Author: DAILEY, JOHN R.
Title: The Yellow Ribbon Snake
Description: John Daniel & Company Books. 2000. (ISBN: 9781880284377). Paperback, 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches. A modern-day Don Quixote who finds redemption and simple pleasures even in a lifetime of disappointments, Jacko Lee is one unlikely hero readers will root for. Vietnam veteran, fervent animal lover and self-proclaimed "thinking man," Jacko is an expressive, albeit sweetly simpleminded, reporter of the goings-on in his downtrodden Arizona hometown. He lives in a box in a homeless compound near a truckstop and spends his days wandering the desert along highway I-10, sometimes accompanied by his buddy Sonny Ray, other times on a lone but eventful pilgrimage. He conscientiously visits his grandma's grave to have a chat with her and listen to the other dead people; looks after Norton, his pet spider, but woefully misses his old dog, Corky; and stops by the local junkyard to look for treasures, and the town strip joint, Slammers, to catch a glimpse of the pretty ladies in lingerie. Besides these routine adventures, Jacko also befriends a troubled, low-end hooker, Darla, and sets out to avenge the death of a man whose body he discovered along the highway. Confident that he can take care of himself, Jacko persistently but ineffectively tries to fend off his concerned sister, Marie. But Marie has other worries: her cop boyfriend Salazar, with a passion for horses; her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend Rosario, with a passion for guns; and her terror of aging. As Marie frets about getting old and Jacko is haunted by the ghostly memory of his mad, obsessive mother, the fear of death metaphorically darts through the narrative as the yellow ribbon snake. This first novel is a vividly poignant inside look at the disenfranchised and marginalized people on the fringe of society, among whom the wandering hero manages to find some peace at last. Strongly written but demanding first novel, half of which is told in the voice or mind of a mentally disabled man, though without the hard-to-grasp flourishes of Benjy, the character who opens The Sound and the Fury. Jacko is a Vietnam vet, yet how he had got into the army will stump the reader for many pages. Author Dailey, a certified substance-abuse counselor in Vail, Arizona, has both Jacko and his caretaking sister, Marie, who is not retarded, speak/write in a highly expressive style: She can see her lover's words as ``maybe pale yellow or faded orange. They float around the inside of the cab of his pickup until they seep out through the crack in the side wing.'' Jacko lives with none-too-bright Sonny Ray in a wooden box near a desert truck stop. Nights in the box can be freezing, and there's no room for the dog Jacko longs for. The yellow ribbon snake of the title is literally a yellow ribbon with which young Jacko's crazy mother used to blind, bind, and sexually abuse him. When Jacko's grandmother took offense at this, Mother disappeared. Grandma, who has died, lived in a three-story house that is fenced off for demolition. But Jacko hangs out there, much as Benjy hangs out by the golf course looking for his caretaker sister, Candace. Marie has left her gun-carrying drug-dealer boyfriend Rosario and now lives with Salazar, a law officer of granite face and less humor. Jacko, meanwhile, loves Norton, his spider, grieves for his dead dog Corky, and likes to sit by the corpse of his old friend Pitts, which he and Sonny Ray have found wired to a mesquite tree. Very, hmm, Faulknerian. The end is an adaptation of ``A Rose for Emily''if not Psycho. Even so, an altogether welcome work with a terrific grip on the English language. 1-880284-37-5. Paperback - 2000 - good condition - - used books, secondhand books, out of print books, hard to find books, for sale, second-hand books, college books, student books, nonfiction, first edition, exlibrary books sold, signed copies, non-fiction books delivered world wide. Isbn 1880284375. Used: Acceptable.

Keywords: 9781880284377


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