The Serpent Papers, Jeff Schnader
The Serpent Papers, Jeff Schnader
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The Serpent Papers

Author: Jeff Schnader

Narrator: Traber Burns

Unabridged: 10 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/28/2022

Synopsis

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 antiwar 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.

About Jeff Schnader

Jeff Schnader was at Columbia University in 1972 where he participated in sit-ins, marches, and protests against the Vietnam War. He graduated with a BA in physics. He recently retired as full Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins after authoring over fifty scientific publications. Schnader worked full-time in the Department of Veteran’s Affairs for twenty-two years, serving American war veterans, including those of the Vietnam War. His first novel, The Serpent Papers, was a shortlisted finalist in the 2021 Blue Moon Novel Competition.

About Traber Burns

Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sheila on December 18, 2021

Set in the time of the Vietnam War, Jeff Schnader’s The Serpent Papers follows the footsteps of a lonely young man, J-Bee, as he tries to find his own path in the twists and turns of life. His military father had plans for him, but it’s his childhood friend, not J-Bee, who’s chosen to go to war. And......more

Goodreads review by TO on December 12, 2021

I tend to only stick to Pulitzer Prize winners and NY Times bestsellers. When this was recommended to me, I thought it might be fun. But WOW, did it exceed expectations! This is the best book that I've read in the last five years! This story provokes questions about the Vietnam era that seep into co......more

Goodreads review by Chris on April 01, 2022

I think it is significantly under appreciated how volatile college campus life was in the early 1970’s. America was at war in Vietnam, Nixon was vilified for extending the war, and the battleground for this vilification were America’s college campuses, the epicenter of which, was Columbia University......more

Goodreads review by Beth on December 13, 2021

The Serpent Papers unquestionably ticks all the boxes of the great American novel. Not since Holden Caulfield has the voice of a generation coming of age, resonated so brilliantly, so honestly, so profoundly, as it does in the voice of J-Bee. The Serpent Papers has given a voice to my generation. I......more

Goodreads review by Danielle on December 17, 2021

Wow, not only received the copy but finished it in 2 days. I spent the summers of 1969 and 70 in New York and so your book contents brought me back to those extraordinary and tumultuous times. I sat with my two best American friends as they anxiously watched the Viet Nam lottery on tv discussing opt......more

Quotes

“A great read! Interesting and captivating! A vivid story of coming of age in the Vietnam era—politics and protests, a cynical drug culture, military misadventure, and making love, not war. If you were really there and do not remember…you will now.” Thomas Ferguson, Former US Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (under Presidents Bush and Obama)

I thought about this book for a month. The Serpent Papers finds the human soul. It is Schnader’s gift.” Sandra Fluck, founder & publisher, bookscover2cover and The Write Launch

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