Demon Copperhead

I've never read David Copperfield and I feel like I missed out on some of the inevitable book nerd glee recognizing character parallels between the two. Nonetheless, my stunning gap in the literary canon hardly prevented me from enjoying this modern day retelling set in Appalachia

Damon Fields, otherwise known as Demon Copperhead, is the singular voice carrying us through this tale from his en caul birth onto the gritty vinyl flooring of a Lee County, Virginia mobile home, to his pinballing through the foster care system, eventual opioid addiction and otherwise bleak, unyieldingly horrible time that can barely be considered a childhood.

It's one hell of a story told from the wry eye of Demon who is at turns funny, fiercely proud, and sharp. He knows what the world thinks of him and his ilk. How he's always been dismissed as a redneck, white trash, dumbass hillbilly. But he's here to tell you he's just a product of a system that has needed to denigrate him and his people in order to take advantage of them. To extract value from the land on the backs of its people, to bolster profits for big Pharma consequences be damned, to dismiss them all as entirely unimportant. Kingsolver's got a fierce agenda, but in the mouth of Demon it steps off its soapbox and avoids being preachy at the expense of story.

The travails Demon endures are breathtaking without devolving into maudlin trauma porn. In Kingsolver's hands Demon's life is one cliffhanger after another as she propels this Appalachian epic forward. It's a hell of a tale told well and worth telling.

This book was a hard, sad read. It's because of that that I wasn't sure if I wanted to rate it a 4 or 5. I wasn't sure if I would recommend this to everyone given just how sad it is. That said, upon reflection, it deserves the 5 stars. This book kept me in its clutches the whole time, which is so surprising to me given its length.

The real excellence, though, is in the craft of the story. As an addict, much of this was familiar to me. The slow creep. The excuses. The “how did we even get here?!” Thought process as you move further towards rock bottom. This book brings the reader along in that journey—engaging them in the hero's journey and making something that may not be as familiar to everyone very accessible. Scarily so.

So many of my childhood friends are dead due to overdose, heroin and fentanyl. This book was relatable, touching and made something that disgusts so many (drug addiction) much more approachable.

Epic, heartbreaking, funny, unforgettable. Knowledge of David Copperfield not required, but it was fun picking out the similarities. This is an “issue' novel, but never feels preachy, as the characters truly shine. Probably will be one of my favorites of the year.

I hope someone makes J.D. Vance read this book, which makes way more sense than his vile HILLBILLY ELEGY. And you don't have to have read DAVID COPPERFIELD to appreciate this story; you only have to be somewhat aware of what's going on in this world. Poverty and exploitation; drug pushers; lousy foster care systems; underfunded education systems; and on and on.

I confess that the first half of the book was a bit of a slog for me, but about mid-way through, Demon's understanding of what's happening to him grows and he becomes far more interesting. The second half of the book for me was a rocket ship.

I decided that I can't give this book a certain number of stars. It's quite long, amazingly detailed, tragic and comedic, moving, and gut wrenching. I didn't realize what I was getting into, and found the audiobook to be too difficult for getting through the difficult first half. Being able to skim pages of hard material was helpful. Kingsolver depicts humanity in all its forms. Nothing is simple. The book kind of reminded me of The Goldfinch, but bleaker. She loves her homeland and it's people.

My favorite book of 2022 so far. I would even say it's one of the better books that I've ever read.

This book is jam packed with fully fleshed characters that leave a lasting image. There are quite a bit of issues it addresses and a lot of deep themes.

While I could go on about all the great things of this book I will just say one thing that I personally liked/found especially interesting. The way that everything Demon loved about Dori embodied what Demon's mom was like on their best day together seemed to me like a cool underlying detail.

As a retelling of David Copperfield it really hit the mark. Tearjerking and ironic. Demon as a narrator is witty and sassy. I listened to an audiobook performed by Charlie Thurston, who made it even better. Beautifully performed, not being American I don't know about the accents, but it sounded great and emotionally it hit the mark.

I saw that this was a retelling of David Copperfield, which I've never read before, but I was like, OK. After finishing this book, I just now read the wiki summary of David Copperfield, and I'm like, ah, I see what you did here, Barbara.

anywayyyyy I loved the voice here, it's so distinct and compelling. The plot...like...I get it, as a Dickensian pastiche, but by the last few travails it was like....getting a little too long/melodramatic for my tastes T B H? I definitely get it as an Issue Novel about Appalachian poverty/opioid crisis/etc in the same way Dickens was highlighting social issues in Victorian England. Like it is not subtle, and that is by design, but also...uh.....well, it's not my fav B-Kings book, I'll say that. I'm still a fan tho!