DEMON COPPERHEAD Book Review

Demon Copperhead¹ by Barbara Kingsolver, audiobook, 21h 3m

Synopsis from Audible: 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.

BOOK REVIEW: There was a scene when I had some serious deja vu. Without going into all the details, Demon is in a tobacco field helping with the harvest. He hasn't been using his gloves and it's so hot that he hasn't been wearing a shirt either. He falls extremely dehydrated and sick with green tobacco sickness. Something about the way the scene was written and read felt so familiar but I don't think I have ever read this book before. I also didn't know until watching the interview Holly does with the author (you can watch that here) that this book was inspired by David Copperfield. I also have never read David Copperfield so there is that too!

My rating is for the audiobook only. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. There were some pretty colorful scenes...spicy one may say...and I think I blushed a few times thinking a pastor's wife has this for her book club book! The narrator Charlie Thurston did a fantastic job. It wasn't cringy when he did female voices. It sounded like if a boy was just making the voice of a girl. I think because it sounded like he was reflecting on his memories instead of it being written in the third person where he needed to do different voices. The whole story played out as a movie in my head and that is a great sign in my opinion.

5/5 Stars

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