teresa Kennedy

A kaleidoscopic tale set in the South in which Mary Faith Beaudine acquires a rare violin by shady means, Elijah Purdue in turn inherits the Stradivarius, Icy Fee Moulder adds a rattle to it, and Boo Strait grads the fiddle and runs

343 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1987

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but this was not it. None of the characters were particularly likeable, in the past or in the present of the story. The unpleasant characters were the biggest downfall of this book. The story was confusing and strange, and, while the stories were about how the violin came to be where it was, it didn't feel like the Stradivarius played a very important role. It could almost have been an valuable painting and the story would not have been effected very much. There was also a lot of sex, and sometimes the sex had a purpose in the story, but a lot of the time it didn't. The book was presented as a contemporary story, but some of the characters had weird magical/voodoo-like powers, and for some reason one of them kept going on about how she was immortal and could not die, but wanted to be able to die one day. This was a really weird book, and it didn't really fit my taste in books, even if there was a Stradivarius violin.

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the few books that I read more than once. I read it in my early twenties - about 5 times. It is just so clever - it follows a family and how it interacts with the Stradivarius through generations - similar to The Red Violin in that way - but hysterically funny. I love stories of f****d up families and colorful characters. This is the ultimate.