Hail of Snakes

Michael has a hard time fitting in at school. He’s in love with a girl who will never love him back and is trying to escape the future that society has destined for him. Every day is a struggle and every place he goes to becomes a battlefield. He writes to find refuge, but does not realize his talent with words. Hail of Snakes is a unique novel, inspired by the rhythm of hip-hop and the spoken word, dealing with the gap between our self-perception and society’s expectations and teaching readers about the power of art to heal and deal with complexities magnified during adolescence. Or Ben Atar’s unflinching gaze into the turmoil of growing up makes Hail of Snakes a stunning Bildungsroman—a small epic of self-initiation against a harsh background and a moving ode to the redemptive powers of words.