Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Fiction
Length: 560 pages
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: October 18th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

“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.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for the gifted book.

WHAT A JOURNEY.

The Poisonwood Bible was one of the only books I enjoyed in high school and I thought it was about time I picked up another Kingsolver book. It did not disappoint. While not my usual genre, or preference (hello yes I love romance books), I love when I find something outside those circles that I love. This was that book.

I’m not sure I even have the right words to put into a review besides saying, read it. These kinds of stories are important and hard and one that is worth the thoughts it will bring. The moments that will be unforgettable and how much havoc can be reaped in one’s life.

The audiobook was amazing. I found the narrator easy to listen to juxtaposed to the story that I had a hard time listening to, but also could not put down. I read this much quicker than I expected because I had to know where Demon’s story wound take him. There’s many, many complex characters and the book is just made to be felt.

Overall audience notes:

• Fiction
• Language: moderate-high; throughout
• Romance: a few open door scenes
• Violence: high
• Content Warnings (there are a lot and I might miss some so please look up more lists if you are concerned): drug abuse, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, foster abuse, physical abuse, racism, child hunger and poverty

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