The Last Great Snakeshow

In his fourth novel, McLaurin (Cured by Fire) uses the cross-country adventures of a traveling acting troupe as a movable stage for some bittersweet explorations into the meaning of identity and community. When a tornado destroys Miss Darlene's House of Joy, an infamous speakeasy, and impales a fatal shard of glass in her head, it's up to the entertainers to help their boss fulfill her final wish--to die on her own land in Oregon. So a snake handler, a stripper, a troubled Vietnam veteran and a runaway Southern belle must abandon their native South, financing the trip through occasional performances. On the road, the players meet some none-to-friendly audiences. From a right-wing militia group to a radical lefty commune, the snake show plays for several extremist groups who don't care for their brand of entertainment. The hippies think they're sexist, oppressive dinosaurs; the militia types hate the fact that the troupe is integrated. Unfortunately, the novel quickly traps both the players and audiences into stereotypical cages from which they never escape. McLaurin is at his best when painting a vivid picture of the wild snake show, titillatingly describing erotic dancing and the taming of angry snakes. But in a series of disjointed flashbacks, he never gets beyond surface descriptions and predictable dilemmas, without ever fully engaging the individual struggles of troupe members. Ultimately, despite the exoticism of the snake show troupe, this examination of the old-style Southerner's place in today's America only covers familiar, well-trod ground. (Aug.)