Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
“Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose.”
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #22: A plot similar to another book)
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge
The Reason
I’ve been hearing so many great things about this book, and I’ve also been wanting to read David Copperfield but haven’t gotten around to it. Now that I’ve finished this one, I’d like to read David Copperfield soon!
The Quotes
“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”
“At the time, I thought my life couldn’t get any worse. Here’s some advice: Don’t ever think that.”
“Actual fact: you could make an entire second world out of what people throw away. The landfill is where I figured out one of my main philosophies, that everybody alive is basically in the process of trading out their old stuff for different stuff, day in day out.”
“I think most of humankind would agree, the hard part of high school is the people.”
“When your parent clocks out before you clock in, you can spend way too much of your life staring into that black hole.”
The Narrator
Charlie Thurston. He was pretty great! I enjoyed his narration, was able to follow the story well, and I have no complaints.
My Thoughts
I had no idea what to expect going in. The only thing I knew about the book was that it’s a retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, and the only thing I knew about David Copperfield was that it’s supposed to be Dicken’s favorite book that he wrote. I feel like the subject matter isn’t something I’d normally be interested in, but people kept praising the book and David Copperfield is also one of those classics I knew I wanted to read someday, so I decided to dive in. I’m so glad I did because I got completely immersed in Demon’s life. The story was so well-written, so compelling, and it made me feel so many things.
My Feels
Empathy, anger, compassion, helplessness, hope, fear, heartbreak… it’s all here. It’s a roller coaster of emotions and what a ride it was! There were parts where I got so overwhelmed with the anger and heartache, I had to take a break and come back. There’s so much about this book that I can’t articulate as well as I wish I could, but I feel like it’s one that I’ll come back to and get more out of each time I do. I’m also really looking forward to reading David Copperfield soon.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
