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The Serpent Papers

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The Serpent Papers

By: Jeff Schnader
Narrated by: Traber Burns
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About this listen

J-Bee, son of a military officer, is raised in a violent milieu during the 1960s. After his little brother is persecuted by bullies, J-Bee commits a retaliatory act of brutality, the nature of which scars him. When his best friend, Gilly, volunteers to fight in Vietnam, J-Bee - repulsed by his own violence - refuses to follow either his father or Gilly into the military. Instead, he matriculates at Columbia in 1971, an era of counterculture, drugs, sex, and rock ’n roll, in order to seek his redemption. While there, he is introduced to the mysterious Serpent who recites in the campus café, and to the politically active Margo who schools him in anti-war politics and the virtues of peace. Although he feels loyalty to his best friend fighting overseas, J-Bee increasingly sympathizes with Margo’s rationale against the war.

Torn between supporting the war or protesting against it, J-Bee’s paradoxical feelings are ignited when his friend Gilly, on furlough from Vietnam, visits him at Columbia. With ratcheting tensions and bullhorns leading students in protest, pro-war and anti-war factions collide in campus riots, and J-Bee makes the choice that defines his life.

©2022 Jeff Schnader (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War Military
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this is a very moving and great story of life and death, the struggle with right and wrong.

Nam, is a huge word

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Enjoyed the journey this story took me on. Brought out a variety of emotions along the way. Some nice twists to it too.

Nice Twists

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The best work I’ve seen come out of the USA in many years. This is a compelling listen about a turbulent political and emotional time in the USA, and the world. The blurred lines between right and wrong and good and evil and different ways people look at circumstances depending on their influences

Do not miss this one!

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