Demon Copperhead by Barbra Kingsolver
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead 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. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon 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.
Holy smokes it is November 16th and I am sitting here reviewing my first book of the entire month!
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?
Ya girl has been BUSY, yall…that’s how.
Lotttssss going on at the moment and I just have not been reading my little heart out like I usually do!
Also, this audiobook was LONG–over 21 hours–and I only listened to it on 1.5x speed instead of my regular 1.75x or 2.0x.
LOOK AT ME SLOWING MY ROLL, YALL! 🤣
(Don’t get used to it.)
I’ve been in my car a whole hell of a lot lately driving me and my kiddo to rehearsals downtown (we’re in *another* musical production together! WOOHOO!💗)…30 minutes there and 30 minutes back several nights of the week…BUT since he is with me (and usually another kiddo I’m transporting too), I can’t listen to all my things.
Excuses, excuses, I know….
But whatever is the deal, I just haven’t been able to read/listen to books as much as I want.
I’ve been trying for weeks to get more than a couple pages in of my hardback on my nightstand before I fall asleep but to no avail….so who KNOWS when the next review will hit!😳
Anywho…this was a really deep and heavy book.
Incredibly well written, in depth insight into many topics and perspectives, and extremely emotional.
I need to tell yall that my girl Kim from my monthly book club picked this one…and this is the first of her picks in awhile that I have actually ENJOYED.
WELL DONE, SISTER! 🙌
Yall may remember me mentioning her before, as she is a super intelligent lady who always has us reading nonfiction to learn new things. Which I appreciate because I know I need to learn new things…but i also always dread because I know my attention will fade VERY quickly and I will NOT enjoy it. lol
I always read it though…..they read all the weird shit I pick when it’s my turn…so we gotta be team players 😆 BROADEN OUR HORIZONS and whatnot.
This read was not one to just “zip” thru. Also hence the slowed down pace.
So so so much covered in these pages as Demon tells his story….it’s a coming of age story about trauma, addiction, foster care, poverty, societal inequities, generational scars and more.
WHEW.
As you read about Demon, you will feel frustrated at a system that sets kids up to fail…you keep getting hopes up that the next thing he tells you about will be where it all turns around…and it doesn’t.
You get mad at the same time you get sad….you can feel the hopelessness, the feeling of being trapped and longing for some kind of escape….
So much of the story is a deep insight into hows and whys of the opiod crisis, especially in the low income areas of Appalachia.
Absolutely tragic.
It isn’t all struggle and pain and inequities….althought there IS plenty of it…there are moments of hope, determination, resilience and love too.
One of Demon’s coping mechanisms for his traumatic and pain filled life is through creativity…anyone who is an artist of any kind can understand this on a deep level.
I really did enjoy this one…not a light or easy one, but definitely a GREAT book.
And weirdly enough…even though I truly enjoyed it, I again find myself not having many specific things to say about it. 🤷♀️
My brain and body is tired, yall….end of tech week and opening night TONIGHT (all you theatre peeps will know EXACTLY the kind of fatigue I’m talking about here!).
Awesome pick, Kim.
Awesome read.
Recommend this one for sure.