Demon Copperhead

Kingsolver so adeptly writes in the voice of a young man, taking us on his truly epic journey. His life is hard, dark and disturbing at just about every turn. But we the readers see his good heart, his never ending search for love and belonging and ultimately, his cathartic redemption. Our book club thoroughly enjoyed this read- a new and timely take on David Copperfield. I highly recommend this read if you enjoy getting to know all the characters that make up a protagonist's life and you want to take the time to settle in and follow Demon's arc. Kingsolver's writing is magical. She is a gifted wordsmith and, in my opinion, one of our greatest living novelists.

This was an excellent read, but gosh it was so heartbreaking and depressing at times!

It was so tough to read at times that I honestly felt like walking away from it.

I read David Copperfield prior to this and it's sad to see that some things really haven't changed between then and now.

Saying that, I enjoyed the parallels between this and David Copperfield, not just in terms of characters but the odd quote here and there too.

It was dark, sad, heartbreaking and tough so whilst I do recommend it, I would urge caution because something like that might not be for everyone.

Thank you to PH and Barbara Kingsolver for the chance to read this book.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I know I was hoping for a book that struck me as much as Animal Dreams did. This book just didn't grab me and had strong after-school special vibes.

i did like it for 150 pages but whenever i put it down i did not want to pick it up again... and months went by and i was just looking at this book and thinking ill read some tomorrow sooo yeah it was time to finally let it go since i want to have  a clean plate in 2025 

I'll finish it eventually I just don't want to right now

dnf @ 110 pages

this book is good! i just cannot for the life of me focus on it

Es un libro tan bueno que cuando acaba la ultima pagina, empece con la primera. Aunque no voy a releerlo es increíble una vez que sabes toda la historia como los últimos capitulos encajan con el primero.

Es un libro escrito en primera persona donde la personalidad del protagonista realmente es impresionante. Para cuando estaba acabando este libro a veces me encontraba a mi mismo pensando como el protagonista o copiando algo de lo que ha dicho.

Me encanta también los comentarios aqui y alla, muy inteligentes pero a la vez coinciden con lo que el protagonista diría por ejemplo:

“I think most of humankind would agree, the hard part of high school is the people.”

“I said probably they were just scared he was going to put ideas in our heads. She smiled. “Imagine that. A teacher, putting ideas in kids' heads.”

El libro tambien es poético a veces, sin tener que usar palabras grandes, es simplemente asi de bello, por ejemplo:

“We both lay back down, and she looked at me in the eyes, and we were sad together for a while. I'll never forget how that felt. Like not being hungry.”

“He was quiet, holding that string and kite with everything he had. The way he looked. Eyes raised up, body tethered by one long thread to the big stormy sky, the whole of him up there with his words, talking to whoever was listening. I've not seen a sight to match it. No bones of his had ever been shoved in a feed bag. The man was a giant.”

Algunas reseñas por aqui dicen que es un libro lleno de estereotipos, para responder tengo que hacer un spoiler:
La autora ES DE ALLI Y VIVE ALLI.Es como decir que un superviviente del holocausto ha escrito otro libro con todos los estereotipos de los campos de concentración, que si los malnutridos que si los muertos. Cuando habla de hijos de drogadictos que acaban en las drogas, en un ambiente sin soporte ni futuro, no es un estereotipo, es estadística.Nada de lo que aparece aqui es fuera de lo común. Es estereotipo que un adolescente mas mayor les pase droga a otros mas jovenes? En que universo esto no ocurre? O que los vendedores abusen de los adictos?

Es un libro largo pero no es pesado, hay muchos personajes, entras en todo tipo de detalles. 5/5 libro esencial.

Not perfect but def my fave type of book to read

Review coming soon - this was great.

Incredible cast of characters. So propulsive, oddly not annoying given the format and themes.

I listened to the audiobook. Because I also come from a rural area, the talented narrator's accent and the subject matter seemed a little too close to home. I never suffered the same way as the protagonist, but imagining him being a classmate is easy. The subject matter is gritty and I wanted to stop a few times, but I'm glad I persevered. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Phenomenal. And I'm intensely glad to have read David Copperfield first.

Demon has all the luck, all the bad luck. Whatever you can think of, he's got it worse. But deep down he remains a good guy. Loves his friends and those who look out for him. Perhaps it's all going to work out for him now. I hope so.
I didn't think it was as brilliant book as many did. It felt like a loooonngg read and wanted a lot of investment - which I just couldn't give. I'm glad there's a glimmer of hope though. We could all do with that after so much awfulness!

There is a gripping style and a vibe here (with great 90's pop culture refrences sprinkled in) as the prose takes you through the trials and tribulations of the protagonist.  The key is that it is an engaging, intriguing, dramatic tale that has well-developed and impactful characters craftfully weaved in and out of the linear journey.  Curiously, and deliberately or not, it is also mildly fascinating to see how the author has written about addiction in an organic or normalised way where you end up in it before you (or the characters) even realize.

This book was so so so so so good! I loved this book, and if I could I would give it 6 out of 5 stars! Kingsolver did such a great job describing what it's like growing up in Appalachia during the opioid epidemic. Granted , she did use a lot of stereotypical language and traits in her characters. However, the store of Demon and his journey is so inspiring and so realistic and accurate in describing how hard it was to grow up in Appalachia during the opioid epidemic and what it's like trying to break the cycle of addiction in a family. Beautifully written book by an amazing author!

Oh what a beautiful ride this book was.

“My people are dead of trying, or headed that way, addicted as we are to keeping ourselves alive.”

Coming of age Americana with my favorite kind of character (self-hating, down on his luck, boy with a heart of gold). Inspired by Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, it is a study on class inequality in the modern US from a point of view rarely explored, rural Appalachians. Touching and full of heart as it is of tragedy. I personally am tragedy averse so I had anxiety reading through a lot of this book, expecting the worst, but this is far from tragedy porn. It is a story of perseverance and love.

Set in the mid-to-late 90's up until the early 2000's, Demon Copperhead tells the story of the titular character's life from his unfortunate beginnings, to his turbulent and violent ejection into young adulthood, to his stumbling missteps into his approximation of adulthood. He isn't alone in this journey, he has friends who come and go, a family who equally supports and rejects him, and many people both with good intentions and bad surrounding him. The story itself, told in first person with Demon's own words and memories, is later revealed to be his recovery journal as he recounts where it all went wrong in his road to the straight and narrow.

It ends on a high and hopeful note leaving the characters' future open just how we readers of his story have always wanted for him.

Gorgeously written. Realistic and heart-wrenching characters. A distinct voice. 5 stars no notes.

Where can I start? Well, first, this reading felt like it was never going to end for me. A lot of pages but felt like the story in general could've been told in less than that. I am still not fully sure what was the drive of it. On the good side, I loved the writing. We see Demon telling us the story since he was a kid and you can see that the words and storytelling are those of someone that age, and you are able to see the growth and how he matures with the passing of every page.

4.5/5 - absolutely no notes on the first half of the book. Incredible pacing and storytelling. Then it dragged on and off for a little bit and then ended just a TAD too early!!!! I'm sad it's over

Updated to say the audiobook was incredible - especially to have it read in a true southern accent

Wondermooi boek.
Te lang.
Maar wondermooi.

Zo'n boek waarna je even in rouw bent omdat je die karakters waar je 500 bladzijdes over gelezen hebt, nooit meer zal zien.

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. I'm so invested in Demon's life, I was really sad to reach the end and not be able to hear what happens next for him. While being entertaining, the book also sheds light on real-world issues that make you take a step back and think. Overall, I was emotionally invested through it all and loved it entirely. 

DNF. I just.. can't anymore. It's not nearly interesting enough for how long it is. Can't get into it at all.

2:

I liked the first part so much! Then the rest happened. Then I thought, “this could still have a great conclusion.” And then, that ending happened. It's a no from me, Barbara, sorry. I'm sure you're almost as appalled by this, as I was with your book.

I really liked Demon Copperhead, it is a challenging but rewarding read. Having never read Dickens' David Copperfield, I didn't know what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised by this coming-of-age tale, which shows the genuine struggle of growing up with poverty, addiction, and violence in Appalachian America.

Broadly speaking, I don't like art that details addiction. Not because it isn't important (it is), but rather because many attempts are derivative and cliché. Demon Copperhead is not that. It incorporates and describes it but doesn't make it the be-all-and-end-all theme. Instead, this story shows us love and loss, pain and joy, addiction and sobriety, all intricately woven together to create an endearing story of a young boy who is lost in the troubling adult world around him.

The characters are all real; that is to say, you feel you can know them and that they act like ordinary folk would, not like perfect Hollywood heroes do. The characters are well crafted (a testament to Ms. Kingsolvers literary ability) and don't fall easily into well-established tropes. They are authentic, have real personalities that evolve, and act consistently with them. In that sense, the book is a triumph.

As an Englishman, foreign to the culture and history of the Appalachians, I think Ms. Kingsolver does these people justice. She uses the protagonist (and other characters) to detail the struggle of their lives without mockery and bigotry. Moreover, she incorporates their struggles as a theme within the book. Characters talk about it and, in fact, challenge the prejudices that are put against them. In a world where many individuals find themselves as a discriminated against minority, the Appalachian people don't have many pieces of art that are positive to their plight, and in this sense, she has done them justice, which I greatly admire.

While the book is written in an easy-to-digest way that requires little reading comprehension, it does require emotional comprehension, so to speak. As such, it did take me two weeks to finish because sometimes the story was so challenging and bleak that I didn't want to pick it up again. However, it must be said that the exact opposite was also true; in some moments, I couldn't put it down.

I would definitely recommend this book to all who seek an enlightening, endearing, but nevertheless challenging and rewarding read.

Oh, my goodness, it's good.I haven't read [b:David Copperfield 58696 David Copperfield Charles Dickens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461452762l/58696.SY75.jpg 4711940], but I have some knowledge about it, and I think Barbara managed to transfer the spirit of the story to modern South. More than once I was asking “how does she know?” She can't possibly have lived through the things she talks about in this book, Demon's voice felt authentic and real, and it was heartbreaking, but in a good way. And the ending was good. It started to drag there a bit, but not for too long, like the damned [b:The Goldfinch 17333223 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1378710146l/17333223.SY75.jpg 24065147].

Low rating has much more to do with my (lack of) enjoyment than the technical aspects.

TLDR - heavy content which clearly a lot of people enjoyed, but imo was quickly redundant, a chore, and unnecessary and that's before getting into over dramatization

I finished this purely out of spite not wanting it to be my first ever DNF. We picked it up for book club in July 2023 (personally finishing it May 2024). Definitely don't pick this up expecting to digest it within a month if you'd like to also enjoy your life.

The Voice of the writing is distinct enough to set it apart from other books, and I enjoyed the author's way of setting a scene, particularly those with nature as their backdrop.

This book is a slog. While the ending (hinting at a happy relationship ahead of him) might disqualify this book from being labeled as tragedy porn, it definitely felt like poverty porn. It is literally one thing after another the first half the book, then a brief glimmer of things turning around for Demon, then back to getting the shit kicked out of you, picking up pace in the last 150 pages but dropping off again in the last 60. By the time he finally made it to the Devil's Bathtub, I found myself hoping he would die there so at least he'd be free of his life of torment and I'd only have to read the musings of a ghost from there. I did tear up a few times, but not because I felt attached to or liked any one character, it was always from the needless cruelty of the situation at hand. The last half of the book this idea that “mountain folk” are constantly misrepresented in media comes up multiple times, but yet this book paints every character and family you spend any meaningful time with as having tragic existences only which I find deeply disingenuous of rural life. The Peggots family is the closest you get to seeing people enjoy their rural life and even that is painted with all these undertones of “lesser”. In the end, Demon feels all this nostalgia for idyllic scenes typical of rural life, but we never got to see him experience any of that. Most of the word count is devoted to seeing how much neglect can be packed into one kid's life.

I dreaded picking this book up. I got to where I was bribing myself to read just one chapter. I seriously considered ending it once he had a happy season with Coach and Angus because that was the first good thing that had happened all book and I really wasn't interested in watching the rug get yanked out from under Demon (and me, the reader!) yet again. The bad things kind of lost their impact for me because they were so predictable. Maybe if I had skipped to the last chapter and known I had something other than a tragic ending to look forward to, then I could have powered through a little quicker than 9 months.

Even with books I don't jive with, I often walking away feeling glad I had read it to find out it wasn't for me. I do not have that feeling with this book, simply relief that it is finally over.