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The Snake Has All The Lines (1960)

by Jean Kerr(Favorite Author)

3.97 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Doubleday

review 1: This may or may not be the edition I have (mine has no dust cover). The edition I have is illustrated by Whitney Darrow, Jr.I grant you, a lot of this stuff is very dated. It would be a public service if somebody would go through and publish a guide to the popular culture at the time. I don't think, for example, that I've ever seen more than about five minutes footage of June Allyson. (I even had to look up the spelling).So I can't deliver on the companion volume of popular culture. But I CAN elaborate which essays are found in this book, with short elaboration. This will make it possible to figure out which of the essays are in Penny Candy, which I don't have a copy of, and another later book whose title I can't remember.So here goes:Notes and acknowledgements: whic... moreh explains the title.Chapter I: I was a sand crab: Not only explaining why Kerr never took her kids on an extended 'adventure' vacation, but also providing tips for those taking kids to the beach.Chapter II: Letters of protest I never sent: But she probably should have. Though she represents such compositions as a cure for insomnia, some of them are badly needed. Chapter III: Go, Josephine, in your flying machine: The author uses personal and anecdotal arguments to refute the statisticsChapter IV: How to talk to a man: with various subcategories, such as 'when he's snoring'.Chapter V: A child's garden of manners: Includes some dubious ones, like the obligation not to grab the tablecloth as you fall after tipping your chair back.Chapter VI: As I was saying to Mrs Rockefeller (confessions of a status finder): This might be more entertaining if I'd read Vance Packard's The Status Seekers. Or not.Chapter VII: Can this romance be saved?: It's not necessary to have read Lolita to understand this. Or the Ladies' Home Journal. But I didn't find it very funny. As I've said before, I don't care for this aspect of Kerr's work.Chapter VIII: Tales out of school (the sanwich crisis): One of the reasons I've always liked Kerr is that she, (like me) is nocturnal. The description of the problems of making sandwiches at 1am is resonant)Chapter IX: Out of town with a show (or what to do until the psychiatrist comes): Kerr was a fairly well-known playwright (often in collaboration with her husband). This essay contains a (fairly nonspecific) recipe for spam (the lunchmeat).Chapter X: How to cope with bad notices: This actually deals with mildly bad, ambiguous, and even good reviews. Kerr points out that really bad notices are often a relief.Chapter XI: The ten worst things about a man: Well, if those are the worst she's experienced, all I can say is that she's been a very lucky woman.Chapter XII: Happy Motoring: A description of the ideal family car (and what one may have to settle for)Chapter XIII: My Wild Irish Mother: Well, you'll just have to meet her. But, as you're unlikely to, this essay will have to do.Chapter XIV: When I was Queen of May: Having known several very tall women, this is a familiar story to me. But to those who haven't known tall women, it's an introduction to another milieu.Chapter XV: Mirror, mirror, on the wall (I don't want to hear one word out of you): A fairly succinct discussion of the unrealistic expectations of the cosmetics industry and other purveyors of 'beauty'.Now I'll have to digest this, so that I can figure out what's in Penny Candy.
review 2: Hilarious book! It's a series of essays covering Ms. Kerr's life as a wife, mother, and playwright. My favorite chapters were the ones with Humbert Humbert and Lolita appearing in a "Can This Marriage Be Saved?"-type article, (a feature that is still a part of Ladies Home Journal today); and "Out of Town With a Show", where Ms. Kerr describes what happens when a playwright goes on a try-out tour for a new show. True, there are some dated references, but the book is still funny --and fun to read. less

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