Autobiographical novel of teenaged French-Algerian girl, her escape from a youth reformatory prison, relationship with a petty criminal who picks her up, and carving out of a temporary life on the Parisian streets. Though she is tough and "a stick of dynamite" to quote Patti Smith's notable introduction, the novel is largely an account of things that happen to her; she demonstrates only a precarious ability here to direct the course of her life.

In the first half of the story this is due to the fact that her escape resulted in the shattering of an ankle bone, "l'astragale", which is the sort of thing that can happen when you let go of a high wall and find that, "The sky had lifted at least thirty feet" as you now lay on cracked pavement. Picked up by the stranger Julian on a nearby road, he becomes her guardian and her lover. Hiding her first at his mother's house, as any good son would do, he later shifts her around to other hideouts owned by minor criminal acquaintances of his. Eventually Anne's ankle adequately heals, she grows tired of this living arrangement, and she strikes out on her own as a prostitute and thief.

Her move for independence in the latter part of the story is undermined by her dependent love on Julian. Only he can make her happy now. Forced to spend six months in prison on a minor charge, when he is released Anne hands over her money and future to him. She soon weeps, however, when she finds out that he has another woman, and it was she who was symbolically there to meet him at the prison gates. Julian swears to end things with this other woman and commit to Anne, but before he can do so her past catches up to her and she is returned to jail.

The novel's prose is a winding road, here clever and here needlessly obfuscating. Not possible for me to say how much of this is Sarrazin's original and how much the translation. One thing for certain is that this new edition could have used a solid proofreading; while it looks like spell-check caught everything it could, incorrect words sometimes pop up in the text, for instance:

"In the latter case, lied just have to arrange the tables and dust a little" (p.34). Think that should be "he'd just have to...", yeah?

"Julien makes suit of that..." (p.105). Nah, he made sure of it.

"I can't hop, or eyed balance myself..." (p.109). Or even balance herself. ( )

Brilliantly written: The story is immediate and direct, told through snapshots of the (maybe partly fictional) protagonists prison escape, broken ankle, and forays into a criminal life in Paris. Stylistically unique and intelligent, Sarrazin's life story is bittersweet. ( )

A mid 1960s cult classic about a rebellious young woman who breaks her ankle escaping from prison, and the man she falls for who rescues her. Full review on my blog here: http://annabookbel.net/wit-month-astragal-albertine-sarrazin-serpents-tail ( )

Rauwe poëzie. Je leest wat er niet staat. ( )

Een mooi boek van de vrouwelijke Genet. Originele, elliptische en suggestieve stijl. Veel sfeer, maar inhoudelijk zwakker. Schitterende dialogen en soms herlees je zinnen wel drie keer... ( )