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The Knot of Vipers
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The Knot of Vipers by Francois Mauriac
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Rating: 4 StarsRead: February 2017
A bitter old man eaten up by greed, animosity, and jealousy writes a letter to his late wife explaining why he feels the way he does. Does not sound like something I would really enjoy, but I was pleasantly surprised. The author's writing is amazing. Highly recommended.
Wasn't a massive fan and gave this one 2 stars. Not any huge rants against it- I just found myself phasing out a lot while listening to it (at least the audiobook is pretty short). Also I found the intro where he's like "oh you're totally going to side with me about why I'm such a bastard" and then followed up with "my wife had loved another man before me...can you imagine?!" to be a tepid hook lol. I know it gets more significant than that, but I did find it to be a failure of intrigue.
3.5 stars for me. I didn't care for it much at the beginning though the writing is of extremely good quality. The main character was fairly odious- he is near 70 years old (and considered very old-) and wealthy. He detested nearly all his family except for a son who died young and a niece who has also died. By the middle I was more interested as Mauriac delved into the psychology of the character. I felt it improved toward the end so my rating rose. This book may be difficult to find. A rather strange but interesting old novel.
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"Vipers' Tangle begins as a man's letter to his estranged wife, explaining his hatred for her and their children, and is transformed under Mauriac's masterful pen into a diary of spiritual and psychological battles against God, family, and self. With remarkable subtlety and sensitivity, Mauriac relates the transformation of the protagonist by the sublime workings of grace. Vipers' Tangle's superb arc and unflinching examination of the human heart makes it easily one of the greatest novels - Catholic or otherwise - of all time."
François Mauriac, who was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Written as a journal, it is a marital drama of a man who hates his wife and children and spends his time trying to make sure they get nothing from him. It is a novel about transformation. It is also about how we misunderstand others. For a short novel there is a lot here.
4/5 stars
Part one, page one our protagonist states “You can thank your lucky stars that I have outlived my hatred. For years I believed that it was the most vital part of me.” And so our journey starts of Monsieur Louis who is aging and wants to write a letter to his wife explaining why his heart is “a knot of vipers.” The story starts out with this letter writing but then morphs into the history of his life and family.
I enjoyed the book from the start, I like the author's writing. I enjoyed the story even more as the plot thickened, it became like a mystery to me and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. I was not in love with the ending but I realize that it was a full circle moment.