The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Books can be like dominos. One leads to another and sometimes to the unexpected. Consider that after reading an online review of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, I made a point to read the non-fiction story of her journey with illness and nature.

In short, Bailey tells of a debilitating illness that left her confined to bed for years. During that time, she found solace in nature, specifically a small, pregnant snail found in Bailey's garden and given to her along with a plant by a friend.

The book began on a high note, with the story focusing on the author's own struggles as well as the snail's habits and ... personality, if you will. Yet, the book grew increasingly tedious as what had started as creative non-fiction slowly spiraled downward into a too-long research paper. Yet that overwhelmingly well-sourced paper led me to another writer and her works.

Bailey cited a wide range of reading on snails, mostly scientific works by the likes of Charles Darwin. But she also mentioned a short story, "The Snail-Watcher" by Patricia Highsmith, better known for the novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. That Highsmith, known for her mysteries in which the bad guys sometimes win, had written a story about snails fascinated me in itself. So, after wrapping up The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating and learning the fate of the once-wild snail and its many babies, I began searching for the Highsmith story. I found it in a Highsmith short-story collection titled Eleven.

This story focused on a professor whose obsession with snails leads to a deadly collection of the little critters not to mention a bit of marital strife.The story proved bizarre and rather distasteful, pun intended. But I loved it.

I looked further into the Highsmith collection and found yet another snail story. This one titled "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" is about a professor who sets out to discover a creature --  in this case, a huge, man-eating snail on a remote island -- and have it named after him.

Once again, the main character's obsession gets the best of him. This story of a couple of overgrown snails -- yes, mates and their smaller offspring -- would have made a better Vincent Price movie than a children's fantasy.

Along the way, I read the entire book of stories and found my favorite was not the ones about snails but one about another small creature. That work, titled simply "The Terrapin," is not a horror story or even one as unlikely as the two snail stories. The main character is a young boy who lives in an apartment with his dim-witted, insensitive mother. Suffice it to say, the terrapin was only a vehicle to show how the mother's cruelty forever changes her son's life. In the final paragraph, we learn of the boy's devastation and revenge in a few, concise sentences that readers are unlikely to forget.

In Highsmith, I have found another author whose creativity and writing I like. I plan to read more of her works.

So, the next time you read a book or article with literary references, consider jotting down those that sound interesting and giving them a try. You may find a new favorite writer.